FATHERHOOD INITIATIVE

"The Fatherhood Project is about the love children need and the need that fathers have to love"

Motivation for the project

The mission is to help create a healthy socioeconomic environment through which at-risk children and families in the District of Columbia community have the opportunity to achieve their maximum potential and lead a productive life.

Many youth in the community lack meaningful guidance and direction by community leadership and father figures. Helping Hands Int. has operated throughout the Washington DC area for over five years developing services to help with the problems youth face in their homes, schools and communities. Since opening its doors, Helping Hands International, Inc, (HHINTL) has forged strong partnerships with the faith-based community, businesses, media, schools, and other family/youth serving organizations in the community.

Since its inception, Helping Hands International has served over 400 youths and their families and is currently expanding its scope of services to include programs such as Fatherhood Training, relationship counseling, job preparation and placement, and support groups for fathers.

The aims of the Fatherhood Project

Helping Hands International's community development and Fatherhood Initiative Program envisions a community in which the members and youth experience nurturing one-to-one support services and community support, assisting the development of their full potential and increasing their capability to make informed, responsible decisions as involved members of the community.

The overriding goals are:

1. To promote healthier human functioning among African American teen fathers through social-emotional development
2. To increase teen fathers' ability to contribute positively to the wellbeing of their children
3. To support the positive development of African American teen fathers by providing social and employment services
4. To increase the positive life functioning of African-American teen fathers
5. To increase economic stability of teen fathers

This project was designed to address the nationwide problem of absent fathers, particularly in impoverished communities in the Washington DC area. A 2001 Annie E. Casey Foundation report estimated that 97% of teens births in Washington DC are out of wedlock. In 1999, The National Center for Children in Poverty estimated that 55% of children in Washington DC are living in mother-only families. Both of these statistics were the highest in America at the time of the study. The reports attribute the problem to lack of education, employment, and a lack of knowledge about marriage in the role of parenthood.

Our culture is beginning to awaken to the reality that we are collectively suffering from a lack of healthy fathering. More attention is being focused on the importance of fathers, "not just as economic providers, but as nurturers, disciplinarians, role models, mentors, moral instructors, and skill coaches" says Dr. Wade Horn of the National Fatherhood Initiative (2). It is our belief that if teen fathers are provided training on the virtues and rewards of becoming a responsible father, they will become the nurturers, role models, and mentors for their children.

Virtually every major social pathology has been linked to fatherlessness: violent crime, drug and alcohol abuse, truancy, teen pregnancy, suicide—all correlate more strongly to fatherlessness than to any other single factor. The majority of prisoners, juvenile detention inmates, high school dropouts, pregnant teenagers, adolescent murderers, and rapists all come from fatherless homes ( Daniels 1998 ; NFI 1996 ). Our society is witnessing today too many underage fathers that fail to provide the proper nurturing a daughter or son require.

To begin offsetting some of the economic disparities rampant in communities with high fatherless rates, HHINTL has developed a Job Readiness Program to help prepare teen fathers for their economic responsibilities.

JOB READINESS PROGRAM

Assessment & Planning: HHINTL proposes to use a comprehensive assessment approach where the achievement and aptitude of clients are accurately measured so the most appropriate employability plan can be developed. The assessment will consist of achievement testing utilizing the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE). This is a timed, written test designed to provide information about a client's current level of academic performance. Results are reported as a grade score equivalent. Mechanical dexterity, clerical aptitude and interest inventory will also be used, as needed. Upon completion of testing, all results are reviewed with the client. A comprehensive report is written and will be sent to the referring agency.

Education & Training Services: Upon assessment completion and the case manager clearly identifies in the participant's employability plan if a client is determined to be unemployable or employable. If a participant is determined to be unemployable within the labor market, the agency will refer the participant for job skills training, including vocational training and/or referral to the appropriate educational agency. When client assessments reveal a lack of basic literacy, and/or lack of high school education, the client will be referred to enroll in a basic literacy or GED program pursuant to the client's employability plan.

Job Placement Service: Once a participant begins the placement process, the case manager is available for the client to develop an employment readiness plan, discuss progress, and any issues that may arise during the course of the client participation within the program. Counseling will be an integral part of the job placement process and is provided through regularly scheduled group and individual sessions.

Retention: The counseling service objectives are to ensure that participants can meet the demands of the job market and join the economic mainstream to become productive and responsible citizens. The process of preparing students for job placement begins on day 1 of their orientation into the program. Throughout the client's participation, the cooperative relationship between skills training, academic achievement, vocational counseling, and life skills instruction are all coordinated to lead to the ultimate goal: unsubsidized job placement.

HEALTHY MARRIAGES

We must consider the social changes that transpired over the last 50 years that laid the foundation for the ideological changes in the patterns of marriage and family. Such changes, such as the increased divorce rates, are important to understand.

Activities:

HHINTL has chosen to provide Relationship Skills Education to teen fathers in order to help them begin understanding how good relationships skills can prepare them for marriage and a healthy working relationship with the mother of their children.

RESONSIBLE PARENTING

We have advocated and struggled vigorously to reconstruct the concept of fatherhood to include the three domains of paternal involvement/interaction, access and responsibility.

FATHERHOOD / PARENTING SKILLS TRAINING

HHINTL will utilize a national model, “Quenching the Father's Thirst” curriculum for training fathers about what it means to be a man, a parent, a child, and a father. The National Center for Fathering has developed the “Quenching the Fathers-Thirst” curriculum for fathers in challenging urban environments.

OUTCOMES:

Economic Stability:

Increase skills of teen fathers:

Assess skill levels and provide employment plan
Provide resume writing, interview skills, and job preparation guidance through courses and one-on-one sessions
Refer participants to vocational, educational, and technical trainings

Increase their access to job opportunities:

Utilize the internet resources and bring in job recruiters
Establish case managers to help with job placement opportunities
Provide access to transportation to job fairs and interviews
Provide retention counseling and follow-up services

Healthy Marriages:

Provide education on marriage and what it takes to build healthy families.

Workshops will be provided that address marriage & positive relationship building
Dissemination of materials about the benefits of marriage and two-parent child involvement
Referrals made to Dr. Trent for pre-martial counseling

Teen fathers will have better relationships with their partners.

Educate teens on building a strong and healthy relationship with their partner
Provide family counseling, if necessary
One-on-one counseling to address personal relationship and family issues

Responsible Parenting:

Teen fathers learn parenting skills expected of the father

Educate teen fathers through the “Quenching Father's Thirst” curriculum
Provide mentors for the teen fathers

Teen fathers become actively involved in the lives of their children

Provide father and children trips to foster appropriate interaction
Provide counseling to re-unite fathers with their children, including assisting in seeking income to pay child support, working with the parents, and providing support services.

NETWORKING

Helping Hands International also will establish an information clearinghouse that disseminates information about fatherhood and provides crucial linkages to community services.