Dads Making A Difference
The Dads Making a Difference program is designed for fathers and male role models in a child’s life.
The mission of Dads Making a Difference is to provide resources to help ensure that fathers and significant men involved in the life of a child are having a positive impact on their children’s lives.
The Dads Making a Difference program has three primary goals:
- Fathers will provide nurturing parenting to their children.
- Fathers will improve their ability to develop and maintain a healthy relationship with adults involved in their child’s life.
- Fathers will contribute to the support of their children, to the fullest extent of their abilities.
This program will incorporate both home visits and groups. All fathers, including teenage fathers, living in Providence, Pawtucket, or Central Falls are eligible for this program. Services are available in English and Spanish.
Dads Making a Difference program offers:
- Services for 75 fathers with at least one child under the age of 8 in Providence, Pawtucket, Cranston, and Central Falls
- Weekly home visits focusing on goal-oriented parenting skills, relationships with other primary caregivers, and self-sufficiency
- Weekly thematic socialization group options for fathers and their children. Topics include child nutrition, discipline, stress management, record expungement, and more
- An on-staff Employment Specialist in order to further self-sufficiency goals, and a coach to work on organizational and parenting skills
- Opportunities to bond with their children through free, fun, educational activities such as field trips to the Providence Children’s Museum, apple picking, baseball games, and more
- Referral support to other services and resources both inside and outside of Children’s Friend
There are no insurance or income guidelines, although our goal is to provide services to the most vulnerable families. Incarcerated fathers are also encouraged to participate in this program.
To enroll in the program, interested fathers should contact the Dads Making a Difference supervisor, Alex Karoff-Hunger, at 401-752-7625, or email him at akaroff-hunger@cfsri.org. They will also gladly accept referrals from other organizations serving families in our communities.
Celebrating Fathers
Dads I Admire is an online picture book (created with the collaborative storytelling site Storybird.com) to share with your kids about the important role of being a father–created by dad, Jon Keller and illustrated by Nidhi Chanani. Jon Keller also works with the Dads Making a Difference Program at Children’s Friend.
