The Healthy Start Coalition of Seminole County, a nonprofit focused on improving the health of families and promoting school readiness for youth, has started a new program known as T.E.A.M Dad.
The T.E.A.M in T.E.A.M Dad stands for Teaches, Empowers, Advocates for and Mentors. The program works with men to instill parenting skills by offering education, training, and support.
Specifically, the group focuses on “parenting and co-parenting education, improving child development, building healthy family and community relationships, workforce development and economic stability and personal development,” according to the Healthy Start Coalition of Seminole County website.
Carmen Guzman, the executive director for the Healthy Start Coalition of Seminole County, said the group also covers topics such as family history, what it means to be a man, showing and handling feelings, men’s health, the father’s role and communication.
“These conversations happen in a safe environment where dads can explore and develop new skills, or enhance the ones they have, helping them to become the father that their children need,” said Guzman.
The task of implementing a program to promote responsible fatherhood was “assigned to the Healthy Start Coalitions,” said Guzman. “As we have extended experience in the development and implementation of home visiting programs.”
This came after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 7065, a child welfare bill signed in April 2022.
The bill – which addresses the needs of fathers and at-risk youth – created new grant programs that increase father-child engagement activities, required Florida’s community-based care led agencies to hire father engagement specialists and required the Department of Health to include father engagement activities in the current programs that offer home visiting services.
T.E.A.M Dad is a free program for dads, father figures (grandfathers, mom’s boyfriend/partner) or soon-to-be dads raising children aged 0-3. The program offers one-on-one services with a T.E.A.M Dad coach for eight to 12 weeks.
“Whether it is a young first-time dad or a more mature one, or a dad that is not living with his children, or a dad that became the father’s figure of non-biological children, or a grandfather that is raising his grandkids, the message will be the same to all of them: they can have a positive impact in the life of their children, they can be the father their children need them to be,” Guzman said.
“When parents and families are equipped with proper support and skills, they can meet the needs of their children and protect them from experiencing adverse childhood experiences,” she added. “The T.E.A.M. Dad Program is here to assist those men to develop those skills, to help them become the responsible, engaged, and empowered dads their children need.”
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