The house on 325 N. El Paso St. is unassuming from the outside - just another nice-looking Victorian home off of Platte Avenue. When I step inside however, I find a conference table prepared for a class and a wealth of resources for fathers.
The Center on Fathering first opened the doors of its downtown office in June of 1995. Program director Ken Sanders said the center is the brainchild of the former director of the Department of Human Services, Bob BanCleave.
BanCleave took a critical look at how well the department served families. He found that, although they did a great job for moms, they were forgetting about dads. After meeting with a number of people from the community to gather more information, he addressed the issue by creating the Center on Fathering.
"For the kinds of comprehensive services we offer, we're the only facility of our kind in the state of Colorado," said Sanders. Sanders believes the Center on Fathering is unique from many similar programs around the state because of "the kinds of comprehensive services we offer ... Most programs are geared toward father's rights and legal aspects. Our program is actually geared toward children's rights. We believe children have a right to have a relationship with both their father and mother."
The center does this by encouraging and supporting fathers in becoming actively and positively involved in the care and development of their children - a service that is invaluable for kids in cases that involve such divisive issues as divorce or domestic violence. Sixty to seventy dads pass through the center each month to utilize services including support groups, mentoring, assistance with referrals, structured classes on how dads parent and deal with conflict, and workshops to help fathers deal with the courts and the legal system.
Some dads are referred by the Department of Human Services. Some are court-ordered under the terms of their probation. Others may be going through some type of legal separation or divorce, and are recommended to take classes through the courts or an attorney. And some dads will come in on their own.
Monique Simmons is a caseworker employed by the Department of Human Services that works closely with the center. "I work with other caseworkers here and get them to engage the fathers in the treatment," Simmons said. She also works one-on-one with dads, assessing what their parenting needs may be, which can run the gamut from walk-ins to fathers who are incarcerated. "If it's a long-term jail case, I'll do some work on the parenting there. I try to put a positive spin on how he can still have contact with his child," she said.
Simmons said there are a number of classes offered through the center.
The "Fathering" class is a 15-week program that instructs participants on topics like the developmental stages and issues of children, co-parenting, discipline versus punishment, and the importance of communication. The next class cycle will begin on March 29.
"Conflict Resolution" is a 10-week class designed to help dads understand the nature of conflict and give them techniques they can use for dealing with conflict. The class emphasizes that anger is a normal emotion; dads just have to choose an appropriate way to express it. The next class cycle begins March 28.
"Through the eyes of your child" is a new eight-week-long class focusing on dads who have been perpetrators of domestic violence, either against the mother or children. It teaches them how to repair their relationship with their children and how their violent behavior has affected their child's development.
All classes are taught by licensed professional counselors. Call the center for information on a start date for this class.
Simmons said there would be a presentation at the center on April 17 as part of the month-long celebration of child abuse prevention. The presentation is called Healthy Dads: Healthy Children and is designed to help dads understand some of the trigger points where they might abuse or neglect their children. They will also discuss what dads can do to take better care of themselves.
Contact the Center on Fathering with questions about services or upcoming class cycles.
Center On Fathering
325 N El Paso St
Colorado Springs, CO 80903
(719) 634-7797