Engaging and Working with African American Fathers: Strategies and Lessons Learned
~Reviews~
~Have we come to the conclusion that African American men are unwilling or unable to participate in the important work of childrearing? Women certainly have a stake in the issue, and in Engaging and Working with African American Fathers: Strategies and Lessons Learned women take the lead to dispel this myth and clarify the social and policy reality of the vital work of engaging fathers. It is an essential contribution to fatherhood scholarship and analysis.
Jacquelyn Boggess, JD
Lecturer, University of Wisconsin School of Social Work
Executive Director, Center for Family Policy & Practice
~Rollins and her contributors have done a tremendous job in pulling together practices that will help to unify the current fragmented approaches to working with African American fathers. I would argue that this book must be regarded as a greatly important contribution to the fatherhood literature. It is invaluable for the manner in which authors combine the lessons learned on how to engage and work with both custodial and non-custodial fathers in the spheres of health, economics, and child development.
Obie Clayton, PhD
Director of the Quality Enhancement Plan
ASA Edmond Ware Distinguished Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice
Director of the Center of Undergraduate Research and Creativity
Clark Atlanta University
~This book is an impressive work by a team of extraordinary women! A must-read for fatherhood and family practitioners. The book illuminates the importance of understanding the challenges faced by African American fathers, yet, it also provides strategies for empowering them toward being the best fathers. This work is a genuine gift to the field of responsible fatherhood.
Jeffery Johnson, PhD, President
National Partnership for Community Leadership
~Rollins has assembled a credible group of professionals discussing the practice of engaging and delivering services to fathers. This long overdue book provides a critical and practical assessment of fatherhood services from the perspective of women in the areas of child welfare, health, and prisons. Social work practitioners, health professionals, and academics will benefit greatly from the information shared in this book.
David J. Pate, Jr., PhD
Department Chair, Social Work, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare
Associate Professor, Social Work
Affiliated Associate Professor, Department of African and African Diaspora Studies
Affiliate, Institute for Child and Family Well-Being
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Affiliated Associate Professor, Institute for Research on Poverty
Affiliate, Collaborative Center for Health Equity
University of Wisconsin-Madison
~Dr. Latrice S. Rollins’ vision is to bring together the voices of professionals, researchers, educators, and committed to the wellness of Black Fathers in America. Ask of yourself, how can we dispel the harmful myths of Black Men in America? Dr. Rollins brings a collaboration of writers who share the strengths of millions of Black Fathers and considerations for practitioners to work side-by-side with these fathers in the spirit of togetherness to give children the best possible outcomes, engaging fathers, and foster transformative families. I recommend this book for those who desire to part of an awakening of being the best professional working with Black Fathers in America.
James C. Rodríguez, PhD, MSW
President and Chief Executive Officer
Fathers and Families Coalition of America
~Rollins and colleagues have unleashed powerful and inspirational women’s voices into the struggle to develop a total portrait of African American men that denies interventions that address pieces of a man. The storytelling portrays men who seek holistically to serve, to belong, to raise their children, to emerge from socially imposed stigma stereotypes of poverty, criminality, low educational achievement, and social marginalization. Their conclusion: It is still the same… from the days of slavery, criminal injustice, racism, unemployment, and other socially imposed attributes. The compelling narratives tell a story of both hope and love and illuminate pathways back to a future that can save families and communities and the men themselves.
Henrie Treadwell, PhD
Research Professor
Morehouse School of Medicine Department of Community Health & Preventive Medicine