The Florida Senate

383.0112  The Commission on Responsible Fatherhood; purpose; principles and responsibilities.--The purpose of the Commission on Responsible Fatherhood is to raise awareness of the problems created when a child grows up without the presence of a responsible father, to identify obstacles that impede or prevent the involvement of responsible fathers in the lives of their children, and to identify strategies that are successful in encouraging responsible fatherhood.

(1)  PRINCIPLES.--The following principles shall guide the work of the commission:

(a)  The historically low expectations held about fathers must change in all areas of society, and responsible fathers must be encouraged to be full partners in parenting their children.

(b)  Networks of peer support for fathers are an essential part of any successful strategy to connect or reconnect responsible fathers to their children.

(c)  Women have a crucial role in promoting and supporting the involvement of responsible fathers in the lives of their children, and that role must not be overlooked or diminished.

(d)  Family violence must not be tolerated.

(e)  Special attention should be focused on interventions aimed at males and females prior to parenthood.

(f)  The areas where responsible fathering appear to break down should be addressed. Those areas include, but are not limited to, fathers who are absent from the home and voluntarily do not participate in their children's lives, fathers who have been involuntarily obstructed from participating in the lives of their children, and fathers who are present in the home but are disengaged from their children's lives.

(2)  RESPONSIBILITIES.--In order to carry out the purpose of ¹this section and s. 383.0113, subject to the availability of funds, the commission shall:

(a)  Compile available information on the extent and implications of the absence of responsible fathers from families.

(b)  Identify barriers in both the public and private sectors to responsible fatherhood and make recommendations that pursue the elimination of those barriers.

(c)  Identify successful strategies that encourage responsible fatherhood and recommend and promote those which should be recognized, expanded, or replicated.

(d)  Identify how existing state and community resources can be used to encourage responsible fatherhood.

(e)  Identify strategies to use to meet the needs of children and families when a responsible father is not available for a family.

(f)  Work in cooperation with local community-based prenatal and infant health care coalitions as established under the provisions of s. 383.216 to advise these coalitions on their implementation of plans to increase the participation of responsible fathers in families.

(g)  Sponsor a statewide symposium on the issue of responsible fatherhood no later than December 1996.

(h)  Present a report to the Governor, with copies to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court annually, with the first report presented no later than December 31, 1996.

History.--s. 67, ch. 96-175; s. 16, ch. 96-402.

¹Note.--The ch. 96-175 version refers only to "this section".