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There's no one way to be "father friendly" and what you can do will vary with the services your agency provides. A head start or after school program needs to think about different things than a workforce development program.

Ask these questions at your next staff meeting

If you've never looked at your agency's "father friendliness" here are some starter questions to talk about at your next staff meeting. They are only a first step.

• Look at your program materials - photos, images, language -- critique them from a father's perspective
• In the physical environment gender neutral or gender inclusive? Is there a family restroom or a diaper deck in the men's room?
  
• How many fathers are on your program staff? Serve as volunteers?
  
• What role do or could fathers or strategies for strengthening fatherhood play in meeting your program goal?
• How many fathers attended your last program event? Don't know? How might you have integrated some aspect of strengthening fatherhood into your event?
• Could you plan an event for fathers with their children that integrates with your program goals?

Region 8 Focus on Fatherhood Tips For Creating A Father-Friendly Environment

• Greet the men that drop-off or pick up kids from your programs.
• Conduct a father focus group to determine what your agency needs to do to become more father-friendly.
• Spotlight father involvement and highlight male volunteers in the newsletter.
• Have a father write a small section of the monthly newsletter. Call it "Dad’s Corner."
• Make the building/lobby male friendly by including diverse reading materials and pictures.
• Encourage staff to invite men to your agency for activities & special events.
• Sponsor a fatherhood workshop in your community.
• Explore ways to let men know they are welcome at your organization.
• Be Creative!

Then what?

Here are some more specific tools and resources to help think through how to be more "father-friendly:"

Responsible Fatherhood Preliminary Assessment - a one page pdf

Parents as Teachers program that may be useful for schools, after-school programs, pre-school programs -- child and youth development programs where you want to engage parents -- from the National Fatherhood Intiative.

Parents As Teachers on-line survey tool

Father Friendliness Organizational Self-Assessment & Planning Tool - specifically for Head Start and Family Service agencies

Building a Foundation to Work with Fathers

Third in a series of guides on encouraging father involvement in Head Start programs for young children, this guide discusses assessing program effectiveness in involving fathers and identifying what changes might need to be made to ensure that the program is as father-friendly as possible....Recommended strategies are provided for implementing each stage. Characteristics of successful Father Involvement Head Start programs are then described, as well as questions programs should consider in assessing their father friendliness. Following sections discuss suggested funding sources for father involvement programs, identifying and training of key staff for fatherhood involvement programs, identifying and involving community partners, and assessing how staff relate to and interact with men. The guide closes with a Father-Friendly Environment Assessment that provides a framework for assessing the current environment of the Head Start center and identifies steps to take to improve father friendliness. This is followed by a simple Action Plan for Improvement.

Developing "Father-Friendly" Services for Men Raising Children with Special Needs
The Father Friendliness Organizational Self-Assessment (OSA) - a nice one-page matrix of criteria to generate suggestions from Strengthening Organizational Strategies to Support Families