“Absentee fathers are one of America’s largest social problems, and nobody should believe a new program to deal with it will have an immediate or significant impact.” This quote is from “A father’s involvement,” a Nov. 14 editorial by Jack Ryan.
The editorial said that a pilot program, Mississippi’s Fatherhood Initiative Program, started in July in four counties. It was very informative.
The reason for the program, and I quote: “The idea is to help parents, mostly men, who do not have custody of their child and who have fallen three months or more behind in child-support payments. A second goal is to each any tensions between the two parents in the hope of getting fathers more involved with their children.”
The editorial also said that there’s another pilot program that’s a year old, called AFIRM, in Tennessee. This program, and I quote from the editorial, “offers non-custodial parents employment training along with eight weeks of ‘fatherhood training.’ ”
AFIRM stands for A Father’s Involvement Really Matters.
I had to point out these things in the editorial to help explain my point of view. I do appreciate and understand there are programs in place to help fathers. Especially if is to benefit the child or children.
My question is, what about the fathers who are paying child support and who are involved in the child’s life, and others who want to be but because of issues sometimes face a fight?
These fathers should be encouraged for stepping up to the plate. When I see a man working, I ask him if I can pray for him. I ask him if he has a wife and children, and if he does, I pray for them too. I’ve never been refused.
Let’s not forget about these fathers. Let’s pray for them and encourage them.
“A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society.” — Billy Graham.
— Cynthia McGhee, Summit
