The Addison County Parent/Child Center has gained national recognition for its pioneering efforts to involve young men in the lives of their children by offering them job-training at a local garage as well as family-support services. The program also is aimed at preventing young men from becoming fathers before they are ready.
Young men have been a top priority in all our programs, especially since 1988 when we were awarded a five year grant from the Office of Adolescent Family Life to focus in on this population. The men involved have included disadvantaged, never-married non-custodial fathers, separated or divorced non-custodial fathers, as well as fathers living with their children or the children of other men.
Most of the people in our program are very low income and have limited educational and vocational experience. Many struggle with alcohol and drug use issues. They often have significant mental health issues with a very high percentage having experienced physical and/or sexual abuse. Many have spent at least some time in foster care. A high percentage of the men in our program have been involved with the legal system and are either on probation or have cases pending. Most range in age from teens to early thirties.
Over the years the Center's programs have evolved to include a greater emphasis on fathers. This was supported in 1989 by a five year grant from the Office of Adolescent Family Life (AFL) which funded the development of the Center's DADS (Diapers, Autos, Daughters and Sons) Program. This grant revolved around an intensive parent/ vocational training program which involved opening a professional car cleaning business as a job training site. "DADS Detailing" is located near the P/CC and offers both on-the-job training as well as classes and groups to participants in this program. The DADS Grant also provided resources to do the necessary outreach to "track down" these young fathers.
When the DADS program began, the Center was well prepared for this enhanced focus on men. Philosophically, we had always maintained a family focus to our work, involving both partners and extended family in our support services. We believed that men deserved and needed to have a strong role in the lives of their children. Practically, we knew that their support, both emotional and financial, was essential to the health and well-being of their children and families.
As with other Center programs, DADS evolved and changed to meet the needs of the program participants. Initially most of the men joined because of the job training aspects of the program but gradually most came to value the parent and relationship training as much as the vocational focus. Perhaps the most important changes dealt with the breaking down of gender roles in Center programs. Programs that traditionally seemed to be more attractive to the young women soon had young fathers involved and the DADS work-sites soon had young women participating. Program participants, both male and female, now work in the kitchen preparing meals, in childcare with young children ages birth to three years old, and in the DADS car detailing business. Together they plan menus, games and activities for the Center's regularly held family nights.
We have found that direct role modeling is critical if we are truly to be a program that welcomes men and provides them with the opportunity to make positive change in their lives. Toward this end, the Center has consistently maintained a staff of between 20% and 35% men. Since its inception in 1979, men have served as child care providers, parent trainers, social workers and van drivers. The organizational structure of the P/CC is such that all staff have at least some direct service component to their job. We all fill in for each other where needed. This provides program participants with the opportunity to see men and women working together in both traditional and non-traditional roles and creates an environment where they feel more free to try out new roles themselves.Group and/or individual therapy offers men and women the chance to work on problems of child rearing, relationship and family issues, alcohol and drug problems and building positive communication skills. Job training and education programs offer everyone encouragement to complete high school, start college and/or find employment.
Men who do not participate in the Center's in-house programs are served through home visiting by outreach workers and in groups for at-risk teenagers conducted by Center outreach workers in area high schools.
The Center staff works closely with other county agencies to provide services to fathers and assumes leadership roles on the District Management Team (managers of all county agencies meet monthly), the Human Services Council and the Early Childhood Network. Regular meetings are held with Vermont Departments of Employment and Training, Social Welfare, Social and Rehabilitative Services, Motor Vehicles, as well as the school guidance counselors, teachers and administrators, the court system, physicians, home health and other agency representatives. Referrals are made to the Parent/Child Center from all the agencies listed and the P/CC staff utilize the services of all the above agencies in working with young men. Center staff are often able to mediate successfully for participants who may have difficulties in dealing with another agency. Through this interaction, the participant learns how to advocate for him/herself and acquires the tools for working out problems that may arise in the future.
The DADS Program has served as a model for other programs working to involve fathers both in Vermont and across the U.S. It was chosen as one of fourteen model programs in the U.S. that provide quality programming for fathers and was highlighted in the book, Getting Men Involved: Strategies for Early Childhood Programs, written by James Levine, et al. In 1993 alone, the Addison County Parent/Child Center was recognized for the quality of its programs by the following institutions or organizations: Bank Street College, the National Association for Family Based Services, Child Welfare League of America, the National Resource Center for Family Support Programs of the Family Resource Coalition, and the Children's Defense Fund.