FATHERHOOD FIRST: Program helps men better lives, reconnect with kids

This article goes a long way toward portraying the majority of the fathers as bad guys (felons, drug users, etc) or at best irresponsible. Even if most of the men currently in the program, are or were irresponsible, that is not an accurate picture of absent fathers in general. There may also be some racial overtones.

Also, get a load of this quote:

"The fatherhood program is helping him with résumé writing and job-interview skills, but also has taught him and others about domestic violence and how to maintain a relationship with a woman"
-No doubt more indoctrination in the Duluth model.

I hope this article was not posted with the idea it is pro-male. Bush's program is definitely needed and a good idea, but the article itself is male-negative.

-ax

It is telling IMO how decadent this misandric culture is when what used to come naturally and as a given now has to be encouraged by government edict.
Sounds like the government realizes that squeezing the paste out of the tube wasn't such a good idea after all. And now they want it to go back into the tube? Lots of luck with that! They will soon discover it was far easier to get the paste out of the tube than getting it back in!

Marxist/Feminist inspired misandry always leads to destruction and regret! A lesson that will be learned the hard way.

axolotl took the words right out of my mouth.

I am not an expert on matters your side of the pond, but whenever I hear the words "federal funding" it rings alarm bells. Federal funding will only ever go to federal-approved activities, which means those adhering slavishly to the federal mind-set. And what is the federal mind-set when it comes to the relationship between fathers and their children?

You don't even have to read between the lines. It is staring you in the face:

"The Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Initiative is one of President George W. Bush's efforts to shore up families through marriage and parenting programs that help parents, especially men, overcome barriers to supporting their children financially and emotionally."

Note the priorities. Financial support first, then emotional.

And then:

"Our mission is to help fathers get work so they can better support themselves and particularly their children, and secondarily to reconnect fathers to the overall lives of their children," McPhail said."

There you go again. The real driver here is to MAKE DADS PAY MORE. There is no change in attitude: fathers are still just a cross between a workhorse, a sperm donor and a walking wallet. And still not be trusted with their own children because of the blind and insulting assumption that they are all violent abusers. No concern for their well-being, no concern to stop families getting broken in the first place, just incentives to GET MORE MONEY out of the mess following those breakages, by the expedient of stoking the workhorse up into being more efficient at making that money.

Also note that these grants "can be renewed annually if goals are met". But we are not told what those goals are. Want to bet that they have nothing whatsoever to do with increasing the time spent by fathers with their children, but everything to do with raking MORE MONEY out of the old workhorse?