Celebrating & Supporting Men in Foster & Kinship Care

Join us for a conversation about why men in foster and kinship care matter - to the family unit, to the system, and most importantly, to the kids. Our guest is Tony Craddock, a Prevention Social Worker in Wake County, NC, with more than 25 years of experience supporting families. For the past decade, he has engaged kinship families and fathers through his co‑facilitation of the Kinship In Action Support Group.

In this episode, we talk about:

• What first drew you to working with families, and later to engaging fathers and kinship caregivers?
• Why is it so important that we intentionally engage and celebrate men — fathers, grandfathers, uncles, mentors — in foster and kinship care spaces?
• What positive differences have you seen in children’s lives when men are actively supported and involved in caregiving?
• What unique strengths do men bring to families in foster and kinship roles?
• What are some ways that normalizing men as caregivers helps not just families, but the larger community?
• What are some of the reasons you hear men sharing about their hesitation to step into these caregiving roles or to seek support when they take on such a role?
• Do you see common themes of how they describe their experiences of being welcomed — or not — into support spaces?
• What strategies have you found most effective for inviting and retaining men in support groups and similar caregiving networks?
• What role do their peers who are already plugged into their roles as caregivers play in encouraging or retaining engagement with newer father figures in your groups?
• What have you noticed in children’s emotional, behavioral, or developmental well-being when there’s consistent male involvement?
• How does having a balanced caregiving network, one that includes a multi-generational approach and welcomes both men and women, strengthen a family’s resilience?
• Who are the men — in your work or your life — who inspire you as caregivers and supporters?
• What advice would you give to a man who may already be a foster or kinship caregiver, but who also wants to step more intentionally into that role to make a difference for their child?
• If you could change one thing about how the system engages men in foster and kinship care, what would it be?
• Looking ahead, what gives you the most hope about supporting men in these spaces?
• What’s one message you’d like every listener — caregiver, professional, or community member — to walk away with today?

Resources

• Father Engagement Strategies
• The Vital Role of Men in Foster Care
• Finding Male Role Models for Kids of Single Moms

Transcript

Please pardon any errors, this is an automated transcript.

Hello, and welcome to Creating a Family, talk about adoption, foster care, and kinship care. My
name is Tracy Whitney. I'm the content director for Creating a Family, and I'm your host for
today's conversation about men in the foster and kinship care spaces. Our guest is Tony Craddock.
He is a prevention social worker in Wake County, North Carolina, with more than 25 years of
experience supporting families. For the past decade, he has specifically engaged kinship families
and fathers through his co-facilitation of the Kinship in Action Support Group. We're thrilled to
have you join us today, Tony. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you. I'm glad to be here. So
let's kick off with a kind of backstory of your journey and how you got to this space of working
with families and then specifically to today's topic of working with men and fathers in the kinship
and foster care spaces. Working in kinship is very dear to me because I was actually raised the
first five, six years of my life by my grandmothers, my mother's mother, my father's mother.
Kinship care has been very dear to me in that respect. And then as I've grown up and I realized
that I have a passion for working with families and making sure families stay together at all
possible and supporting families in any way I can. As far as working with fathers, I have a
wonderful relationship with my father and being a father myself. I've always had various role
models that have supported me throughout my life, be it my father, my uncles, my great uncles,
my extended family, even my community family growing up in the local recreation centers and seeing
male mentors. So I've always had father figures in my life, even though my father was traveling and
whatnot. So that's my backstory. I'm just very passionate about working with fathers. as well as
working with the kinship care families. So your life experiences brought you to your passion.
Yes, my lived experiences have dictated my passion and my purpose. And I enjoy it every day.
I wake up every day asking myself, what can I do today to make lives better for my kinship care
families and the fathers that I encounter? Isn't it awesome when you love what you do? Doesn't even
feel like a job. And do what you love. And that's a question I often ask myself. Can you consider
yourself working if you love what you do? Right, right. So let's set the stage for why it is so
important to intentionally engage and celebrate the men, grandfathers, fathers, uncles,
mentors, who are working in these foster and kinship spaces. Children need both parties as far as
their upbringing, as well as their development. Usually well-balanced children have assets or
attributes from both the father and the mother. And it's always good to see something tangible, see
a tangible person that you can call upon to express yourself and to have a vital relationship with
a child. It's very important that children understand that there is a father figure in their life.
