Partnering to Support Dads in Brockton

Nurturing Fathers Program Helps Dads in Recovery Strengthen Parenting and Family Relationships

In 2023, the Children’s Trust launched a partnership with Adult & Teen Challenge of Brockton to offer the Nurturing Fathers Program, a 13-week, strength-based parenting group that helps fathers build and strengthen positive parenting attitudes and behaviors. Each week, participants develop effective skills for healthy family relationships and child development. Father involvement is associated with improved cognitive development, social skills, independence, and academic achievement in children. Children with involved dads tend to have higher self-esteem, better peer relationships, and more prosocial behaviors. But it’s not just children who benefit. Fathers themselves experience better health outcomes, greater income, and higher life satisfaction when they are active participants in parenting.   

Seven fathers graduated from that first cohort and now, 29 dads have graduated from the program through this partnership. Graduates return to their communities and re-engage with their families and those with whom their families interact, building stronger and more connected communities. 

Each cohort holds a graduation ceremony where the fathers can share with their families their aspirations for the kind of father they want to be. 

Adult & Teen Challenge is a faith-based recovery program with locations across New England. The Brockton program supports and houses approximately 60 men at any given time.

About the 30 for 30 Fatherhood Series 

This story is part of 30 Stories for 30 Years, marking 30 years of the Children’s Trust Fatherhood Initiative. The series highlights how professionals and organizations across Massachusetts support father involvement, healthy co-parenting, and stronger parenting partnerships as part of upstream prevention.