Christopher Beard Bio:
Chris has been working in the field of parental involvement and responsible fatherhood for over 15 years. He is a recognized parent educator who has trained thousands of parents and professionals on why parental involvement, both mom and dad, is vitally important to the healthy development of children of all ages. As a former Program Manager and Director with the Urban League and National Fatherhood Initiative, Chris oversaw various state and federal projects designed to help organizations improve their parental involvement and promote family-friendly policies. He has traveled to over 35 states to work directly with local nonprofits and state agencies to help improve each organization’s capacity to promote effective parental involvement. A seasoned technical writer, Chris also co-authored NFI’s successful fatherhood reentry curriculum called “Inside Out Dad,” which is currently being used in over 300 juvenile and adult correctional facilities across the country in all 50 states.
Beard outlines the benefits of positively engaged fathers to their children:
"Time, research, and empirical data from grassroots programs have brought clarity to the debate about the importance of fathers in the lives of children. The consensus is that when fathers are positively involved with their children and attentive to their physical and emotional needs, children’s well being increases. Studies now show that children with involved fathers display: better cognitive outcomes, even as infants; higher self-esteem and less depression as teenagers; higher grades, test scores, and overall academic achievement; lower levels of drug and alcohol use, and higher levels of empathy and other pro-social behavior (Horn & Sylvester, 2005). family situations where the dad is simply not in the picture. "
He accepts that, despite the above, fathers are pushed out of their children's lives:
"Public policy discussions have especially been one-sided, choosing to focus attention on codifying paternity and child support issues in state and federal law, largely ignoring the benefits of promoting fathers as caregivers. Consequently, the challenge for those children is to shift the focus of the conversation, not away from the mother’s equally important parenting role, or even away from the father’s financial responsibility to his children, but more toward how shared, involved, committed, and responsible parenting by the father can increase the happiness and wellbeing of the child, and imparts with this advice:
"The challenge moving forward is to continue to support the strengthening of America’s families and build the capacity of those in state organizations committed to empowering fathers to and become full partners in their children’s lives."
