Letters - Losing Fatherhood - NYTimes.com

Read the follow-up letters to the NY Times Magazine article on DNA testing, Losing Fatherhood. You'll find a few different perspectives, but most acknowledge that it is protecting the child from the devastating loss of a relationship with the father they know that should be our first concern.

Letters - Losing Fatherhood - NYTimes.com: "Preserving the nonbiological father’s and, more important, the child’s right to their relationship would shield the child from the catastrophic effects of a father’s desertion that often is motivated, in large part, by dollars and cents. Moreover, permitting the mother to retain an unfair bargaining chip against the father — threatening to sever the relationship unless the father continues to pay support — empowers the perpetrator of the fraud over the victim a second time.

STEVEN P. FORBES

Huntington, N.Y."

What are your thoughts?

A Conversation with Garry Mendez, Dec. 10th

Photo: Lil Wayne, rapper, facing a year behind bars for possession of illegal firearms

Dr. Garry Mendez has been troubled by some statistics for a long time.  The Pew Foundation recently published a study that indicated one in every hundred American citizens is incarcerated.

But Garry knows that incarceration is not an equal opportunity phenomenon. One in eight African-American males between 18 and 30 are incarcerated. If this trend continues, it wil soon be one in three.

Garry founded the National Trust for the Development of African-American Men to turn the trend around.

Garry Mendez is visiting family and friends in the Hudson Valley next week and has agreed to spend some time with us talking about his values-driven work with prisoners, the formerly incarcerated, and their families.

Join us:

Thursday afternoon, Dec. 10th at 2pm

Child Find of America Offices (Across from Lowe's)

21 S. Elting Corners Road

New Paltz, NY

Please drop Donna Linder an email or call her (845-883-6060) to RSVP so we set up for the right number of people.

Prior to founding The Trust, Dr. Mendez was a National Institute of Justice Fellow and developed the Crime Prevention programs for the National Urban League. Dr. Mendez received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, his M.A. from the Bank Street College of Education and his B.A. from Hobart College.