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Office of Early Childhood webinar pushes intentional father engagement across programs
Summary
Connecticut's Office of Early Childhood convened state officials, community leaders and fathers to describe plans to make early-childhood programs more 'father-friendly,' expand training for staff, and involve fathers in policy and direct services.
The Office of Early Childhood (OEC) hosted a webinar focused on increasing father involvement in programs that serve young children, with agency leaders outlining concrete steps to treat fathers as intentional partners across services.
Commissioner Beth Bai opened the session, telling the more than 110 attendees that OEC intends to "reorient and include fathers and fatherhood" within its programs and materials. Jennifer Wilder of OEC's Family Support Division described a multipronged approach: audit program materials and web pages for father-friendliness; include father-figures on intake forms; expand training for staff; and meet quarterly with a statewide fatherhood initiative and parent cabinet members to set measurable goals.
Wilder said training plans will include a "constellation" of evidence-based modules — examples named on the call included the Manhood Tree curriculum and co-parenting curricula developed by Doug Edwards. She said the agency plans to offer training across divisions (birth-to-3 services, home visiting, and child-care licensing) so that father engagement is built into day-to-day work rather than treated as an add-on.
Panelists and agency leaders highlighted program design details they said should change to welcome fathers: application and intake forms that include spaces to record father or father-figure information, outreach materials and event schedules timed and styled to attract men, and including men in planning and advisory roles such as the parent cabinet.
OEC officials asked partners on the call to identify key stakeholders and said they will evaluate fatherhood-focused programming over time. The webinar closed with a request that attendees complete an online feedback survey to help OEC refine future events and training offerings.
The OEC characterized the work as a statewide initiative that will use existing interagency agreements and a parent cabinet to sustain planning, training and evaluation. No regulatory or budgetary actions were announced during the webinar; the session focused on program priorities, training rollout and community engagement steps.
