A Durham program that provides resources for families with children has launched a new initiative to support Spanish-speaking fathers.
Welcome Baby, a Durham County Cooperative Extension program, began a 13-week course this month called "Nurturing Fathers," which aims to help fathers better connect with their children by offering a safe, judgment-free space for fathers to learn and exchange ideas. Durham County funds the course, which covers topics such as balancing work and fatherhood.
"In the first three weeks, we cover male support, or we can say human support, social support, emotional support," said course instructor Alfonso Blanco. "Then in the coming weeks, we are going to go deeper into how you relate with your kids, how you play with them, how you cope with the problems that you have at home, things like that."
The Nuturing Fathers course, conducted in partnership with the Exchange Family Center, is only offered in Spanish, but Welcome Baby hopes soon to offer it in English as well.
Blanco said the program has helped one participant who expressed some concerns about how to play with his child.
"He was crying and he was open to express that 'This is the limitation I have,'" Blanco said. "And we were like, 'Don't worry, we are going to cover this. We are going to give you the tools so you can do that.'"
WUNC's Eli Chen contributed to this report.
Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to note that Durham County is the only funder of the Nurturing Fathers program. A previous version of the story said that Durham County was funding the program along with a second organization.