There's someone that they can depend on, someone they can call upon if the need be. Oftentimes,
children may want to talk to mom, but then again, they also definitely need to talk. to dad as
well. And I want to note for the listeners, when we say mother and father, we're talking about
kinship caregivers who are in the mother role or in the father role, not specifically just
biological mothers or biological fathers, just for our listeners to clarify that.
Yes. So what are some of the positive differences that you've seen in a child's life when the men
in their lives are actively supported, celebrated, and involved in the caregiving of these
children? I've experienced a lot of my personal experiences in working with families that children
have less behavior issues. Children seem to be a little more grounded when they have involvement
from both the father and the mother. Children exhibit a little more confidence from what I've seen
as far as working with families. And then also they have that assurance to know that they are
supported by their father or father figure as well as their mother. So when we talk about caregiver
support, we often in our spaces where we work, talk about it very broadly.
And it's kind of inclusive of any safe adult that's caring for a child. For the purposes of today's
conversation, let's drill down kind of a little bit and get real specific about the unique
strengths that men can bring to the families that they're in connection with,
whether it's in a foster space or a kinship space or even a mentoring space. Usually fathers bring
about a level of stability that let the child know that they're safe, that they're protected.
And it also provides a visual role model to express to a child or show to a child what a
relationship looks like.
the father and mother set the foundation for future relationships for a child. So the child
actually watches how the father interacts with the mother. And as far as co-parenting, even if
they're not together, but that is very. vital into the upbringing and the development of the child,
to have that presence, to have that interaction, to have that engagement with the father or the
father figure. So it just adds a various level of well-roundedness,
a well-balanced asset to the child's life. What are some ways that normalizing a man as a
caregiver in a child's life helps not just that family and that child, but the larger community?
Well, being that fathers are involved in the lives of their children, it also adds to a community
factor that they support each other, that fathers can support each other and support the community
and be an asset to one another, not only to their family, but iron sharpens iron.
That's one of my favorite sayings that if other fathers see fathers involved, then they will follow
suit as well. And then that forms a different level of community and support for one another.
So fathers being fathers. other fathers seeing fathers being fathers. And that just supports our
community as a whole. It provides strength and stability to our communities. So when you hear men
talking about their hesitations to step into these caregiving roles,
what are kind of some of the reasons that they give or maybe the reasons that they're reluctant to
seek support for taking on such a role? They're inexperienced. They're just fearful of the fact
that they may not know exactly what they're doing. But I definitely encourage fathers to know that
you're not alone in this process. The support is here for you. And we must normalize the fact that
it's okay to ask for assistance. It's okay to have peer support, to have support from
professionals. And it's okay that... you want to be a part of your child's life and we commend
them. We should uplift them for that, but also let them know that the support is near if needed and
let them know that we have safe spaces for them and we can normalize that and just make sure that
fathers know that their voice has value and they are needed in the lives of the children, not only
in their household, but in the community. So we, just like you said, if we normalize. fathers being
a part of the parenting process, then that would add to the strengthening of our families and also
the well-being of our children. So inexperience, but I also heard you say maybe some insecurity,
lack of confidence, that pride that maybe keeps them from asking for help with all of those things
in the mix. That and then judgment, you know, judgments can wait, but oftentimes fathers feel like
they may be prejudged that, you know, that. What are you doing? You know, usually, you know, you're
not a part of this process, but we have to change that narrative to let families know that fathers
are willing and able to be active caregivers and a part of that process.
to support and nurture that in any way that we can. So let fathers know that in light of any
hesitation they may have, support is available and you are a vital part of your child's life and
you are needed in the community to show strength and resiliency as far as being an active part of
that child's life. Yeah, messaging that you as a dad or a grandfather or an uncle can bring
something to this child's life that mom, grandma. aunties can't bring. Yeah,
exactly. A father's the child's first male teacher. So it's definitely important and imperative
that that father be there to lay the foundation to assist that child in the development.
Yeah. So are there some cultural or systemic or maybe even personal family factors that would make
engagement harder for men in these spaces? Basically, what I just previously said about the fear of
judgment and that they're just unsure of their own skills at times. So a lot of times it's systemic
that a lot of things to create a more father friendly environment to let fathers know that they are
welcome. You know, so they want to buy in from fathers. We want fathers to know that.
