Program helps fathers improve parenting skills

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Wings Family Supportive Services was recently awarded a $30,000 one-year start-up grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation to initiate a Father’s Resource Program.

The goal of the program is to provide support services and improve parenting skills for fathers.

The program is open to all low-income fathers, including those who are young, unmarried, incarcerated, or in need of parenting assistance.

“The goal is to give them the tools for developing that father-child bond that is so important to children,” said Dorie Twist, Wings executive director. “Often fathers just don’t get as much of an opportunity to be with or raise a child, so this will help them work on building their skills so they can plan an important role in their child’s life.”

Twist noted that the program will offer support groups, individual assessments and one-to-one support, assistance with job-seeking skills, assistance with finding necessary resources, conflict resolution, and more.

The program will also address:

• how a father and his child can establish a relationship and bond;

• the importance of a father’s involvement in his child’s life;

• multigenerational family dynamics and issues;

• focusing on the personal needs of a father;

• overcoming barriers to being a positive role model.

The program will also offer support in accessing social services and community programs, as needed.

According to program organizers, father involvement is associated with less substance abuse among adolescents, less delinquency, drug use, truancy, stealing and a lower frequency of externalizing and internalizing symptoms such as acting out, disruptive behavior, depression, sadness and lying.

In younger children, having an active father in their life leads to the child having greater empathy, less gender role stereotyping, more awareness of needs and rights of others, higher self-esteem, more self control and less impulsiveness.

?For more information, contact Dale Sarff, program coordinator, at (320) 763-3272 or dale@wingsfamilyservices.com.

Tags: father, parenting, skills, program