The South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families

SC Center for Fathers and Families, local Fatherhood Programs and fathers attend White House Sponsored Event.

The South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families, Midlands Fatherhood Coalition and Upstate Fatherhood Coalition participated in the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships Roundtable and Community Forum on Responsible Fatherhood and Strong Communities on December 15, 2009 at Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia. 

Lisa Potts, Policy Office director and Pat Littlejohn, executive director of the Center participated in a Policy and Programming roundtable discussion and had the opportunity to specifically address issues related to fathers and the child support system.  Midlands Fatherhood Coalition executive director Angela Tolbert and site directors Charles Brown and Keith Ivey, three fathers, and site directors Tommy Rice and Andre McCullough of the Upstate Fatherhood Coalition joined in for the Community Forum.  During the larger town-hall style meeting, three fathers from the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition, Mr. Donald Moore, Mr.Tony Bockus and Mr. Edward Harper, each addressed a Fatherhood Panel, US Attorney General Eric Holder, Joshua DuBois, executive director, White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and Mr. Michael Strautmanis, chief of staff, White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs. In front of an audience nearing 300 of distinguished guests, community and national leaders and fatherhood practitioners, each father shared a personal testimony of their challenges, benefits of the fatherhood program and one father specifically addressed the need for reform of the child support system. Mr. Strautmanis recognized the Midlands Fatherhood Coalition leadership for their great work supporting the fathers who were present. 

Attorney General Eric Holder briefly addressed the audience as did President Obama through a special videotaped message.

The event, co-sponsored by the While House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and the US Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Assistance, is a part of a national ongoing conversation on responsible fatherhood initiated by President Barack Obama in June.
 

Father to Father Georgetown and the SC Center for Fathers and Families Receive Federal Grant

The South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families recently announced that it is a recipient of a Special Improvement Project grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Support Enforcement.  The grant funds will be targeted to assist Father to Father Georgetown in implementing an alternative to incarceration for low-income fathers who are unemployed or underemployed and who owe child support.

“This project is the result of significant community collaboration to strengthen fathers so they can provide for their children,” comments Dwayne Edwards, executive director of Father to Father Georgetown.  Under this project, eligible fathers may be court-ordered by a Family Court Judge to Father to Father Georgetown in lieu of incarceration for failure to pay child support.  Fathers must obtain employment or enroll in job training, begin paying child support and participate weekly in the program for six months.  As a result of the partnership between Waccamaw Workforce Investment Administrators, Georgetown One-Stop, Horry Georgetown Technical College and Father to Father Georgetown, fathers may receive welder certification training to develop a job skill that is needed in the area.  Father to Father will also assist fathers in job readiness, financial management, managing child support and addressing barriers to employment.  The program not only addresses the importance of a father providing financially for his children as a result of employment but also addresses all aspects of responsible fatherhood.  Court-ordered fathers who fail to comply with the program requirements will be reported to Family Court and will be ruled back into court.

While incarceration is a necessary and workable approach for some delinquent child support payers, incarceration for others does not solve problems nor increases child support payments which is what the project aims to do.  “Instead of spending tax dollars to incarcerate fathers, the project will help fathers get a specific job skill, secure livable wage employment, and provide for their family,” adds Edwards.  

Father to Father Georgetown will work closely with the SC Center for Fathers and Families to evaluate the program and to help make the project one that can be replicated nationally.

Father to Father Georgetown, originally established in 1998 under the leadership of the United Way of Georgetown, aims to serve approximately 120 low-income fathers annually.  Father to Father Georgetown is one of seven programs in 11 sites across the state and is part of a statewide fatherhood initiative supported and coordinated by the SC Center for Fathers and Families.

The cost of the project is $294,319 and is funded in full by federal funding sources. Thirty percent ($90,429) of project funding is from the Office of Child Support Enforcement at the US Department of Health and Human Services. 

South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families Recognized as a Promising Practice

The US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Family Assistance recently released a report, Emerging Findings from the Office of Family Assistance Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Grant Programs: A Review of Select Grantee Profiles and Promising Results, which features the South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families as a Promising Practice. 

To view the complete report, click here.