Dadvocates - Florida Father's Network

Posted on 09/02/2011 @ 11:41 AM

Tags: West

By Becky Newell, Regional Coordinator, West Florida
becky.newell@childrensmovementflorida.org

Dadvocates - Florida Father's Network

When most of us think of a parent advocate for a child with special needs, we automatically think of a mom. But Wilbur Hawke has worked tirelessly to encourage fathers to be equally involved as advocates for their children.

Wilbur, who currently works with Life Care Foundation on Disabilities, is a dedicated father and special needs advocate who has helped countless families over a number of years. His “Reflections of the ESE Policeman” gives particularly valuable advice – even after 13 years of advocating for my own child who has special needs, reading this reminds me of what’s really important in advocating for my child.

From its beginnings in Collier County in the early 1990s,“Dadvocates” has grown into the statewide Florida Fathers Networkorganization. Their website is full of inspirational stories from dads across Florida who are making a difference for their kids.

Here’s Wilbur’s description of the organization:

In 1994, a small group of fathers founded the first Florida fathers group “Father to Father of Collier County.” We did not fit into the mold of traditional support groups that were designed by mothers and began to meet together as dads. We started with planned community outings with our children. It gave us time with our children and an informal time to talk to each other. I developed the “Dadvocate” workshop and presented it at Family Café for seven years. My first workshop had three dads but grew to be full room with people standing outside the door. I learned much from the fathers in those workshops. I realized that dads were being over looked and created this network based on Dr James May’s model. Dr May was an inspiration to me and supportive in my endeavors. You can read my submission “Father of Two” under the “Father’s Voice’s” section of this website, which he helped me with by prompting me to share more than my original submission. It is my hope that through this website fathers will be encouraged to become involved in the lives of their children by being “Dadvocates”. We welcome fathers to post to the Faces and Voices section and network with the other fathers.