We are motivated by one particular goal: to create an atmosphere where the hearts of incarcerated fathers turn toward their children and where the children's hearts turn toward their fathers. When fathers are positively involved with the lives of their children all social indicators improve, including school attendance, poverty reduction, crime suppression, reduced teenage pregnancy, and better community living standards. These results are promised in the Biblical book of Malachi, to which we wholeheartedly subscribe.
If you want to know our endgame, see the picture in the slideshow above. This is Daimon Winstead holding his daughter at a Daddy-Daughter Dance in Richmond, Virginia. We first met Daimon as an inmate at Richmond City Jail. He had a hard look, long dreadlocks, tattoos and wore a jail jumpsuit. To say he carried an intimidating air is an understatement.
After release from jail, he completed the 16-week Fatherhood Resource Class. He now has two jobs and is reconnected with his lovely daughter. He told his Fatherhood Coach, Jason Boswell, “Since I was 10 years old, no one has ever helped me do anything.” Essentially “orphaned” at a young age, he is still willing to receive the love and the services we have provided. Do you think his daughter will need to look to a boy on the street to validate her feminine identity? Or is her daddy filling that role in a wholesome, nurturing way? What are the social implications of this?