Fatherhood or Father-in-the-Hood?
Raymond Coates-EL is a family support worker at the North Capitol Collaborative. Based on his personal experiences, he recognized the need to help fathers in this collaborative connect and strengthen their ties to their children. When he was paroled from prison, he had a hard time reestablishing a relationship with his son who lived with his son's mother. Mr. Coates-EL had no one to help him.
At the time of his release from prison, his parole officer asked him a lot of questions like, "Where are you going to live?" "Do you have a job?" and "How are you going to find a job?" But, Mr. Coates-EL said, "The parole officer didn't ask me if I have any children. And, in some ways, my son was one of my potential lifelines. My son could be a reason for me to be successful."
Later, as a family support worker, he became aware of how few men were a part of the lives of their children who were involved with the child welfare system. He didn't think that was good for the children, or for the men themselves, for that matter.
He thought the situation was only going to get worse. For example, during 2002, approximately 2,500 ex-felon men returned to the District of Columbia from prison, and many-if not most-are fathers. Would they reconnect with their children? If not, how could the collaborative help these men do so in positive ways?
Mr. Coates-EL proposed to the North Capitol Collaborative and the CFSA an outreach program to fathers whose children are (or are at risk of becoming) involved in the child welfare system and took on an additional job responsibility as the Coordinator for the program "Daddy's Here."
Characteristics and components
The program, which began in 2000, is for fathers, most of whom do not live with their children. So far, 271 men have participated (with an estimated 65 percent repeat rate in the support groups noted below). Only three of the men who participated lived with their children. Mr. Coates-EL recruited participants through outreach with homeless men and those who resided in halfway houses where men live as they adjust from prison to community life.
The most important component is the educational and support groups. The group focuses on fathers' involvement in the lives of their children. To do this, participants define the meaning of maleness, being a man, and being a father-fatherhood versus "father-in-the-hood." They talk about difficulties they are having in handling their children and share their successes. They discuss the barriers they have to showing love and affection. They also develop practical plans for reaching out to their children, such as buying school supplies.
The support groups also focus on other life needs-such as job linkages. Daddy's Here works with several job training programs and job referral programs, including Jubilee Jobs, Jobs DC, and Strive.
Initially, the support groups used discussion and sharing, but recently, Mr. Coates-EL and his colleagues have developed a culturally competent curriculum that they use to cover important topics. For example, one focus of the curriculum is the images of fatherhood. Mr. Coates-EL asked, "Do you want to be the man on the corner in expensive shoes hustling? If so, your kid is learning the art of hustling from you. That's one image of fatherhood your kid can learn. Do you want to be the man who simply buys a pair of tennis shoes for your kid, or do you want to be involved in teaching him some important things about life?"
The groups meet at two different neighborhood sites in the District of Columbia. The program is working with local agencies to establish a new, open, and neutral meeting place and space for individual consultation.
Daddy's Here also establishes direct links between the North Capitol Collaborative, the fathers, and other agencies and programs including Child Support Enforcement, the D.C. Department of Employment Services, and the Court Services and Offenders Services Agency (parole and probation). These connections are important because these agencies serve the same population, and, through these relationships, Mr. Coates-EL and other North Capitol Collaborative staff can advocate for their clients.
Planning for the future
What's next? "We've been very successful so far. We've already learned a lot in a short time," Mr. Coates-EL explains, "But we've learned that if we're going to be even more helpful to our men, we need to be able to provide them with case management services."
Many of the men are at the fringes of being reintegrated into their community; it is often difficult to keep track of them and maintain their involvement in an organized and productive way.
"These men really need case management to help them access necessary services, for example, employment, counseling, and wrap-around services," Mr. Coates-EL continued. "We use a team approach; the client and the facilitator identify his strengths and needs. Then the team focuses on the identified need, such as employment, or mental health issues, and wraps services and supports around the client to help him achieve his goals."
Mr. Coates-EL is planning a retreat with participants and community stakeholders to evaluate the program: what's working and what is not, how to shape services to meet the changing needs of the target population, and the program's growth needs. Clearly his program in the Collaborative cannot meet all the needs of the city. In fact, in May 2002, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams announced plans to create a citywide Father Initiative with initial funding of $1,000,000.
