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INDIANAPOLIS — You may recognize this brick building on 2835 North Illinois Street as the former home of WIBC. But these days, the building serves a new purpose – giving single fathers and struggling parents a new beginning.

The Fathers & Families Center was established in 1993 as a program provided by Wishard Health Services, under the guidance of Sarah Meadows and the social work department. The program was designed to address the needs of young fathers, in particular, fathers within the African American community. It was, and still is, a way for fathers to be more fully engaged with their children and become more responsible parents.

But it continues to be an uphill battle, especially for African American fathers, who have to deal with the negative stereotype of not being involved in their children’s lives.

Dr. Wallace McLaughlin has served as the President and CEO of Fathers & Families Center for 28 years. He says the program conducted a study back in the early 1990s, and found that the negative stereotype of Black fathers isn’t as simple as some believe it to be.

“There was a notion at that time that a lot of fathers were deadbeat,” Dr. McLaughlin explains, “but we discovered they were not deadbeat but dead broken.”

“We also realized that the best parents are both parents, and so we wanted to involve fathers not only in establishing child support, but giving them resources they needed,” Dr. McLaughlin continues, “the support, the education, and job opportunities so that they could actually be involved in the lives of their children.”

Today, Fathers & Families Center is still affiliated with Wishard, now known as Eskenazi. The current program available to single fathers and parents is a three-prong system, with each step building upon the other.

“One is Strong Fathers, which is the entry point where men come into the agency, and enroll in our job readiness/parenting fatherhood class,” Dr. McLaughlin explains, “and then we really prepare them for employment, for the HSE (high school equivalency), and career training programs.”

Dr. McLaughlin explains step two, “the second prong is the workforce development, which does the HSE and the career training, and we connect with over 100 premiere employers to work with us to give men a second, third and fourth chance.”

Step three is the process of laying the foundation and building the structure of a healthy parent/child relationship.

Dr. McLaughlin explains, “the third prong is family support, which we work with the women who are attached to the men – the mothers of the children, with couples sessions and workshops, and family and generational activities that will connect fathers and mothers with their children.”

One of the most important aspects of Fathers & Families Center is mental and behavioral health services. It’s a touchy subject, especially with many Black fathers. One of the biggest roadblocks for Black men is not being able to work with a mental health provider who they can identify with.

“We work with Black men, African American men, and then often times, they want to see someone who understands them and knows their culture,” says Dr. McLaughlin.

“One of the issues is still getting our population to access those services and readily accept them,” Dr. McLaughlin continues, “but the other problem is compounded with the fact that there’s just not a lot of practitioners of the same skin hue and cultural understanding to address those needs.”

Dr. McLaughlin believes finding more relatable mental health providers is another high priority area of focus, especially for putting Black fathers on the right path.

“That’s where the challenge is,” Dr. McLaughlin explains, “more resources ought to be in developing the pipeline for African American mental health practitioners to work in the field because the issues are great.”

So, how does Fathers & Families Center continue it’s work with single fathers and parents in Indianapolis? It goes back to the same battle that many other nonprofits face – funding.

The 2021 Father’s Day Campaign serves as a way to raise funds for the organization, so that it can continue to operate for decades to come. Dr. McLaughlin believes it’s vital for a program of this nature to remain in tact, as it can continue to improve the health and well-being of Hoosier fathers and families.

He says it doesn’t matter what age you become a father – it’s never too late to build a noble legacy of fatherhood.

He should know, since he became a proud father at the young age of 54-years-old.

You can learn all about Fathers & Families Center and how you can get involved by clicking here.

Listen to the full interview with Dr. Wallace McLaughlin below.