Press Release  Massachusetts Trial Court employees introduce court’s first Nurturing Fathers Program

Boston — Suffolk Superior Court Probation Officer Maurice Greaves and Massachusetts Trial Court Chief Experience and Diversity Officer John Laing recently joined together to offer the state court system’s very first Nurturing Fathers Program. This program, which meets at the Suffolk Community Corrections Center in Boston, will graduate its first class on January 29, 2020. The celebration will take place at the John Adams Courthouse, One Pemberton Square, 2^nd Floor, in Boston.

The Nurturing Fathers Program is a 13-week evidence-based training course that focuses on developing fathers who are on probation into “involved, emotionally, and physically present fathers.” The program is based on a national model introduced by the Nurturing Family Institute in Florida.

“There is a new paradigm for fathering in the millennium. It is a shift from the older model of the distant, unavailable, uninvolved male parent (who emphasizes a more shared, cooperative, helpful style,” according to the national organization’s website.

The Suffolk Superior Court program also features a curriculum that teaches fathers how to be more attentive to their children and cooperative with their wives or mothers of their children. It is designed to help fathers address the challenges they faced when they were children themselves, according to Greaves. The curriculum such topics as “Positive Discipline/Team Sports,” “Fathering Sons and Fathering Daughters,” “Ten Tips for Being a Great Dad,” “Nurturing Relationships Through Communication,” “Parenting Together/The Art of Teamwork,” “Teenage Children/A Parent’s Survival Kit,” and “Newborns/Being There for Mom and Baby.”

“It is extremely exciting to watch the men deal with their issues and it is also very rewarding to know that we are addressing crime and impacting recidivism. The men in the program are learning to be positive role models in society,” Greaves said.

Laing spoke about the impact of the program, “In my experience, the Nurturing Father’s Program has a significant impact on how men look at their own fathering practices in relationship to how they were or were not fathered themselves, in a way that supports consciously trying and practicing new norms. There is a particular focus on self-care and nurturing that allows men to bring their full self and energy to fathering and relationship building with their child or children and the mother of their children. The group dynamic serves as a way of reflection as well as support during and long after the group ends.”

There are three men, who are in their early 30’s, participating in the program. All three live with their children who range in age from a one-year-old to high school age. One of the group’s assignments requires the fathers to write a personal statement on “The Father I Choose to Be.” Greaves said the men will read the statement at graduation.

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