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I made healthy friendships that exposed me to a lot of positivity and optimism. I could never be myself with my friends or anyone in my social circle I always carried the feeling that I was damaged or unwanted. I was introverted, and I never really opened myself up to others. I always believed there must be a reason why my father wasn't ever there for me. Over the course of my life, I've had very few conversations with my father. The psychological effects of growing up without a father can lead to self-esteem issues. Don't be afraid to lean on your teammates for emotional support and reassurance. I also remember high school teachers and college professors who went out of their way to urge me to apply myself and do better.
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I attribute this to the ongoing support of my friends and their unrelenting efforts to help me restore balance in my life. Thankfully, I have always managed to pull through these bouts of depression. Most schools don't recognize or engage fathers. They're working with a commission on families to include fathers in promoting the academic well-being of students. Like the case of John Marshall Elementary in Philadelphia. I think interventions are happening in a random way, at best. It's rarely the case that the child wants one of the parents banished from their life, even when the parent isn't that good.ĭo you know of effective interventions designed by schools to help students who are fatherless and hurting? The real issue is, what is the relationship that's maintained and encouraged between the father and the child? The issue is not whether the mother and father are separated. That leaves a huge hole in a child's life. For those who love their children but are destructive, need support, or intervention, they don't need to be banished. There are some deadbeat dads who are not interested. When a father's access to his child is minimized, or kept to every other weekend, the father is not involved with his child or his child's school.īut what if a marriage falls apart and the father's presence does more harm than good? But being denied, and that's not unusual. Inclusion of a father is possible, especially if he's interested. It's a tragic outcome that could be prevented. You say the data you've looked at suggest that children growing up without a father are more than twice as likely to commit suicide. We're hearing a lot about teen suicide these days. So we're looking at a 20 percent rate among white fathers who are absent in their children's lives, 31 percent for Hispanics, 57 percent for African-Americans. Race and class matter, as it does in everything in America, but the overall trend is up for all families. Boys are more likely to act out, which is why we're more aware, but if a young girl is imploding, we don' t see it. They're four-times more likely to get pregnant as teenagers. The research that I've seen says that girls are twice as likely to suffer from obesity without the father present.
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You know, I've been in this for 30 years, and when I speak to superintendents, social service people and counselors in schools, they'll easily acknowledge that at the root of kids' problems, is the lack of a relationship with their father.ĭoes fatherlessness affect boys differently than girls? One study you cite from 2012 titled, "The Vital Importance of Paternal Presence in Children's Lives," shows that seven out of 10 high school dropouts are fatherless.ĭo school officials acknowledge that this "chain reaction" clearly gets in the way of children's academic success?
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are also twice as likely to drop out.ĭropping out of school, growing up fatherless and incarceration appear to be connected. And we know that poverty is heavily associated with academic success. First of all, it's growing, and the correlations with any number of risk issues are considerable.Ĭhildren are four-times more likely to be poor if the father is not around. Department of Education study that found 39 percent of students, first through 12th grade, are fatherless.įatherlessness is having a great impact on education. Our interview with Blankstein has been edited for clarity. So, just how many kids are fatherless? NPR Ed put that question to Blankstein, who told us that 24.7 million kids in the U.S. He wrote Failure is Not an Option, a guide to creating high-performing schools for all students. He has spent most of his life advocating for kids who struggle in school. The growing number of fatherless children in this country poses one of the the most serious problems in education today, according to best-selling author Alan Blankstein.