Ahead of Father’s Day this weekend, WAMC’s Andrew Waite spoke with Troy Grant — the state’s first full-time fatherhood policy adviser. Grant discussed the role, beginning with why the new position at the Office of Children and Family Services is even necessary.
Troy Grant: I think it's necessary because when we look and we actually look at the data, we know that when dads are positively and intentionally engaged, the outcomes for our children and families are better, but when we look at the other side, we see that dads are not being engaged and are actually being overlooked in services. And I actually experienced that firsthand, when I was a licensed mental health clinician working with youth and foster care, I saw with a lot of my colleagues part of what we do is we're supposed to reach out to foster Mom or birth Mom and birth Dad and foster Dad, but a lot of times it was the default to reach out to the mom, and then it was just kind of assumed that they would fill the dad in, so we, I saw it directly, and then the data is consistent with that, that our dads are being overlooked.
Andrew Waite: And you grew up in foster care, right?
Grant: I did. I grew up in foster care.
Waite: So, how does that experience inform this role?
Grant: That was really what pushed me into this. So, I grew up in foster care here in New York State, and during when I was young, I remember seeing my mom and my dad, and the differences between how they were engaged and supported by CPS social workers and those who were involved in my case at the time. It really felt like my mom had a team around her of people just really willing to support, whereas I didn't notice that with my dad, and I'm sure there was a lot of different factors. My dad wasn't the warmest person, but I always look back and I wonder, could things have been different if those supports were present? If my dad had sort of a team present around
Waite: Like the system just favors the mom, or traditionally has favored the mom?
Grant: Yeah, traditionally there have been even if we look at like services, language has been for we look at services like WIC and other things, we know that there's those services for Mom, but not as much for dads, and it's felt like that consistently over time. So, part of our initiative is sort of that redirection and understanding historically dads have not been supported, and we're trying to fix that gap.
Waite: And that shift, then, or addressing that gap, what does it actually look like?What does the engagement look like?
Grant: So we just actually, and I will say, our initiative is in its infancy stage. So, while there's been work kind of fragmented over the years, this has really been the first kickoff we had our big kickoff event on June 3, which was a statewide fatherhood convening, where we introduced our task force, our steering committee dedicated to fatherhood engagement, which is comprised of child welfare leaders, fatherhood leaders, fatherhood advocates, dads with lived experience, dads from all different parts of New York State, different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, really helping us understand what are the barriers, and how can we address them in real time?
Waite: So, what do you think, if your dad had, you know, if he were the father now, right? Like, what from the work that you're trying to do, how would he have benefited, and how do you think that might have changed your relationship with him, or how he was as a father to you?
Grant: I think that what we're really trying to do is take a cultural humility approach, and realize, so just for context, my dad came from Jamaica, so when he came from Jamaica, you know, at that time I was born late 1990s he came from Jamaica in the late 1990s there were differences in the ways that laws surrounding child abuse, child neglect in Jamaica versus here, just cultural differences that I really think impacted his parenting. And then on top of that, he didn't have a positive male role model, so we're really trying to implement those positive male role models, those empowering our dads through mentoring and different things, so even if you don't have a dad, maybe a father figure can step in, and so on. So I think that through spreading that cultural humility to our staff, checking bias, we're going to create an environment where staff are coming around our dads and saying, 'hey, listen, we want to support you, we want to see what you need, and we're actually showing up and being present for you.'
Waite: And you're a father?
Grant: I am a father. Yeah.
Waite: How do you think that this has changed... well, how old are your kids?
Grant: I have a range, so 12, six, and then two. And I'm only 30 years old, so I consider myself relatively young.
Waite: So, how do you think this has changed you as a dad, being in this role, doing this work?
Grant: I think we know, like subconsciously we know how important we are for our children, but just seeing all of it in real time just lets me know it's way more than I think I even expected. I play a vital role in my kids' life, but then the part that I don't really think sometimes we realize is they've been super important for me. They've kept me motivated, they're the reason why I do a lot of this work and keep things going. So, I mean, it's really been my heartbeat, and I think the work has made me a better father.