They are welcome in these spaces and they're valued for the input and the assets that they bring as
far as raising of the children and development of the children. For everyone's voice has value. And
then people go where they feel welcome, but they stay where they feel valued. So we have to let
fathers know that they're valued for what they bring as far as being that presence,
being that stability for the children. And it sounds to me like you're also saying that there's a
shift needed. for professionals in the space, because maybe we've not had or welcomed men in the
past, but we need to be making the shift that says we may not have done it that way in the past,
but we can do it that way moving forward. That is correct. Creating father-friendly spaces,
letting fathers know that they are welcome and then they are valued and they are needed. So we
definitely want to make sure that we provide that space, provide that atmosphere so fathers will be
welcomed in their space and get that buy-in from fathers so that fathers are willing to come in
and be a part of the foster care and the kinship parenting space. Hey,
listeners, I want to interrupt for just a second and let you know that we are always looking for
more questions to put in our weekend wisdom queue. If you have a question about adoption,
foster care, kinship care, being a man in the kinship care space. I would love for you to send your
questions to info at creatingafamily.org. We'll put them in the queue and then we'll comb through
our archives and get some expert-based and evidence-based information for you to answer your
question and help you out with whatever dilemma you might be facing. Let's go back now to our
conversation with Tony. So when you're looking at your work in the kinship space and with the group
that we mentioned at the top of the show, Do you see any common themes of how they express their
experiences of being welcomed or not being welcomed into these spaces? Like what are some of the
things that they can, you know, real life examples that they've shared? Usually just the
prejudgment of that, you know, that a lot of professionals. are not used to working with fathers.
They're usually used to working with the mothers. So we have to make sure that our staff and the
professionals are aware that fathers play an active role in the lives of children as well.
So we have to be accustomed to that and normalize that professionals become accustomed to father
engagement. And then also that. Just to build that rapport and that camaraderie,
that understanding, that relationship is a positive relationship. Their fathers don't feel
threatened. Their fathers don't feel judged in regards to what they're doing to try to engage with
their families. Yeah. So what strategies have you found to be the most effective for inviting and
retaining men in these spaces? Meeting fathers where they are. You know, going to various
locations. We go to barbershops quite a few times to just have conversations about fatherhood and
responsible caregiving. And we also have various events that engage fathers,
father-child outings. Fatherhood Fridays, we have various events where we focus on what is needed
in the community. What do fathers need? We ask fathers, we do surveys. We ask fathers that we
encounter, what is it that we can do to better assist you in being the best father that you can be?
Tell me a little bit about those fatherhood Fridays. Well, those fatherhood Fridays, they may be
engagement activities of let's talk about co-parenting. What does that look like for you? What
concerns do you have? Let's talk about mental health. Let's talk about stressors for you. How is
your relationship going with your child? What is there anything that you might need assistance
with? We can do as a society or as a program to assist you in being a better father or being a
better person that you want to be. What does fatherhood look like to you? And what can we do to
assist you to get to that level of fatherhood that you desire? So when they're moving into these
spaces and you've kind of recruited them, so to speak, for lack of a better word, what role do the
other dads or male caregivers in the environment? have on retaining those men as they're coming in?
We encourage support groups and we've developed various support groups in those spaces.
And we also talk about the lived experiences. various generations. We have an older population of
more seasoned fathers, and then we have the new fathers. So we want to make sure that we have them
in the same space so they can interact with one another and glean information off of each other and
just let them know that this is an open space where I allow each other to pour into one another and
gather information and learn from the experiences of each other. And then also just relish in the
excitement of being a new father. So we definitely look forward to having both aspects of various
generations come together and be peer supports to each other while also opening up and seeing
what's the current concerns our fathers are and what it is that we can do as a community and as an
agency to address those needs. And as the professional in that space, are you intentionally
coaching the... already existing members for how to create that space for new members or new men
coming in? Or are you kind of allowing that to develop more organically? It's a balancing act.
It's more so of we provide the coaching for the seasoned fathers as well as the new fathers as
well. But we also want to encourage them to create a bond of their own. So if they need to connect
with each other outside of the space that we've developed for them, then we hope that that's one of
the outcomes of what we've set up. That's fantastic. So I'm guessing that you're kind of in your
group settings. kind of identifying men that you see are ready for kind of that mentoring role and
you're kind of coaching them up to be able to coach up the new guys. Yes. Yes. We do that as well.
