A UMNS Feature By Kathy L. Gilbert*
By Kathy L. Gilbert*
Michael
Montgomery holds his twin daughters after their baptism at Lyttleton
Street Church in Camden, S.C. Children living without fathers are more
likely to be suspended from school, drop out, be treated for an
emotional or behavioral problem, commit suicide as adolescents and
experience child abuse or neglect, according to the National Fatherhood
Initiative. A UMNS photo courtesy of Interpreter magazine. Photo number
03-206, Accompanies UMNS #312, 6/4/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
The
Rev. Ellis White of Bluff Road Church in Columbia, S.C., holds his
daughter, Carmen. Children living without fathers are more likely to be
suspended from school, drop out, be treated for an emotional or
behavioral problem, commit suicide as adolescents and experience child
abuse or neglect, according to the National Fatherhood Initiative. A
UMNS photo courtesy of Interpreter magazine. Photo number 03-207,
Accompanies UMNS #312, 6/4/03
No Long Caption Available for this Story
Children living without fathers are more likely to
be suspended from school, drop out, be treated for an emotional or
behavioral problem, commit suicide as adolescents and experience child
abuse or neglect, according to the National Fatherhood Initiative.
In
1960, less than 8 million children were living in families in which the
father was absent. Today the number of children living in fatherless
homes exceeds 24 million, which translates into one out of three U.S.
children.
Millie Carter, coordinator for the South Carolina
Annual (regional) Conference's Fostering Families program, believes
deeply that every child should grow up with a loving father.
"I
had a super dad when I grew up," Carter says. "He wasn't a perfect man,
but as far as being a daddy, he was the best daddy in the world for me. I
can't imagine a child not having that."
Carter has been working
with the South Carolina Department of Social Services and the annual
conference to make the Fatherhood Initiative possible.
The
initiative meets every other week at St. Matthew United Methodist Church
in Camden, S.C. Among other topics, men talk about communication, anger
management and expressing their feelings to their partners and their
children.
Carter recalls hearing one father say after a meeting
that he learned how to tell his son he loved him. "It never occurred to
him before because his father never said that to him," she says.
The
Rev. James P. Smith, founder and director of Fatherhood Initiative,
says supporting and equipping dads is a rewarding challenge.
Smith
says an equipped father is one who has committed to learn the skills
necessary to be a positive role model to his child or children. The
conference is working to expand the program to Lee County, one of the
poorest counties in the conference. For more information, contact Carter
at South Carolina Conference, the United Methodist Church, 4908
Colonial Drive, Columbia, S.C. 29203-6070; phone: (803) 786-9486. Or
visit www.umcsc.org/outreach/fosterfam/fosterfam.htm online.
Carter
uses Malachi 4:6 (RSV) as her inspiration. The verse says a prophet
will come, "And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and
the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land
with a curse." # # # *Gilbert is a United Methodist News Service
news writer. Her story originally appeared in the May-June issue of
Interpreter magazine, published by United Methodist Communications.
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