In August, I attended an Early Learning Quality Improvement Network meeting in Washington, DC with local education leaders. At this meeting, David Jones, Fatherhood Specialist at the Office of Head Start, talked with the audience about engaging fathers in Early Head Start. I was quickly drawn in as Jones shared his mission to help fathers who were struggling to embrace the responsibilities associated with fatherhood. He told stories from his time as Director of the Bronx Fatherhood Program, a program in New York serving 16-to 24-year-old non-custodial fathers. Jones described the barriers that exist to engaging fathers in their child’s education, including beliefs about parent and teacher roles, as well as rigid gender roles. Many of the fathers he worked with felt misunderstood or disrespected in early care settings. Jones also shared success stories of fathers in his program, like one father he worked with who was able to stay out of prison and remain present in his daughter’s life by using the anger management skills he gained during the fatherhood program.
Head Start, the nation’s oldest and largest public early childhood education program, has a long history of acknowledging that fathers and father figures are important contributors to children’s school readiness and well-being. In 1995 the Office of Head Start launched the Fatherhood Initiative in response to the Clinton Administration’s introduction of a government-wide initiative to strengthen the role of fathers in families. Then, in 2001, the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), funded 21 Early Head Start fatherhood demonstration projects to increase father involvement. In 2004, the Office of Head Start (OHS) introduced Building Blocks for Father Involvement to the Head Start community with the goal of improving services for fathers and increasing their involvement in Head Start.