Yes. That's fantastic. So let's bring it back to our why. why we want to create and maintain
welcoming spaces for men in these caregiver spaces. What have you noticed in a child's mental,
behavioral, developmental well-being when there's consistent involvement? Maybe give me a couple
specific changes that you've seen in these children's lives. Usually with the consistent
involvement of fathers in the child's life, that child has a little more ground.
and settled as far as their ability to focus on various activities and their ability to flourish in
the educational system. That's a big one. Yes, they have that foundation and they have that
stability to know that they have the support of their father at home. So that often alleviates any
undue stress that a child may experience growing up to know that they have their father there as
well as their mother. So they can have that support at home and then they have that positive
interaction that transfers over to their educational setting as well as to their development,
as well as to their emotional stability. When we have a balanced caregiving network that includes
both men and women and multi-generations in a child's life,
how do you think that that impacts that family's resilience? That strengthens a family's resiliency
because there are different parts of the family. There are different generations involved and that
that lends to a strength of the family. But also the child understands that they're supported on so
many levels from their grandparents, their extended family, as well as maybe their biological
parents that there's so much love in that family. And there's so much support given to the child
that the child understands. Or maybe the child may be made aware. of the support they have and just
take that in. And actually that's very good for the foundation of the child as far as their
development. And they will see oftentimes that that's reflected in their abilities to succeed
academically as well as socially. It strikes me also that this is where the importance of
storytelling comes in for a family. So when you've got multiple generations involved in supporting
a child, you're hearing how maybe grandma overcame this difficulty or how auntie overcame this
difficulty or how uncle overcame this life challenge or this illness or this physical ailment.
And all of those stories surrounding a child creates like an anchor for this,
I can do this mentality rather than crumpling in on themselves. The child can say,
ooh, I come from people who overcome. Yes, that sense of pride, that sense of confidence,
that sense of assurance to know that you can overcome anything, any obstacle that's placed in front
of you because of your support system as well as. the resilience factor that's been instilled in
you, that pride, that as you've indicated, that anchor to know that you come from a strong line,
a lineage of people that have overcome so much and you are standing on the shoulders of giants as
you move forward in your life. So dads, grandpas, uncles. Big brothers get in there and tell the
stories, get that family theme going and talk about what you've,
what you've accomplished as a family and where you came from. I think it's also really important
for kids. And I see this even in my own family and we're not in the kinship space,
but to see that they're part of something bigger than themselves. And again, that they come from
this, you know, stories of giants, but the equally beneficial thing I think is that our kids can
see that the whole world does not revolve around them, that there's all of us in this story.
It's not just about me as a child. It's about me and my big context.
Correct. Correct. It's definitely, it's bigger than you. It's you carrying on your family legacy.
It's you. making your grandmother proud or your grandfather proud, as well as not only your
parents, but your great-grandparents, just understanding the rich and robust tradition and history
from which you've come. So when you continue on, you carry on that legacy going forward for your
family in the future. So it's very important for that to be instilled in children and children to
be aware of what that is. So they'll know what their purpose is moving forward in life is
definitely to do the best that they can. And that foundation is laid by that interaction with the
kinship caregivers, as well as the grandparents and extended family. Can you give us some examples
of how you have in your group settings kind of taught that to men who maybe didn't have that in
their own context growing up? And now you're trying to instill that in them to do with their young
family members? Oftentimes I ask fathers to think about what age is their child currently right now
or grandparents? I ask them to think about what age is your relative child at this point?
How old are they? What were you doing when you were that age? Oh, that's a good one.
Think about what did you, if you can think back, what did you need from a father figure at that
point in time in your life? And be that father figure or be that support for your child.
And oftentimes when they look at it from that perspective, that. A light bulb goes off and they
say, yes, that's exactly what it is. And they may allow themselves to become more relatable to
their children, to their grandchildren, to their kinship child. And that's where the connection
really starts to blossom, that they see what it is that the child may be experiencing or may be in
need of. That's fantastic. Picture yourself as like a little eight-year-old boy and what did you
need? But also what brought you joy when you were eight? What did you love about your life?
Exactly. And introduce the child to some of those experiences and create those positive memories.
So that's part of the tradition that you can pass on and move forward. And that may have an impact
on the child as well. Yeah. And not just the standard, you know, when I was your age, I had to walk
to school and back both ways in four feet of snow. Exactly. Exactly. Not just those stories.
Exactly. Take the child for something relaxing, go fishing. Some of the experiences or some of the
things that you enjoyed growing up. So just like you said, some of the joys that you had, I
encourage fathers and father figures to implement those same things with their kinship care
children. That's fantastic.
