George Beard Jr. is on a mission to keep kids involved with Children’s Services connected with their dads. 

“Fathers are the foundations of our families,” Beard said. “Without fathers, children don’t exist. Fathers need an opportunity to be heard.” 

Beard, father of eight and “G-pa” to one, is the Father Engagement Specialist for Passages: Connecting Resilient Families, a local nonprofit. For the past two years, Beard has worked with Cuyahoga County’s Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) through a partnership between the county and Passages.  He works on a pilot program meant to serve a specific subset of fathers – those on the verge of losing custody of their children. 

“The No. 1 goal is helping a father understand his rights and responsibilities. No longer is Dad going to be overlooked,” he said. “The same resources Mom gets, Dad now gets as well.”

Since December, Beard has been working directly with Charles Collins, Dad Advocate for DCFS and a 24-year veteran of the agency. Cleveland Documenters noted that DCSF board members have praised their work at the agency’s last two meetings.

This week, in advance of Fathers’ Day, Beard and Collins spoke with Signal Cleveland about their work running the program DCFS calls Dads Matter 2.

Working as a Dad Advocate

Collins generally makes the initial contact with fathers of children involved with the child protection agency. His first task is to get the men to sign necessary forms. 

“A lot of dads don’t have a phone or a computer to do that,” he said, “so I meet dads where they are.”

That can mean at a house or in a McDonald’s parking lot. They fill out and sign the forms on Collins’ laptop, and Collins submits them immediately. That step ensures that fathers are notified about cases involving their children.

In the five months since Collins became the agency’s Dad Advocate, he has worked with about 100 fathers.

Beard and Collins said they help support fathers in many ways. Some dads need help getting transportation (usually bus passes) to visit their children. Other fathers need help finding jobs and housing, and some need help developing parenting skills. Beard said he and Collins “do a lot of listening.” The goal is to diffuse negativity and help fathers develop positive relationships with their children – and with the relatives and other caring adults in the children’s lives.

One of Collins’ roles is as a “court ally” for fathers, accompanying them and encouraging them when their children’s cases are heard. He said he coaches some very young fathers on how to dress for court and how to speak to the magistrate hearing the case.

He wants all fathers to understand their rights.

“We love our dads to be considered alongside moms in these cases,” he said.

Maureen Draye, Social Program Administrator for DCFS, explained that the Cuyahoga County program grew from conversations with the head of the Ohio Commission on Fatherhood, which has provided funding. 

“I can’t imagine doing this work any other way now,” Draye said.

Collins, who is a father of two and will welcome his first grandchild this fall, said he, Beard and the agency have one goal: “To encourage dads to be the best people and the best fathers they can be.”