As today's world has become a microcosm of what it once was, our social mores and ideas seem to be in constant flux as we collectively search out what works best for our society as a whole. This has become extremely evident over the last 30 years in regards to the complexion of the single parent family here in America, which is due to a dramatic increase in these families being led by the father in place of the mother as the traditional head of these one parent households.

According to U.S. Census Bureau 1970 statistics, there were 393,000 single father families in the U.S., which accounted for 1 out of every 10 of these families led by Dad. Inside of 30 years, these statistics have ballooned to a whopping 2.1 million households and now account for 1 out of every 6 families where Dad is the primary caregiver.

In Colorado alone, there are over 17,000 of these families.

In the spring of 2003, my son and I became one of those families, and after running into some tough times with job reassignment and lack of child support, I began to search out what resources might be available to us.

Because the high cost of day care was killing me, along with impending eviction notices and utility shut-off warnings periodically posted on my front door, I was constantly in crisis mode juggling finances while borrowing from Peter to pay Paul-all to keep up with my responsibilities in insuring that I kept the heat on and a roof over my son's head.

This is nothing different then what moms across America have had to do in the same situation, but the problem I was facing was dealing with the lack of resources available to men. Throughout the last few decades, our country has spawned many human service organizations specifically designed to address single mom families and their needs regarding their children. Let's face it...moms have been at the forefront taking that responsibility while their deadbeat husbands were nowhere to be found. Up until recently, there really hasn't been a sizable male constituency that needed to be recognized.

That has now clearly changed, which is why in the fall of 2004 I started Single Dads Resource Center, Inc.

SDRC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization designed to advocate for single custodial fathers by helping them get the resources they need to effectively parent their children. Every program (day care assistance, emergency rental and utility assistance, food, toy and clothing bank, legal aid, job board, parenting classes, and support groups) that SDRC implements is specifically designed to either directly or indirectly benefit the children of these men.

What SDRC is not is a fathers rights advocacy group. There are plenty of fine organizations across America addressing that issue, so there really is no need for us to jump into that arena.

We are interested only in the welfare of our children. Nothing more.

One of our biggest challenges has been in getting the necessary funding that is needed to implement our projected programs for these families, but hopefully that will change in the coming months ahead with a new grant season upon us.

Our first series of parenting classes ( The Ins and Outs of Single Father Parenting) is now in full swing and is being held from 5:30 to 7:30 P.M. every Wednesday night at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Littleton. These classes are in 10-week cycles, are free of charge, and will be continuing throughout 2006 thanks to a grant from a major foundation here in the metro area

By the looks of things, our support group for these dads will be up and running within the next 30 days as well.

To register for these classes, all you have to do is call me at 720-298-2021 or e-mail me at info@sdrci.org

Our goal is long range.

We hope to expand SDRC's reach to every major metropolitan area in the United States within the next 15 to 20 years. The need is definitely there, as is evidenced by the constant stream of calls I receive on a daily basis from fathers desperately looking for whatever resources might be available in the states where they live.

Please check out our website at www.single-dads-resource-center.org

Look for more information from me regarding single dads issues in the coming months.