This toolkit is a resource to inform early childhood professionals as they engage, recruit and retain fathers. It is funded by the Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Grant from the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.
This grant provided five years of funding for father-focused group meetings to increase:
- Father participation in Parents as Teachers
- Fathers’ knowledge of child development and parenting skills
- Fathers’ engagement in their children’s lives
Partner Sites
Partner sites from across the United States participated in this demonstration grand and contributed to this Toolkit:
- Allegheny Intermediate Unit, Homestead, Penn.
- Children’s Home Good Beginnings, Peoria, Ill.
- Social Advocates for Youth (SAY)/Our Kids Count, Sand Diego, Calif.
- Youth in Need, St. Louis, Mo.
- Youth In Need, Warrenton, Mo.
Who Can Benefit From The Toolkit?
Anyone who provides services to fathers will find strategies and ideas to improve their practice and assess their agency’s performance.
- Learn how to gauge your agency’s father-friendliness.
- Discover how to encourage absent fathers to re-engage with their kids.
- Find strategies for discussing difficult issues, including domestic violence, military deployments, and economic instability.
- Learn to create synergy among your staff to support recruitment and retention of fathers and to strengthen communication with fathers.
- Learn how to talk with mothers about the important role of fathers in their children’s lives.
Resources for Professionals Working With Fathers
Information for 2011 Fatherhood Grantees about Parents as Teachers
This curriculum was developed for Strengthening Families and Fatherhood: Children of Fathers in the Criminal Justice System under the Innovation and Improvement Project grant from the Office of Head Start, Administration for Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.