In 1993, Don Eberly, a former White House advisor and civil society scholar, arranged a meeting of prominent thinkers to discuss the growing problem of father absence in America. Mindful of the limitations of government social policy, Eberly also wanted to talk about the importance of civil society and cultural mores in contributing to positive social change.
“We realized,” said Wade F. Horn, a child psychologist who later became National Fatherhood Initiative’s President, “that the growing absence of fathers was the most consequential social trend in our culture—for families and for civil society. But public policy is a weak instrument for reversing the trend; the answer is in the broader culture.”
The attendees agreed that there needed to be an organization that would stimulate a broad-based social movement to combat father absence and promote responsible fatherhood. And thus the idea for the National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) was born, grounded in the following propositions:
Fathers make unique and irreplaceable contributions to the lives of children
Father absence produces negative outcomes for their children
Societies which fail to reinforce a cultural ideal of responsible fatherhood get increasing amounts of father absence
Widespread fatherlessness is the most socially consequential problem of our time.
National Fatherhood Initiative made its national debut on March 7, 1994 with Eberly serving as President, Horn as Director, and David Blankenhorn as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
In 1996, Horn took over as President and Eberly assumed the role of C.E.O. Also, National Fatherhood Initiative’s national headquarters were moved from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to Gaithersburg, Maryland. The next few years saw National Fatherhood Initiative grow in size and reach, with an expanded resource center, contract work for the states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Texas, and a privately funded regional initiative in Pittsburgh.
In 2001, Don Eberly and Wade Horn left National Fatherhood Initiative to accept positions in President George W. Bush’s Administration. The Board of Directors named Roland C. Warren, former board member and National Fatherhood Initiative Executive Vice President, as President.
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