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the Jockey Being Family Foundation. Thanks so much. And let's finish up the show. So in your life
and your work, who are some of the men that are inspiring you as caregivers and supporters?
Well, of course, my father. I have a great relationship with my father. My father's a career
military man, so he wasn't always present due to military obligations. My father's brothers,
my uncles were always there and supported me and were teaching me life lessons as well,
as well as my mother's brothers as well. They were there as well. And then as I've grown up, I've
had community members, mentors, baseball coaches, school teachers that have been mentors to me as
well and been somewhat of father figures. And currently now my colleagues.
I work with a great group of gentlemen in social work that we have our own support system where we
lean upon each other and encourage each other to be the best that we can be, not only as fathers,
but as professionals to help other fathers and pour into other fathers. So it's a robust system.
And I'm appreciative for my village and my system of men and fathers as I go about each day.
And actually, even my son, my son is a new father.
So I still draw inspiration from him. And it just brings it full circle to see how my son interacts
with his son, my grandson. So it's just amazing to see the seeds that have been planted and to
watch them come to fruition. So if you're casting a really wide net of men who can be celebrated
and honored in these kinship spaces, obviously we think grandparents raising grandkids or aunts and
uncles raising nephews and nieces. What are some of the other men that you see in these kinship
spaces that are really making a difference? Well, you look at some of the community organizations,
you look at some of the local churches, you look at the layman's league, you look at some of the
recreation centers, you look at school teachers, you look at some of those spaces where they have a
constant contact with children and children look up to them and those contacts are needed.
And those men are needed as well. to bring out the well-roundedness in the children today.
So they may not necessarily be the biological kinship caregiver, but they're active in the child's
life. So I often look at some of the local parks and recreation activities. I look at different
community programs where 4-H, it might be the YMCA. It may be other programs that are community
affiliated that work with youth working organizations. So if you're a kinship family or a relative
caregiver to a young child, start looking around for some of those resources that Tony mentioned.
If you are feeling the need to have more healthy, good role model men in this child's life,
you can start with asking your school guidance counselor, are there mentoring programs in our
community, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs? quite often those spaces have men that
are ready, willing, and able to step into a child's life. And if you are raising a child in a
kinship situation, whether you're a man or a woman raising this child, there's nothing to be harmed
by adding more good role models of men in this child's life. Yes.
And then you also want to look at parks and recreation. You may want to look at if there's a chess
club or something to that effect where, you know, offer critical thinking or something outside of
sports. If sports may not be your child's current joy or interest, there may be some other things.
There may be a chess club. There may be a book club or something to that effect where they can
interact with role models that can pour into your child. Yeah. If your kid's into music or theater
or woodworking, look around for other men who are doing those things and doing them well and plug
the kid in. Yeah, that's great. What advice would you give to a man who wants to step deeper into
his kinship or foster care role, but doesn't really know where to,
like, he's got the title, okay, he's a kinship caregiver, he's a grandfather raising a grandson, or
he's a foster dad, but he doesn't know how to kind of take it to the next level. What advice would
you give? Research. Reach out to your local social services. Reach out if you're involved with a
faith-based organization. Reach out to see if there's a layman's league or a men's group at your
church. But definitely reach out to the school. If your child is school age,
reach out to the school and see if there's anything in the area that the school may be aware of. Or
reach out to... Boys and Girls Club, just like you indicated, or Scouting America 4-H.
