Marvin Charles and his wife Jeannett have helped over 4,000 men affected by incarceration or substance abuse to re-enter their children’s lives and become more responsible fathers. Marvin and Jeannett founded Divine Alternatives for Dads Services (DADS) over twenty years ago. Before becoming an ordained minister, Marvin experienced homelessness, drug addiction, and separation from his children. “The #1 problem in America is fatherlessness,” Marvin says — and he’s doing something about it.
Divine Alternatives for Dads, a faith-based nonprofit, offers practical assistance for navigating relational and legal barriers that separate men from their children. DADS staff and volunteers help fathers with case management, child support management, parenting plans, parenting classes, and family reunification. They host weekly support groups in Seattle and Tacoma where men can discuss their struggles in accomplishing their action plans and receive encouragement toward doing the hard work of becoming responsible dads.
Washington Initiative for Boys and Men knows that good dads and good moms are equally important in the raising of children. With 18 blog posts to date tagged with the keyword “Fathers“, fatherhood is a major subject of our writings and videos. WIBM celebrates and supports what DADS is accomplishing.
See related: Governor Inslee appointee Cheryl Strange gives powerful pro-fatherhood message to Washington State Fatherhood Summit
In January 2022, DADS will move into their new office in Seattle’s Central District. View the 4-minute video below and their website to learn more about DADS and how you can get involved. We’ve also included a lightly-edited transcript directly below the video, for those who prefer reading.
D.A.D.S. Helps Fathers and Children Reconnect
(video transcript)
Marvin Charles:
The #1 problem in our country is not crime or drugs. It’s fatherlessness. Fatherless is our problem.
If you know anything about AIDS you know the AIDS virus doesn’t kill you. It breaks down your immune system, and the infection that you catch is what kills you. Fatherless is the same way. If you take a father out of the home, the family doesn’t die, but it opens up to infection: teenage pregnancy, at-risk youth behavior, and so on.
What we have found out, informed by my own personal experiences, is that if we can reconnect a father to the family, then the family has a chance. And that’s what we try to do at DADS.
Jeannett Charles:
Without the male role model involved in our children’s lives, we lose a lot of ground. If you look at our streets today you will see young men looking for positive role models, but they don’t know what that even looks like because they haven’t received it from their homes. So our children need their daddies.
Marvin Charles:
DADS is an organization that helps men and families, particularly urban families, navigate relational and legal barriers that separate them from their children and their families.
There are a number of situations within our community where this is necessary. For example, men who come off of drugs and alcohol who are looking to reestablish themselves. Men who are coming out of prison who want to reconnect with their families but don’t have the tools to do that. What we do is undergird and support them.
I’ve never met a father who did not want to be connected to his children. But folks never ask them that. At DADS, we ask them that question, and then we try to give them the tools they need to get back into relationship with their kids. They know that they don’t want their children to make the same mistakes they made.
DADS has seen over 3,000 men in the last ten years. One of the things we make real clear to men is that we’re not here to help them duck their responsibilities. We help them understand why it is so important that they step up to the plate and do what they need to do to become better fathers to their children.
Men Find Hope
Jeannett Charles:
What men learn to do at DADS is find hope in themselves so they are not discouraged, for example, by the burden of child support.
Marvin Charles:
A man gains hope as het gets a job, he can pay for where he lays his head at night, and he can contribute money to take care of his kids. That’s all these men ever look for. Most of the situations they are faced with, though, want to take everything from them – which then makes it impossible for them to even take care of their own basic needs.
We don’t charge anything for our services. We teach them how to file their own paperwork, to stand before the judge themselves.
As a taxpayer, part of your money is paying for prison expenses. Out of 3,000 of our clients, 2,000 of them you don’t have to worry about paying for anymore.
Jeannett Charles:
In one of our classes we had a gentleman who talked about the two kids he had custody of prior to going to prison, and when he got out his goal was re-entering hid kids’ lives. A few months after that, graduation took place for Rainier Beach High School. We attended this graduation and while I’m sitting in the parking lot waiting for my daughters to come, this gentleman in a biker’s jacket approaches my window with those two kids he spoke about reuniting with when he was released from jail. His son was graduating that day, and he was there for his son. His son walked up to me and gave me the biggest hug, and the only thing he could say two me was, “Thank you for what you’ve done with my dad, to keep him safe, and to help him return home healthy. We love our dad.”
The bottom line of what DADS really does is bring back hope to children of them having a loving father in their lives.
See related post: ‘It still blows my mind’ – Touching story of a dad who stuck around despite the circumstances [Video]