Fatherless in America
"Today, 1 out of every 3 children in America live in a home without his or her natural father. One out of every 3 children in America will go to bed tonight without a father to read them a story, bring them a glass of water, kiss them good night, or comfort them if they have a bad dream." Wade Horn, PhD, Past President of the National Fatherhood Initiative.
Many statistics about children without fathers are dated back to 2001 and even a few site issues and trends dating back to 1988. Some might say those statistics are too old, things have changed now.Why Services for Fathers?
How did this become a problem? Why is it a problem? Not every child who is raised without a father becomes a substance abuser, or a juvenile delinquent or a pregnant teen however, one child loss to substance abuse, or one pregnant teen, is one too many!
Children don't ask to be born. Consenting adults decide to bring children into this world. Today, many women make choices to be artificially inseminated to bring a child into the world. That be may good for the parent, but what about the child? Does the child not have a right to a father and a mother? I firmly believe that every child born has the right to two parents. He/she was not conceived without a father, why should he/she live without one. Wondering always would my life be different if I had a father?
I have been providing therapy to adults and teens for more than 30 years. Many clients both male and female were raised without knowing their father. Others had fathers who were not involved in their lives even though they knew where he was. I have found that these adults now have issues of low self esteem, feelings that something is missing in their lives or have a history of drug or alcohol abuse, making poor decisions and on and on. The women tend to make poor choices about men in their lives because they have no knowledge about men and think they are just like women. The men often are physically and mentally abusive to women, because they had no man to teach them about loving women.
So as an agency Lighthouse can impact the thinking of young men and women while they are impressionable teens. Fewer boys will be physically or mentally abusive to their girlfriends and later their wives because they learned coping skills and other ways to express their anger over not having their dad involved in their lives. Our goal is to help young women feel empowered to make choices for themselves based on knowledge about their own needs and not on the fact that they are looking for their dad in every boyfriend. It is a lofty goal, but a needed goal if we are to have an impact on the future of children without fathers in their lives.
