By Elisa Anderson
FatherWork, a program based on, BYU Professor of Family Life David Dollahite''s research was developed to give fathers the tools they need to be good dads for their children.
'There wasn''t much research done before 1997 on good fathering,' Dollahite said, 'So, we based the theory on what children need.'
Children need a father who is involved in their lives and attentive to what they need, Dollahite said.
A Web site was developed based on Dollahite''s research, fatherwork.byu.edu, for dads to learn about how they can be good fathers.
Rick Meinzer, executive director of the FamilyHelp Foundation, wanted to help fathers. He saw the BYU FatherWork Web site and developed a company based on Dollahite''s research called the FamilyHelp Foundation.
The FamilyHelp Foundation has three branches dedicated to helping families -- FatherWork, MotherWork, and MarriageWork.
MotherWork and MarriageWork are still a work in progress, but FatherWork has been successful at helping fathers realize their most important job -- parenting.
Commitment work, provider work, recreation work, growth work, mentoring work, relational work and meaning work are the seven areas that FatherWork focuses on.
'Basically, it''s a practical way to help dads,' Dollahite said.
The program is a free, four-hour workshop where fathers meet to discuss what areas of good fathering they need to work on. They can keep the manual after the workshop is over.
Dollahite said when men get together to talk about their children and their experiences with their own fathers, they become emotional.
They begin the workshop talking about the FatherWork model as a whole, and then let the fathers decide what areas they need to improve upon the most.
'The program is focused on what kids need and is based on the premise that most fathers want to be good fathers,' Dollahite said.
The FatherWork workbook includes thought-provoking questions for fathers to make them think about what their children''s individual needs are and what their talents are as fathers.
FatherWork is targeted toward new fathers, fathers of children with special needs and incarcerated fathers.
According to Meinzer, a child is five times more likely to be incarcerated if the father is incarcerated.
'FatherWork is trying to break that cycle,' Meinzer said. 'Workshops are targeted to the jail population.'
Mothers and fathers don''t receive any training to be parents so the FamilyHelp Foundation is trying to change that by giving them the resources they need to raise children.
'The program helps validate Professor Dollahite''s research and thinking,' Meinzer said.
Dollahite''s methodologies have been taught to fathers for eight years. He has been able to see the effect of his research in the community because of the FamilyHelp Foundation.