My Daddy Matters because... October 2002 Why is fathering important to CICH? Every child needs access to caring, involved and responsible fathering to enhance health development, well-being and resiliency. Programming over recent decades has tended to focus on mothers, especially single parent mothers. Children who grow up without an involved father face a number of increased risk factors including but not limited to: increased poverty, increased likelihood of dropping out of school, increased likelihood of becoming a young parent themselves and lower self esteem. What is CICH doing on fathering? CICH is a partner on My Daddy Matters because ... , a project to consolidate, translate and transfer information from a previous fathering project ("On Fathers' Ground") and provide support to CAPC/CPNP projects across Canada to improve services to fathers. The project has been funded by Health Canada. The contributions that mothers and fathers make to the developing child are unique and multi-varied, but both contributions are essential to healthy child development. Parenting from the perspective of the healthy development and well-being of children will help both mothers and fathers approach the shared role of parenting for the sake of their children. Celebrating fathering is a way to acknowledge and encourage the active participation of fathers in the lives of their children. What will My Daddy Matters because ... accomplish? The project will: Identify effective practice: research what is working and how projects are implementing programs that acknowledge and improve fathering in their communities. A 'How to' Toolbox for projects will be developed that is practical, inclusive, and easy to use; Develop and implement a social marketing campaign to promote involved, responsible fathering and a promotional campaign to celebrate fatherhood; Bring together parents in the community to promote and acknowledge the importance of fathering by learning about successful grassroots coalitions and partnerships across Canada; Make information developed from the project available through a CICH e-Parenting Network module. For more information on the e-Parenting Network, go to www.eparentingnetwork.ca or the CICH web site (www.cich.ca). By Tim Paquette and Dianne Rogers Back to CICH Communiqués About the Institute / Partnership Opportunities / Planned Giving / Projects & Activities / Resources & Publications / News Releases / CICH Communiqués / Links / Special Events / Coming Soon / Environmental Health / What's New / Site Map / French / Home If you have any comments about our website, please contact our webmaster. Last Reviewed: January 20, 2003 Copyright 2003