Fathers And Families Outline Their Vision

Joe Dunbar recently attended an important meeting of the Fathers and Families organization, led by Ned Holstein. A description of their plans, both in philosophy and in specific goals are readable by clicking "Read More" below. Especially noteworthy is their formation of a Father's Legal Defense Fund. FAF and Ned have demonstrated a lot of initiative and an ability to work with other father's rights groups in a very synergistic manner, and I think we can expect to see much more from this group. FAF meeting summary, Wed., January 24, 2001 in Woburn, MA



Ned Holstein's Fathers and Families meeting was well planned and very
encouraging as he shared their new 2001 plan for open discussion. It was
exciting to hear most comments that went both ways as everyone tried to
maximize the impact this fund raising and strategic plan had to combat
fatherlessness. Ned was superb in promoting their New Vision: A Father for
Every Child. They started by emphasizing the importance of a short summarizing
Mission statement, and challenged us to improve on the following after many
good views showed just how hard it was:



Fathers and Families combats fatherlessness by advocating for the child-father
bond. We seek equal parenting rights and responsibilities for divorced or
never-married fathers and mothers.



The vision was shaped as they addressed The Problem: Fatherless Children.
``Half of all American children are growing up without a father because their
parents are divorced or never-married''



The plans and problem were serious, and their need to employ a more
professional approach instead of relying strictly on volunteers was apparent.
Their focused with Five Tools for Social Change: 1) Fathers Legal Defense Fund,
2) Lobbying Presence, 3) Public Relations, 4) Research Arm, 5) Member Services:
attorney referrals, newsletter, website, etc. And determined: Fathers and
Families is the only fatherhood organization with a comprehensive strategy to
fight fatherlessness by promoting shared parenting, eliminating gender bias
from family policy, and securing equal rights for all parents.



Everyone got their say as Ned eagerly sought out our suggestions, and
graciously shared their reasoning from the professional staff that had worked
at this plan over the last six months. Actually Ned's been at it for several
years as he recited his beginnings in CPF. He welcomed their eager
participation to join in helping as Town Captains to organize calls and a
letter writing campaign for the four legislative bills FaF recently introduced.
It was the best Fathers meeting I've been to, and certainly not the last as I
was eager to sign on as a Town Captain and anxious to hear more. I'd imagine
their web site will be back soon, showing the polished plan that many will want
to promote. I'm curious on other's take on this and what we can do to further support
Fathers and Families.



Great job Ned!



-- Joe Dunbar, joewdunbar@hotmail.com

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