Parks and Rec is always a good place to start as far as programming. Or then you may want to search
social media and create your own group and just put it out there that, hey, you are our kinship
caregiver or father and you're looking to connect with other fathers that may want to meet up as
far as Fatherhood Friday, starting your own activities, conversations and coffee where we can talk
about what we can do as fathers and father figures. enhance our parenting skills and sharpen each
other so we can be the best father figures that we can be. I would add that educating yourself
about the needs and the joys and the challenges of raising a child who has been impacted by loss of
their biological parents, whether it's loss in that they've been transitioned out of that home or
loss to incarceration or things like that. Learning more about how trauma impacts this child and
how to parent this child in a way that leads this child towards healing will bring confidence to
your kinship caregiving skills. It will build your parenting toolbox and it will support you when
you don't feel like you know what to do during a meltdown or what to do during,
you know, a terrible. meeting with mom and dad, and the child comes home and is just acting out and
is just really reacting to maybe this terrible visit with mom and dad. Educating yourself about
those things gives you confidence, gives you tools. And it also models to the child that you're in
this, that you are in it for the long haul, that you're with them and that your desire to be
present with them for the hard and the good is going to go through their lifetime,
that you're not just winging it. Yes, definitely educate yourself, trauma-informed,
being aware of what's going on, just to understand the history of your child at times. And we want
to remain focused, accessible, tangible, hardworking, engaging,
and be the role models that you needed when you were growing up and you understand how you can
relate to the child that's been placed in your care. And then just proceed from there. No one may
not have all the answers, but we can work through it together. And if I find you a great support
group or a good peer or mentor, because we all need mentors, even if you're a seasoned father or a
seasoned father figure, there's always room for growth. There's always room to educate yourself and
learn something new that you can share and pour into your child. Yeah. If you could change one
thing about how the larger system engages men in both foster care and in the kinship care spaces,
what do you think it would be? Creating father-friendly spaces, letting fathers know,
marketing, just awareness to know that fathers, even though we say fathers or we understand fathers
play a major role in the lives of children, but oftentimes it's not exhibited. around us.
The fathers don't know that because they don't see anything that lets them know that they're
welcome. It may be a photo of a father and a child. It may be some information that says fathers
come here. You know, a safe space, a dad space, if you will, or something like that,
or just some promotional type activities to let them know that, hey, we value you. We want you.
There may be something as simple as that. Just have information available so that fathers know,
getting the word out, that fathers know we are here. We encourage you to be a part of what we do.
And you are what we do. You are what we're here for. Speaking that language of men versus.
general language or many times in this space, our language is aimed at how women learn and women
understand and women want to respond. So kind of switching gears and learning how men want to hear
our message. will help our message be more effective. Correct. Correct.
Father-friendly language. Yeah. Yeah. So looking ahead to your work specifically,
but in general, the kinship spaces for men, what's giving you hope right now?
That fathers and kinship care providers are definitely coming to activities and being more
involved. That brings me so much joy. We just added a new person,
a new father, new grandfather to our kinship and action support group. And it just brings me so
much joy that we have about, we have on average about 15 kinship caregivers,
but we have usually about. or lately we had about three or four male kinship caregivers.
So we're definitely on a upward trend and we want to make sure that we encourage them.
And then we often ask them, what is it that we can do to improve your engagement? We appreciate you
being here, but what about those other grandfathers or other uncles that aren't here? What can we
do to get them to the table as well? I love that. Creating a Family runs a couple kinship-specific
support communities. Two or three of them are in person, and then I facilitate an online one once a
month. And I love hearing when one of our groups has a man show up frequently and shares his
stories. And I love how it impacts. the way other people in the space are hearing about the same
thing they're experiencing, but they're hearing it from a different perspective and quite often
from a different generation. And when we can spread that across and very intentionally welcome them
into those spaces, that gives me a lot of hope also. I get very excited when I hear about those
things. Yes, yes, yes. And if listeners are interested in the online support group that Creating a
Family runs for kinship caregivers, please reach out to me. My email is Tracy at...
creatingafamily.org. The group meets once a month and we have a combination of peer learning and
group support and connection that I think it brings me great joy. And I'm not even a kinship
caregiver. I'm the facilitator. But the group brings me great joy every month when we meet. So I'm
more than happy to talk to you further about it if you're interested and listeners can contact me
at that email address. What is one message that you'd like all of our listeners today,
whether they're kinship caregivers themselves or their professionals working in this space, or
they're just a listener who cares a lot about kinship and relative caregiving families.
What's a message you want them to hear and walk away with today? Pour into your children where the
children are our future. Create positive memories, teachable moments, communicate effectively with
your children. show that resilience, show that strength and let them know that they are destined
for greatness. Keep your children uplifted and definitely uplift your other,
your fellow caregivers as well. That is a great need because let people know that they're not in
the process alone, that there's always support available. Please be encouraged to reach out to your
local programs or agencies or reach out to Creating a Family. If you're in the Wake County area,
please reach out to Wake County Department of Social Services so we can provide assistance and help
you be the person or be the caregiver that you desire to be. I love that. Thank you so much for
sharing your time with us today, Tony, and your experiences and your insights. Thanks for sharing
your own family context of how you got to this space. We appreciate that you are committed to
honoring and celebrating the men who have stepped up and who are looking to step up into the lives
of kids who need this safe landing place and the work that only a man can do in a kid's life.
We appreciate that so much. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to be here.