How It All Started
I recall a 35 year old man, sitting in front of me talking about his relationship with his father. With a tremble in his voice and tears in his eyes, he reflected on a moment when he was 6 years old and his father called and said, “I will pick you up Friday and we will spend the weekend together.” He was overjoyed because he had not seen his father for at least six months and he was excited about this chance to spend the weekend with “daddy.” His mother helped him pack a small suitcase with some items he would need and some other things he wanted to show his father. He sat outside and with excitement and expectation; he waited patiently for his father to come. Hours passed and as it got dark, he fell asleep, sitting on the steps waiting for “daddy” to keep his promise. His mother, who was standing in the door watching him in anger and frustration went outside and awakened her son and told him to come inside. The little boy looked at his mother and said, “My daddy promised that he was coming and I want to wait f or him.” His mother fought back the tears because she knew his father wasn’t coming and allowed her son to wait a little longer. As time passed and her son had fallen asleep again, she went outside, lifted her son in her arms, took him inside and put him to bed. She tried to call her son’s father several times, but got no answer. No call and no show!
As the young man told his story, he held back the tears because this was still a painful memory. He is currently sitting in a jail cell, serving a ten-year sentence for aggravated assault. His anger got the best of him. Mixing anger with drugs and alcohol, this dangerous combination caused him to attack someone because he didn’t like the way he looked at him. The hardest part about this story is…he has two boys ages11 and 14 and will be out of their lives for the next 6-10 years. This is a cycle that needs to stop.
Remember the twelve-year-old girl who was five months pregnant and her father incarcerated. She had been released from middle school and placed on homebound because the school could not address the safety issues surrounding teen pregnancy. She lived in a high crime urban area, the oldest of three children and the teen father was unknown. Her mother, the custodial parent was unemployed, no utilities in the home and had no way of providing her with prenatal care. Without services from community agencies, this family would not have survived. The school system has many young women with stories like this who need encouragement and life-skills training just to survive.
There are many stories like these, where fathers abandon their children, young girls become teenage mothers, and young men are prison bound. The inner city and rural communities have become hot beds for crime, violence and drugs. Young men with absent fathers display emotions in negative ways in an effort to bring balance to their lives and fill a void in their souls. Drugs, sex, pregnancy, STD's, violence, unhealthy relationships, and gang activity...
What if the children could be taught how to handle their emotions in a different way? What if they could learn to "like" themselves and express what they think and how they feel? What if we could assemble the non-custodial fathers and the care-giving mothers in a forum setting and give the child a voice to express how the absence of the father effects his or her life? What if we could sit down with the mothers and the fathers together and discuss how important it is for them to be amicable and respectful to one another for the child’s sake? Is it possible for the child to sit before the parents and express his need for them to help him through life? What if we could convince them to help their child prepare for tomorrow by teaching them the value of education, the importance of setting goals, learning social skills, making good choices, and recognizing unhealthy relationships? What if I could place the parents (although they are not together) with another couple and help them though the process of preparing their child for tomorrow (Couples Mentoring)? This is the beginning of NEW LIFE at the CROSSROADS INSTITUTE, INC.
Reginald Reser, MS
Executive Director
April Armstrong, LMSW, LSSW
Assistant Director
As the young man told his story, he held back the tears because this was still a painful memory. He is currently sitting in a jail cell, serving a ten-year sentence for aggravated assault. His anger got the best of him. Mixing anger with drugs and alcohol, this dangerous combination caused him to attack someone because he didn’t like the way he looked at him. The hardest part about this story is…he has two boys ages11 and 14 and will be out of their lives for the next 6-10 years. This is a cycle that needs to stop.
Remember the twelve-year-old girl who was five months pregnant and her father incarcerated. She had been released from middle school and placed on homebound because the school could not address the safety issues surrounding teen pregnancy. She lived in a high crime urban area, the oldest of three children and the teen father was unknown. Her mother, the custodial parent was unemployed, no utilities in the home and had no way of providing her with prenatal care. Without services from community agencies, this family would not have survived. The school system has many young women with stories like this who need encouragement and life-skills training just to survive.
There are many stories like these, where fathers abandon their children, young girls become teenage mothers, and young men are prison bound. The inner city and rural communities have become hot beds for crime, violence and drugs. Young men with absent fathers display emotions in negative ways in an effort to bring balance to their lives and fill a void in their souls. Drugs, sex, pregnancy, STD's, violence, unhealthy relationships, and gang activity...
What if the children could be taught how to handle their emotions in a different way? What if they could learn to "like" themselves and express what they think and how they feel? What if we could assemble the non-custodial fathers and the care-giving mothers in a forum setting and give the child a voice to express how the absence of the father effects his or her life? What if we could sit down with the mothers and the fathers together and discuss how important it is for them to be amicable and respectful to one another for the child’s sake? Is it possible for the child to sit before the parents and express his need for them to help him through life? What if we could convince them to help their child prepare for tomorrow by teaching them the value of education, the importance of setting goals, learning social skills, making good choices, and recognizing unhealthy relationships? What if I could place the parents (although they are not together) with another couple and help them though the process of preparing their child for tomorrow (Couples Mentoring)? This is the beginning of NEW LIFE at the CROSSROADS INSTITUTE, INC.
Reginald Reser, MS
Executive Director
April Armstrong, LMSW, LSSW
Assistant Director