Father’s Day Spotlight: The Dads Resource Center

This story originally appeared in the Centre County Gazette.

STATE COLLEGE — In the United States, 34% of children, or 23.6 million, live in single-parent families, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Of those, 866,000 children live in Pennsylvania.

Father’s Day serves as a time to recognize the role of father figures, including those whose family dynamics have been disrupted. In Centre County, one organization serves as a local resource, aiming to support single fathers and improve the well-being of their children.

The Dads Resource Center, a State College-based organization established by Joel N. Myers, the founder and CEO of AccuWeather, advocates for the importance of fathers having fair opportunities to fulfill their role in fatherhood.

“Dr. Myers established the Dads Resource Center in 2015 to provide education, resources and advocacy for single fathers struggling to be in the lives of their children due to family court, county and human service systems,” Jeff Steiner, executive director of the DRC, said. “This is done as a nonprofit without financial support from traditional sources of funding for children and family programs, such as state and federal aid.”

The resource center’s goal is to ensure that children have both parents fully engaged throughout their childhood to give kids the best chance at a happy and successful life. The DRC provides mentoring and coaching for fathers while connecting them to additional resources and programs that could further aid their situation.

“Since our inception, 250+ fathers have reached out to us. A common theme when you talk to those who have gone through this is they want to do something to keep others from having similar experiences and to ensure children benefit from having both their mother and their father involved in the upbringing,” Steiner noted. “This is why the DRC was founded.”

The DRC helps fathers who are new to the system understand the processes, where to go and what to file. They provide guidance on what to look for, what to be prepared for and how to select a lawyer or custody evaluator.

“This is important because if they are reaching out to us, there almost is never a short-term resolution. Some are mentally prepared for the long journey ahead of them, some are not,” Steiner emphasized. “We try to connect them with other fathers who share some similarities and try to give them opportunities to help in some way.”

For the DRC, policy and advocacy go hand in hand. The organization has served on the Pennsylvania Child Welfare Board, the Advisory Board for the Pennsylvania Office of Child Support and the Centre County Sexual and Domestic Task Force. Steiner explained that the DRC was also a leader in passing legislation to establish the Pennsylvania Advisory Committee on Greater Father Involvement, with Steiner serving as chair of the committee.

“We have had many collaborations in our advocacy efforts,” Steiner noted, “including the National Parents Organization, Wisconsin for Children and Families, OurChildrenHaveRights.org, the Strong Families Commission and the Allegheny Family Services. Locally, we did a series of (protection from abuse order) informational videos with a magisterial judge, sheriff, attorney and service provider.”

Upcoming, the DRC is organizing and will be hosting a rural listening session for fathers by the Federal Administration of Children and Families in Harrisburg on Thursday, June 27.

Operating virtually, the DRC can be contacted by fathers, on behalf of fathers or by those interested in supporting the organization further via email at info@dadsrc.org, voicemail at 833-323-7748 or online at dadsrc.org.