The Washington Fatherhood Council promotes these North Star Principles to guide Washington State to strengthen our father friendly services and systems. The following set of principles are not in any rank order and use the term father to describe any father, step-father, or father figure nurturing and supporting a child.
We want to create a state where fathers become the parents their children and families need. Service providers, organizations, and policymakers will need to:
- Commit to equity, fairness and justice for all fathers
- Recognize and promote co-parenting for better outcomes of children and families
- Improve ease of access to services for our fathers
- Factor in the essential role of fathers in the growth and development of children
- Involve fathers with lived experience in the design of programs and policies
- Acknowledge that our personal history impacts how we engage with fathers
- Recruit and retain staff that better reflect the communities they serve
- Train service providers on effective fatherhood inclusion communication and practices
- Increase fatherhood specific resources
- Transform maternal child programs to promote culturally sensitive fatherhood inclusion
- Display materials and imagery showing loving fathers and male role models
- Increase data collection and analysis to show the importance of fathers
- Recognize and address individual and system biases that marginalize fathers
For more information or support in how your organization can engage with these principles, please contact Anne Stone at anne.stone@dshs.wa.gov.