Fathers Who Care

From the Desk of…

Min. Walter Amir Jones, Jr.

“REFLECTIONS”

This “PROSPECTIVE” is being written to encourage and support fathers and their rights around the country. Why?  Because for so long fathers have been given a raw deal and sometimes even a black eye, in the mist of being the very best fathers that they can be considering their environmental barriers and circumstances.  For these reasons and our compassion to empowering and strengthen families, we are dedicating this editorial to and in support of fathers. (We welcome and encourage your constructive feedback).

Who are we?  We are the Fathers who assist in the nurturing and rearing of our children.  We are FathersWhoCare.org.  WHO ARE WE?  We are the Fathers who help our children to grow up healthy in spirit, body and mind.  We are FathersWhoCare.org.  WHO ARE WE?  We are the Fathers that build and maintain a strong bond with our children, We are FathersWhoCare.org.  WHO ARE WE?  We are the Fathers who help to build our children’s image of self and their self-esteem.  We are FathersWhoCare.org.  WHO ARE WE?  We are the Fathers who provide financial and emotional support to our children.  We are FathersWhoCare.org.  Now that you know who we are in the lives of our children, WHO ARE YOU?

We acknowledge and understand that there are individuals in our country who may not be particularly sensitive to the plight of fathers or even may ask the question, “Why are we or should we be concern with the plight of fathers in today’s economic hardships.

Of course this is a simple and rather mindless thought, in our opinion, however, for the purpose of communicating with those of you who may share this opinion, we will address these concerns before we present to you the real issues around empowering fathers during these hectic economic times in our country.

Regarding the question on why should we be concerned about the plight of fathers during today’s economic hardships:

According to a study conducted by the Erikson Institute on Fathers providing Economic Support, “one of the most interesting findings to emerge from this study concerns the provision of economic support.  It reads in part, despite the fact that only 52% of all fathers have worked in the past two years, 69% contributed some form of financial assistance to the family.  The rates of both employment and financial provision were highest for those fathers who were not cohabitating, but were still involved with the mother.

Although only 35% of fathers who were no longer involved with the mother were employed, over 62% of them managed to provide some measure of economic support.  Mothers reported that 66% of fathers were reliable providers of financial and material support.  When asked how satisfied they were with the father’s role; a strong relationship emerged between mothers’ satisfaction and the fathers’ provider behaviors.  In fact, mothers’ satisfaction with fathers’ performance was more strongly related to the fulfillment of the provider roles.”

In essence, we are the Fathers who have provided the needed assistance in order to maintain, encourage and foster the positive and nurturing relationship with our children, in order to ensure and protect their confidence and sense of well-being.

Please note that today’s fathers are being torn between their love for their children and the fact that we are continuously being judged by how much money we make and that old tired definition of what it takes or means to be a man.  Most fathers are aware of the fact that they need to reach-out to their families through love and support, however, most men have been trained by society and particularly the media that if they cannot provide financial support for their families on a continuous basis then they are not considered a man.  Who gave these individuals the right to define fatherhood?  What are they doing to assist in empowering indigent fathers?  Yet we are influenced by what they say.

As a result, we have disenfranchised committed fathers from wanting to be good providers and husbands. Researchers have written that when fathers are given or take an active role in caring for and nurturing their children, the children actually grow up smarter. They also develop better skills in relating to people.

Moreover, children who live absent of their biological fathers, on average, are more likely to be poor, experience educational, health, emotional, and psychological problems, victims of child abuse, and engage in criminal behavior than their peers who live with their biological mother and father.

In closing, WHO ARE WE?  We are the fathers, willing and able to step to the plate to be acknowledged and respected as true Heads of our Families and the Leaders of our Tribes.

WE ARE FathersWhoCare.org.

Fathers Who Care
4540 W. Washington Blvd.
Chicago, Illinois 60624
Office: (773) 287-5821
Fax: (773) 287-5853
email: info@fatherswhocare.org