Fathers and mothers can play unique but equally important roles in the lives of their children, and when families split up, the Dad’s Resource Center wants to encourage and support responsible fathers in maintaining active, healthy relationships with their kids.
The new Centre County nonprofit organization recently launched its website as a resource center for fathers in separated families with the ultimate goal of promoting healthy relationships for children with both parents.
‘We are an organization committed to providing education, resources and advocacy for fathers and separated families,’ said Jeff Steiner, executive director. ‘What we’re looking to do is help prepare fathers and give them the information they need and resources if possible to be able to successfully navigate the legal and human services systems.’
The center was established as a nonprofit organization about two years ago by AccuWeather founder and CEO Joel Myers. He said the idea grew from discussions with single dads about their experiences and the importance of a father’s role in a child’s life.
He also said it was important that the center’s goal be focused on healthy relationships for children and to be supportive of mothers.
‘We wanted to make very clear we’re not a ‘father’s rights’ group or anything like that,’ Myers said. ‘We’re not trying to cause any strife —just the opposite. We want to be a positive force for children.
‘[The center] fully supports mothers, but also shares the importance of dads and provides support for fathers who may get in a situation where they don’t know what to do, to be aware of situations they may face and to help them and other people who want to have well-adjusted children have another mechanism to achieve our goal.’
Steiner was brought in back in January to get the center off the ground. A married father of two, he previously worked in human services for children and families, including Family Intervention and Crisis Services in Centre County and as executive director of the Bellefonte Family Resource Center. He’s also been manager and executive director of small nonprofits.
He’s brought those experiences together for his new role, as both the administrator of the center and as someone with first-hand knowledge of the experiences fathers encounter.
‘There really isn’t anything out there for fathers, and what we’ve identified is the need for a voice, someone to speak on behalf of fathers, an organization to advocate for fathers and to be in their corner,’ he said.
The website addresses a variety of issues. It includes information about research into the roles dads play in a child’s development. There’s advice on what comes after separation, as well as family reorganization. It delves into processes for custody arrangements, mediation and domestic relations. There’s advice and tools for successful co-parenting and growing as a single father.
‘One of the big concerns is that initial entrance into the system,’ Steiner said. ‘At the initial point a nuclear family dissolves, a divorce, whatever it may be, the things that occur right at the beginning can set the precedent that takes hold. It’s really important that fathers know what’s coming, plan ahead and have a vision of what they want and make good decisions at the beginning.’
It also provides information on domestic violence and protection from abuse orders, offering information and resources and making clear that acts of violence by either parent are unacceptable.
‘There is absolutely no excuse and no reason for any kind of physical or mental abuse,’ Myers said. ‘We make that very, very clear and stand hand-in-hand with the Women’s Resource Center and all agencies and groups against mental and physical abuse. There is no excuse for it.’
The center aims to help fathers understand or accept that they, too, can be victims of domestic violence.
With his experience working in human services, Steiner recognized the importance of collaborating with the many agencies involved in child and family relations.
That included working closely with the Centre County Women’s Resource Center. Executive Director Anne Ard said Steiner was eager to work with her ‘in a way that understands some of the dynamics that we work with at the Women’s Resource Center, which is, for example, the issues of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse and those kinds of things.’
After Steiner shared his vision for the Dad’s Resource Center, Ard invited him to meet with the Centre County Domestic and Sexual Violence Task Force, a group that Steiner is now part of.
Ard said Steiner took the recommendations from the task force and her center to heart.
‘He took really seriously the feedback that got generated from the task force in terms of, for example, what are the issues when there is a protection order in place, what do you need to be paying attention to, what should you do, what should you not do if a protection order is in place,’ she said. ‘He’s really taken that to heart and incorporated that into the website so we’re sure people are getting accurate information.’
The goals of the Women’s Resource Center and the Dad’s Resource Center aren’t identical, Ard said, but they are similar in important ways.
‘We want dads, whether they are in partnership with a significant other or if those relationships have ended, we want everyone to have healthy relationships with their kids,’ Ard said. ‘From my perspective, and I think from Jeff’s as well, a key component of that is having a healthy relationship with the other parent of your children. That goes both ways. That’s true regardless of gender.’
An example Ard cited is the Women’s Resource Center’s Child Access Center, a custody exchange and supervised visitation location. She said the goals for that center include that everyone be treated with respect and to promote the health and safety of everyone in the family.
‘Part of what we were hoping the Dad’s Resource Center would do, and I think Jeff is committed to this, is give accurate information to dads about some of the things we do, the processes we use, how we work with people, what the resources are,’ Ard said. ‘There are links off their website so I think that’s a positive thing.’
Myers said Steiner’s work with the Women’s Resource Center and other agencies is key to what the Dad’s Resource Center hopes to achieve.
‘We want to be cooperative and work with the established institutions, the court system, the Women’s Resource Center, Children and Youth and all of these groups to accomplish this and make a better life for children in homes that come apart,’ Myers said, adding that considerable time was spent making sure that the information on the website crafted a positive and helpful message that incorporated the feedback from various agencies.
In the long-term, Myers said he expects the center to be a successful model that can be rolled out to nearby counties, then across the state and, eventually, nationally.
Steiner said that over time he hopes the center can expand what it offers, including possible legal assistance for fathers with limited financial means.
He also wants to see the center help develop a community of fathers who can support one another and share their experiences about what worked for them and what mistakes they may have made.
‘We really want to be able to develop a community and have fathers play an increasing role in helping other single fathers succeed,’ Steiner said.
Ard, meanwhile, said she expects the Women’s Resource Center and Dad’s Resource Center will be able to work in partnership.
‘Our goal is a healthy family. We want each parent to have a good, healthy relationship with their kids. We want them to have a civil and respectful relationship with their child’s other parent,’ Ard said. ‘From our perspective if there is violence in a relationship that violence has to be addressed first before any of those other things are going to be able to happen. I think that’s something the folks at the Dad’s Resource Center would agree with. We’re looking for ways to work together to help families be healthier.’
For more on the Dad’s Resource Center, visit dadsrc.org.
