The Importance of Dads Kids need their fathers to grow up healthy and have a well-balanced life and involved dads improve communities, says Wade Horn, head of the National Fatherhood Initiative, a program aimed at restoring the commitment of fathers to their families. Studies show that a major cause of many of the nation s social ills is that too many kids are growing up without any connection to their fathers. A father s absence physically or emotionally is the leading contributor to welfare dependency, crime and delinquency. Children who are raised without a father s involvement also are more likely to have trouble in school. When fathers are absent, communities fall apart, Horn says.
Fathers help socialize children, and children help socialize men.
Men who are connected to children are less violent and less aggressive than men who are not connected to children. The Clinton administration has announced its support for efforts by organizations like Horn s to promote the importance of fatherhood to the well-being of children and to encourage men to realize their potential as fathers. In a June 1995 memo, President Clinton told the heads of executive departments and agencies that the future of the nation rests on strong families and that committed fathers are essential to those families. He asked that all programs and initiatives regarding families ensure men are supported in their roles as fathers. All federal agencies are engaged in trying to figure out what they can do with their own workforce, says Linda Mellgren of HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation.