“ I don’t doubt that these men genuinely love their kids,” says Richard McGuire, MSW, program coordinator for the Responsible Fathers Program. “But their actions don’t reflect that. I tell them “if you participate in negative behaviors, how much do you really love your children? You make poor decisions,” says McGuire. “This is painful. The ones who are willing to face it will stick with it. Others will drop out.”

The Responsible Father's Initiative is turning men at Palladia with a history in the criminal justice system into responsible fathers. Richard currently leads two groups in East Harlem and in the Bronx, providing Palladia's male clients with the insights they need to turn their lives around and become better fathers. It is a poignant and moving experience to hear men, most who have served many years in prison and been driven by their drug addiction, talk about how much it means to them to become a good father. Although part of the Palladia experience is participating in group therapy sessions, most of the men who have volunteered for the Responsible Fathers Initiative so far say they have never experienced anything like like this. In fact, many of them have wondered aloud why they haven't been approached with treatment as fathers, and not just individuals, before now.

By attending weekly group sessions, men in this program gain insight into how much their behavior impacts their children. Since the program is funded with TANF money and is mandated to deal with child support issues, says McGuire, "Palladia’s approach is that you can’t deal with the child support issue if you don’t work on the other behavioral issues and pathologies at the same time."

Joshua Castro, one of the program’s participants, had this to say: "I am doing things I never did before with my two daughters. It's a lot easier for me to spend time with them. I am living a new life now. I always had a problem with responsibility. I never had a father. Both of my parents were drug users. So I have to learn with this group what it means to be responsible and how to better myself and my relationship with my girls."

The Responsible Fathers Initiative helps clients deal with the following crucial issues:

• Responsible parenting
• Reunification
• Preventing pregnancy out of wedlock
• Forming a family
• Dealing with women
• Dealing with trauma
• Self-nurturing skills
• Fathering without fear of violence

This is a unique group experience for men who have been incarcerated on drug-related charges, and who are serving parole in an alternative to incarceration program at one of three of Palladia's residential programs. After four years of success in East Harlem, McGuire’s Responsible Father's Initiative has recently been implemented at Starhill.