Present : The Crisis of American Fatherhood and the Power of Showing Up

An essential deep dive into absentee fatherhood, the obstacles and stigmas that exasperate it, the dads who want to reconnect with their children, and what it takes for families to start healing—from the co-founder of Fathers’ UpLift

Young men of color want to be good dads, but it takes more than a strong will to make that desire a reality. Charles C. Daniels Jr., PhD, a therapist and the co-founder and CEO of Fathers’ UpLift, an organization that helps fathers reconnect with their kids, learned firsthand while serving primarily Black and Brown men that it’s possible for fathers to overcome the significant challenges to establishing a relationship with their kids after weeks, months, or even years of separation.

Present is an honest look at the complexities that accompany separation and the sometimes grueling effort it takes to overcome those barriers. Drawing on therapeutic practice and the experiences of thousands, Daniels describes what it takes for fathers to parent themselves, for families to practice forgiveness, and for fathers and communities to create support structures so that dads can navigate life transitions, relate better to the whole family, and heal from their own woundedness.

Daniels details systemic obstacles that disadvantage fathers and societal stigmas that make healing relationships with children challenging. But he shows that they aren’t the end of the story—it’s still possible to reestablish familial bonds. For young men and those who support them, and for those who are interested in the struggles these men and their children face, Present is a book of challenge and of hope, filled with stories from Daniels’s own life and the lives of the fathers he serves.