Inspiring Fathers Towards Personal Growth & Development

Since 2010, the mission of the Fatherhood Mentoring Program is to generate awareness of the importance of the participation of a father in the lives of their children and to promote social behavior and practice insuring that monetary child support is not viewed as debt but as a responsibility.

Portsmouth Social Services and ESHR, Inc. provide this program free of charge to any man living in the City of Portsmouth. The program is conducted in 10-week hybrid in-person and virtual semesters between three times a year.

Program Objectives

• To increase fathers’ understanding of domestic violence and the negative impact it has on the growth and development of children.

• To enhance the parenting skills of fathers so they can help their children grow to become healthy, responsible adults.

• To encourage social workers to work closer with fathers and include them in their treatment plan.

• Once sufficient progress has been made, pair fathers with a new program participant and serve as a project mentor.

• To provide 100% of program participants with job readiness training, included but not limited to: career planning, interviewing skills, employment referral and budgeting.

• To increase fathers involvement with their children and their desire to pay child support.