DadTalk Blog

The DadTalk blog features insights from dads and Responsible Fatherhood practitioners from around the country. Its goal is to start conversations about important issues surrounding fatherhood and programs for fathers today.

Nov 29, 2016

The Times They Are a Changin’? New collaboration approaches in Child Support and Fatherhood Programs

August 2016 celebrated the 21st anniversary of National Child Support Awareness Month. On August 5, 1995, President William J. Clinton signed Proclamation 6814…

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Featured Authors

Kenneth Braswell

Executive Director; Project Director

Fathers Incorporated; National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse

Rick Johnson

Founder and Director

Better Dads

Patricia Littlejohn

President

South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families

Results 1 - 9 of 9

May 11, 2016

National Foster Care Month Promotes Positive Connections Between Fathers and Their Children

The 2016 theme for the Children’s Bureau’s National Foster Care Month is “Honoring, Uniting, and Celebrating Families.” This year's theme highlights the important benefits to children and youth when they're connected and reunited with family and, in particular, their fathers. Many fathers want to do more than pay child support,1 they want to have healthy connections with their children and be an equal parent. Youth, especially those who have been placed in out-of-home care, truly benefit from a consistent and healthy relationship…

Nov 30, 2015

The Joy and Rewards of Adopting Teens

Ed. Note: This is a repost from the ACF Family Room Blog on November 18, 2015. View the original post.

Early in their relationship, Robin and Kelly Smith knew that they wanted to adopt kids. “We wanted to give back,” Kelly explains. After the couple married, they considered an international adoption, but soon realized that many kids in the US needed permanent, loving homes.

Robin and Kelly were originally interested in adopting younger school-age kids, and began to do research, including…

Jul 23, 2015

One Family's Story: Keep an Open Mind

Ed. Note: This story previous appeared on the ACF FamilyRoom Blog and on the AdoptUsKids website.

Mark and Nicole Hayward had been married for 15 years when they became parents for the first time through adoption from foster care.

As part of their search for their “…

May 11, 2015

Fostering Fatherhood

There is tremendous diversity in foster care. From single-parent foster families; children who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ); multiracial families; and grandparents and other extended relatives, it takes a variety of people to support children, youth, and families in foster care. The Children's Bureau's 2015 National Foster Care Month theme, "Get to Know the Many Faces of Foster Care," draws attention to the different roles we can play in the lives of those involved with foster care. And…

Apr 17, 2014

Marc's Story

Ed. Note: This story originally appeared on AdoptUSKids and on the ACF Family Room Blog.

Marc, 13, of New Jersey (top right) is an honor student in middle school. He’s a typical teenager who likes video games, loves his two family dogs Buddy and Molly and sometimes gets annoyed by his older 15-year-old brother Matthew (top left).

However, Marc’s life wasn’t always so typical. Before being adopted at age seven by his dad Paul (center),…

Mar 26, 2014

The Herbert Family

Ed. Note: This post first appeared on AdoptUSKids, and the ACF Family Room Blog.

Being a single father of five with a family that’s still growing, Dwayne Herbert relies on his agency’s post-adoption services to balance responsibilities between being a father and his fulltime job.

He has two biological daughters, three sons adopted from foster care, and a fourth adoption underway.

Finding the right time to adopt

Inspired by the father-…

Mar 5, 2014

The Farmer Family

Ed. Note: This story previously appeared on the AdoptUsKids and ACF websites.

Barry Farmer's family is unusual, but not just because he is black and his son is white.

Barry Farmer and his adopted children.

Although, he admits, that is pretty unusual.

“I would have never thought in a million years that I would adopt a white child,” he said with a laugh. He tells his son, Darrell, 10, that their family is unique. “You probably won't see anybody like us in your lifetime. It's rare.”

“I have no problem adopting outside of my race,” he said. “Everybody deserves…

Jan 21, 2014

The Spigner Family

The thought of adopting entered my mind one night when I was heading home from my office in DC. I was riding the bus and saw an ad with a father and three children across the aisle from where I was sitting. As soon as I saw that ad, something hit my heart and I said to myself, "I want that." Soon-after, I began the adoption process.

The Spigner Family

My first introduction to Marcel was at the foster care agency I was working with at the time. I was there with another child that I had at the time and I remember fussing at Marcel along with the other child I had for getting into…

Nov 12, 2013

November is National Adoption Month

Ed. Note: This post first appeared in the ACF Family Room Blog. Read the original post here.

The growing importance of keeping children in foster care connected with their siblings, extended families and communities. An increased understanding of the need for permanency for older youth in foster care. More awareness of…

Featured Authors

Kenneth Braswell

Executive Director; Project Director

Fathers Incorporated; National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse

Rick Johnson

Founder and Director

Better Dads

Patricia Littlejohn

President

South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families

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