What is the Fathers Network and why does it exist?

 "Good fathering flows from the realization that being a father is important, vital, demanding, rewarding, and risky. Telling your story of what it is like to be your father’s son and your child’s father to another father and another, and listening to their stories in return is ultimately the only school for fathering."

-Lowell Streiker, Fathering: Old Game, New Rules

Celebrated author Kyle Pruett says that fathering is "the single most creative, complicated, fulfilling, frustrating, engrossing, enriching, depleting endeavor of a man’s adult life." Being a dad demands devotion, passion, and support. We know that men bring unique talents as well as remarkable expertise to the parenting process, and are critical to the health and well-being of their families. The Fathers Network advocates for and provides resources and support to all men who have children with special needs through:

• Development of statewide and national databases of fathers from diverse ethnic, racial, and geographic backgrounds;
  
• Development of father support and mentoring programs;
  
• Development of curriculum (monographs and videos) designed to enhance the involvement of fathers in the home and service provision (i.e., health care settings, schools);
  
• Participation of fathers in local, state, and national organizations, conferences, and workshops;
  
• Providing technical assistance to organizations and agencies so their services are increasingly "father friendly";
  
• Producing a three times a year state newsletter and quarterly e-newsletter, and this web site;
  
• Sponsoring local, regional and national conferences; and
  
• Developing printed and web materials in English and Spanish and other languages whenever possible.

The Fathers Network is a program of the Kindering Center, and is funded by the Office of Children with Special Health Care Needs/Washington State Department of Health, the Kindering Center, and private donations.

Thanks for joining us; we hope this site is useful and fun. Return often as materials are added on a weekly basis. Do become a part of one of the fastest growing support organizations in the United States. We look forward to your feedback.