2011 Minnesota
Fatherhood &Family Services Summit
Held: January 24 - 25, 2011
Kelly Inn, St. Cloud, MN
More than 235 professionals gathered at MFFN's annual winter conference, January 24 - 25, 2011. The event provided an opportunity to learn about best practices for engaging fathers in non-profits and government agencies and an opportunity to gain information about the latest research about healthy families, co-parenting, paternity, and more. View the program here.
The evaluation results are currently being compiled and will be posted here in the future.
Congratulations to our 2011 Excellence in Fatherhood Award winners:
2011 Visionary of the Year: Carol Heuberger, Public Health Nurse, Crow Wing County
2011 Individual of the Year: Jeannie Meidinger, Child Support Officer, Wadena County
2011 Individual of the Year: Judge Bruce A. Peterson, Hennepin County District Court Judge
2011 Member of the Year: Joe Kelly, Communications Specialist and Fathering Educator, The Emily Program
Keynote Speakers:
Carolyn and Phil Cowan, Professors of Psychology Emeriti at the University of California, Berkeley. For more than three decades, Phil and Carolyn Cowan have conducted longitudinal projects focused on the central role that positive couple relationships play in creating a positive content for parenting, enhancing children’s development and adaptation. The Cowans currently work with Marsha and Kyle Pruett in the Supporting Father Involvement project in California, and were among the founding members of the Council on Contemporary Families, an organization that has been devoted to working with the media on finding balanced ways of presenting family issues for the past 10 years.
View the Cowans' Powerpoint Presentation here (pdf, January 2011)Bill Doherty, Marriage and Family Therapist, Professor in the Family Social Science Department at the University of Minnesota, and Director of the Citizen Professional Center at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Doherty led the Minnesota Family Formation Project, a recently completed project that helped unmarried parents in learning how to form stable families and healthy marriages. He is embarking on a new project, Couples on the Brink, designed to develop, evaluate, and disseminate best practices for promoting successful reconciliation between married persons who are considering or have commenced a marriage dissolution proceeding and who choose to pursue reconciliation.
View Dr. Doherty's keynote notes here (pdf, January 2011)Michael Hayes, Deputy for Family Initiatives in the Child Support Division of the Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG). Mr. Hayes has extensive experience in the development of policy, partnerships, and projects that support family stability, paternity establishment, father involvement, and child support program improvement, including directing the Texas Fragile Families Initiative. He has been instrumental in the development of the p.a.p.a. (Parenting and Paternity Awareness) curriculum in Texas, now mandated to be used in every Texas high school health class, and in reformulating the Access and Visitation grant program in Texas.
Handouts from Michael Hayes:
- Sample of p.a.p.a. curriculum (parenting and parenting awareness) here (lesson 3) and here (lesson 6)- p.a.p.a. Evaluation Report 2010 here
- Survival Tips for Child Support Court (for Texas) here
- NCP Choices (linking child support and employment in Texas) here
Monday Afternoon Workshop: What's New and What's Working in Co-Parent Education, view the presentations and handouts from this popular workshop:
- Hennepin County Co-Parent Court here
- Co-Parenting Plus, from The Storefront Group here
- Carolyn and Phil Cowan - Co-Parenting Presentation here
- Parents Forever, Moorhead, MN here
- Workshop Notes here
Thanks to these generous supporters of the 2011 Minnesota Fatherhood Summit:
Bush Foundation
Children’s Trust Fund
Greater St. Cloud Area Thrive
Greater Twin Cities United Way
Initiative Foundation, a regional foundation
Mardag Foundation
McKnight Foundation
Northland Foundation
Northwest Minnesota Foundation
Otto Bremer Foundation
Southern Minn. Initiative Foundation
Southwest Initiative Foundation
University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Center for Leadership
Education in Maternal and Child Public Health
West Central Initiative
(last updated Dec 22, 2010)
Check out our previous conferences:
Jan. 2010 Strong Foundations & Fatherhood Summit: here
Jan. 2009 Minnesota Fatherhood Summit program and other details: here
Jan. 2008 Minnesota Fatherhood Summit program and handouts: here
Jan. 2007 Minnesota Fatherhood Summit conference program: here
Jan. 2006 Minnesota Fatherhood Summit conference evaluation: here
Jan. 2006 Minnesota Fatherhood Summit conference program: here
Jan. 2005 Minnesota Fatherhood Summit workshop descriptions & handouts: here
Jan. 2005 Minnesota Fatherhood Summit conference program: here
Jan. 2005 Minnesota Fatherhood Summit conference evaluation: here
Jan. 2004 Minnesota Fatherhood Summit conference program: here
Photo of hands & feet: (Creative Commons) flickr.com/photos/enigmaphotos