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Every day in Schuylkill County children struggle to grow into happy and productive adults without the guidance, love and support of their father. It costs the children dearly and it costs our society dearly as well. We believe fathers should raise their own children. But right now, society bears the responsibility of being surrogate fathers to far too many children. According to a recent report on the federal cost of father absence, we are paying in federal tax dollars up to $55,866 for every one of the 129,200 fatherless families in Pennsylvania that are in poverty, every year. For each of the fathers presently incarcerated, we pay $30,000 per year more. Presently, in Pennsylvania, 465,000 children are growing up in poverty and another is born into poverty every 19 minutes. Unless we do something now, there is no end to how much we´ll spend or how long we´ll spend it raising other men´s children. The Schuylkill County Fatherhood Task Force has been formed to turn absent fathers into active fathers who raise their own children. We have the opportunity and the responsibility to create effective programs in our community that will give fathers the information and tools they need to be responsible to their children, thereby saving the public cost of supporting father-absent households and giving children every opportunity to succeed. The Schuylkill Fatherhood Task Force was created to assess the needs of the community and the services available to improve fatherhood. Through partnerships and effective program development, the primary goal is to establish new or supplement existing programs aimed at helping fathers of all walks of life in Schuylkill County to become better parents to their children. The Task Force will act as a guide to assure that the most important needs of fathers and children are met to produce outcomes that show the effectiveness of the outreach. Further, the Task Force will work to raise awareness of the critical importance of fatherhood to children and the community, in an effort to make absent fathers a positive part of their children´s lives and to make good fathers even better. With financial resources made available through the National Responsible Fatherhood Capacity Building Initiative (NRFCBI), curricula for a variety of fathers will be able to be implemented through existing agencies and organizations in the county. Those agencies that serve children and fathers most in need will have the opportunity to partner with the Schuylkill County Fatherhood Task Force to provide fatherhood services in Schuylkill County. The grant funding will further provide technical assistance and organizational development to the Task Force and community leaders with the goal to better develop Fatherhood programs that are sustainable beyond the timeframe of the grant. Fatherhood in Local Media
| Do you need Fathering assistance? Could you use some additional information on how to be the best Dad for your child? Contact Clinical Outcomes Group, Inc. to help you find the resources you need.
Fathering Program Held50 representatives of a wide variety of child welfare, faith-based, education and social welfare agencies took part in a Fathering Program on April 14th at Penn State Schuylkill, co-sponsored by Clinical Outcomes Group, Inc., Schuylkill County´s VISION and Temple University. Speaker Dr. Jay Fagan presented data and practical methods of further engaging fathers in services. His presentation is available upon request by contacting Clinical Outcomes Group, Inc. For BusinessesBy clicking on the link above labeled For Business you can reach the National Fatherhood Initiative. The staff of the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) provides you with the Father Friendly Check-Up™ for Business. This on-line survey will help you assess the degree to which your business´ operations include helping fathers find a successful balance between the demands of their jobs and the commitments to their families. Did you know that 7 out of 10 fathers say they would take a pay cut if it meant they could have more time with their families? NFI believes this is an indication that fathers, like mothers, are looking for new ways to balance work and family. This survey is designed to help the dads in your company! For Child Welfare AgenciesSee below attachment. This assessment was designed to help child welfare agencies and organizations take an active, positive approach in creating an environment that involves fathers and fosters the healthy development of children. It will help the agency set goals and identify priorities that are unique to the organization´s way of serving children and families. Please consider completing the check-up as an individual or as part of a group staff assignment explore how you can improve the way you serve fathers. This Father Friendly Check-up is a very positive first step to improving how we serve fathers and help children in Schuylkill and surrounding counties. StatisticsFatherless children in Pennsylvania are also paying a high price for father absence. •Fatherless children are two times more likely to drop out of school as their classmates who live with two parents. •Fatherless children are 11 times more likely than are children from intact families to exhibit violent behavior. •Three of four teen suicides occur in single-parent families. •Eighty percent of the adolescents in psychiatric hospitals come from fatherless homes. •Compared to girls raised in home where both parents are present, daughters of single parents are 164% more likely to become pregnant before marriage. •The absence of a biological father also increases by 900% a daughter´s vulnerability to rape and sexual abuse (often by stepfathers or the boyfriends of custodial mothers). |
VISION Fatherhood Article 4-11-10