Aim and objectives of Fatherhood Programs

What are fatherhood programs?

For active and optimal development of a child, it is necessary that the child receives a normal and healthy environment at home, which is only possible if both the mother and the father learn and understand the responsibilities of parenthood fully. The origin and concept of fatherhood programs is coined because in United States, more than 27 million children are living a life without any fatherly supervision and love that greatly impairs the psychological thinking and increase the risk of emotional and psychological problems in the children.

The aim and objectives of Fatherhood programs

The aim of most fatherhood programs is to orient fathers to learn parental skills that may help them in developing excellent bonding with their child. Most fatherhood programs have a multi-targeted approach.  An example would be categorizing the fathers in different age groups and according to the social background in an attempt to use more effective and efficient methodologies to deal with each group. This is primarily because the causes and circumstances of irresponsible behavior in each age group are different.

Most state level fatherhood programs have following categories:

• Young fathers: under 25 years of age
• Older fathers: over 25 years of age
• Other sub-groups deal with fathers who have a troubled past like drug-addiction history, criminal record or domestic violence.

What are the different services provided under fatherhood programs?

As discussed above, the target of most programs is to give rise to responsible and caring fathers who can make an effort to provide support and love to their children.

A variety of services are provided, which include but not limited to:

• Providing college studies and admission help to fathers who are under-educated and unemployed.
• The program helps, prepare and guide fathers to different organizations and associations for employment facilities and also conduct direct referrals depending upon the skill set and expertise of participants.
• Fathers are given a chance to learn basic parental skills as the program allows different fathers to discuss their stories and enable them to learn skills by peer counseling.
• Most importantly, fatherhood programs allow families to meet under-supervision and offer family counseling services and father-child counseling services for better understanding of the mutual relationship.
• All those fathers who have mood issues or anger issues are given anger management, stress management and meditation training to deal better with their kids.
• In helping fathers to deal with issues with child custody and in assisting the permission regarding child visitation and similar issues.
• These fatherhood programs also help fathers to deal with their social and personal issues that may interfere with their relationship to the children in the family.
• These programs also support and fund projects to complete school and to seek entry level positions to at least make a start, to make sure fathers are able to fund and feed their children.

How to get enroll in a fatherhood program?

This greatly varies according to the program and its specifics. There are a number of functional and active fatherhood programs at national and international level, but if you just need a discussion forum to learn how to be a better father, you can join a local fatherhood program.