Clarendon fathers recognised for their roles in children’s lives

Some 10 fathers from Clarendon were recently recognised by the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) for their involvement in their children’s lives.

Commenting on the initiative, Antonette Brooks, CPFSA team leader in Clarendon, said the decision was made to honour them during Parent Month because the national focus was on fathers, and so they wanted them to know that “we see them, we see the effort that they are making, and we want to encourage them to do what they are doing”.

She said the hope is that other fathers would follow their examples and see how important it is for fathers to be involved in the lives of their children and the critical role they play.

“Despite our Jamaican circumstances, where you have mothers playing the double-parent role, a mother really cannot take the place of a father, and so the fathers are very important in the lives of their children, whether or not they reside in the same home as their children,” Brooks said.

The fathers who were honoured were from the different programme areas within the agency – such as foster fathers; fathers of children who are or were in the childcare facilities; and fathers who had to taken on the role without the child’s mother.

TRAINING

“The training included ones we offer at the agency and this is ongoing for our parents, so these fathers, many of them would have been a part of our ongoing parent training, depending on their situations and the reason why their children would have come to our attention in the first place. For those who are foster fathers, they would have gone through our foster parent training, because we have a specific training that we do with our foster parent before they can be approved,” Brooks informed.

Brooks told The Gleaner that it was a really rewarding and ‘feel-good’ moment to observe the fathers reaction to being honoured.

One father, she said, expressed that he felt like a hero, while another said he would be framing his certificate as he expressed joy at being recognised.

“What has come across to us clearly, from the way they received this recognition, is that fathers need to hear how good a job they are doing when they do a good job. They need to be appreciated, and that their roles are considered just as special as mothers,” Brooks shared.

Fabian Binns, one of the fathers honoured, is described as one who was always playing an active role in his son Kyle’s life.

Commenting on the recognition, Binns said it made him feel “good and proud” and that it has always been his dream to be a father.

“I have to stand up for my child. I ensure he does his schoolwork, liaise with his teachers, and see how best I can be there for him,” he said of his four-year-old.