1 / 13

Montgomery County Fatherhood Initiative: An educational approach

Learn about the effects of father absence on children and the efforts of Montgomery County Department of Job & Family Services (MCDJFS) to address this issue. Discover how MCDJFS is collaborating with local agencies, reviewing policies, and educating staff to support fathers. Despite challenges, such as apathy and resistance to change, MCDJFS is working towards empowering fathers and building stronger families through outreach and collaboration.

joshuarichardson
Download Presentation

Montgomery County Fatherhood Initiative: An educational approach

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Montgomery County Fatherhood Initiative: An educational approach

  2. The Effects of Father Absence • COSTS • Children of father-absent homes are: • five times more likely to live in poverty • three times more likely to fail in school • two times more likely to develop emotional or behavioral problems • two times more likely to abuse drugs • two times more likely to be abused and neglected • two times more likely to become involved in crime • three times more likely to commit suicide

  3. Montgomery County Department of Job & Family Services (MCDJFS) is… • Collaborating with local agencies to get fathers linked to services such as Legal Assistance, Employment, and Visitation/Custody information.

  4. Montgomery County Department of Job & Family Services (MCDJFS) is… • Reviewing all MCDJFS policies to ensure their father-friendliness (e.g., Children’s Services’ Diligent Search policy).

  5. MCDJFS is… • Educating MCDJFS staff on all things fatherhood through unit meetings, management meetings, and groups such as diversity.

  6. MCDJFS is…doing LOTS of Out-reach • Prisons • High Schools • Churches

  7. MCDJFS is… • Applying for grants that call for collaboration with community partners.

  8. Despite our best efforts… • There have been a few setbacks. • Pitfalls we have dealt with…

  9. Apathy • Not only our agency, but other agencies with which we are partnering have their daily operations, and a challenging economy, to concern themselves with. • Therefore, they do not always want to spend time or resources on programs like fatherhood. Making agencies understand how involved fathers will make their job easier is vital.

  10. Father fury • Many Dads do not like to deal with anything that has to do with “the system,” child support, or their EX. Educating fathers on system navigation is extremely important.

  11. Resistance to change • Organizational change is always difficult to implement. That is why internal education is the key.

  12. Overcoming barriers • Sell the program as a family initiative. • Collaborate as much as possible. There is power in numbers. • Celebrate and publicize the small victories.

  13. Questions? • Mike Newsom • newsom@odjfs.state.oh.us • 937-496-7569

More Related