Fit 2-B Fathers

About Us

Welcome to Fit 2-B FATHERS. If you are a practitioner or program director looking for a holistic social and parenting skills curriculum for juvenile and/or adult males involved with the criminal justice system, Fit 2-B FATHERS may help you equip those you you serve to be more successful with their children, families, employers, and communities following their release from the system.

Sincerely,
Joseph J. Maiorano

History

In the beginning F2BF began as a brainstorming session with my friend Roger. I needed ideas for what I would do after completing my M.S. program in Human Development at The Ohio State University. One idea was that I could teach social skills to inmates who were being released from prison. This idea was significant to me, but I combined it with parenting and early childhood development. During the 1980s I abused alcohol and drugs. With two driving-under-the-influence charges in less than three years, I was a recidivist. After some counseling and maturity, I became self-controlled and responsible. I wanted to share this with incarcerated men so they could be more successful with their children and families. So I created "Fit 2-B FATHERS: A club for men who want to be more successful with their children and families." It had two goals. First, I wanted members to have a lower rate of recidivism when compared to non-members. Second, I wanted members' children to have a lower rate of acquiring a criminal record than for non-members. In 1999, after being hired with Ohio State University Extension, F2BF was offered at a community-based correctional facility in east central Ohio. The curriculum grew from 10 to 17 educational sessions plus a graduation celebration.

The philosophy

My belief is that fatherhood is from the inside to the outside-when the man is "successful" on the inside (managing anger, finances, job success, healthy) he is more likely to be a "successful" father on the outside (communicating with others, setting limits, promoting his childrens' literacy and school success. To illustrate this, the F2BF logo includes a representation of black lines that fade out of view. These lines (10 of them, which represent F2BF's original 10-session format) represent barriers to being good fathers (e.g., being imprisoned, poor self-control, lack of fatherhood skills, addictions, poor relationship with the mother of one's children, and job instability). The fading black lines also represent members' growth resulting from their participation in F2BF. Over time, the barriers become less dominant as the members become empowered to incorporate the knowledge, skills, and confidence for being the best men and fathers they can be. F2BF was originally designed as a "club." In 1997 Betty Fogt, the school principal at the Marysville Reformatory, suggested this design could reduce the stigmatization that inmates may have towards attending a traditional parenting class. The goal is to help members remain focused upon being better men and fathers.

A club-style format serves three purposes:

  • As a club, F2BF is able to create this separateness when compared to "traditional" correctional education classes.
  • Members who complete a curriculum series could be trained to function as peer leaders and instructors during subsequent series. This repetition and leadership responsibility could deepen their content knowledge while also maintaining a high level of commitment and interest. In theory, these members could have an even lower rate of recidivism than those who did not graduate or only attended one program series
  • Upon release, members may be directed to be involved with a post-release form of F2BF. Even when group members are strangers, they will have a shared knowledge and language, which can allow them to more readily transition into the group.

Goals and Objectives

Fit 2-B FATHERS is an evidence-based program. It was designed on research/evidence, its expansion from 10 to 17 sessions was based upon research/evidence, and it continues to gather evidence of the impact it has on members. The short-term goal of the program is for members to improve their knowledge, confidence, and skills as these pertain to social and family relations. The intermediate goal is for members to exhibit better social and fathering behaviors (e.g., healthy relations with their children and positive interactions with others, including family, friends, and co-workers). As a result, members may become less of a security risk during the remainder of their sentence, and less at-risk for recidivism when compared to non-members. In regards to the long-term impacts of the program on their children, research shows that children with involved, loving fathers are significantly more likely to do well in school, have healthy self-esteem, exhibit empathy and pro-social behavior, and avoid high-risk behaviors such as drug use, truancy, and criminal activity compared to children who have uninvolved fathers.

Fatherhood fitness

The goal of F2BF is to promote members' physical, practical, and social fitness

  • Physical fitness. A physically fit father has the strength to perform the duties of fatherhood and to keep up with his children. To promote physical fitness, each session begins with 5 minutes of stretching and light calisthenics.
  • Practical fitness. A father with practical knowledge about parenting and social interactions is equipped with the tools to effectively perform his paternal and social responsibilities. This 50-minute portion of each session utilizes individual self-disclosure, group discussion, direct teaching, and role-play situations to present social and parenting skills.
  • Social fitness. A socially fit father is one who can relate to children and other adults as thinkers, doers, and communicators worthy of respect. He is also able to have healthy relationships with his peers and colleagues.

Overall, the findings (from 1999-2004) demonstrate a statistically significant program impact on improving attitudes-members demonstrated higher scores on their post-test compared to their pre-test scores. Examination of the responses to the individual items revealed that members felt better about themselves, felt in control of their lives, better understood effective discipline practices, and were more likely to recognize play as an important way of learning for children and the importance of giving children choices.