OUR CHILDREN ... OUR FUTURE

Whether they are toddlers, pre-teens, or teenagers, children in the Millennium are one of the most intellectually mature, artistically gifted, and keenly intuitive group of children our world has encountered. So, what does the world look like to a group of intellectually mature, artistically gifted, and keenly intuitive children who are our future – our bridge to the future? What do they think about? Do they have a vision of the type of world they want to live in when they become adults? While we cannot, nor will we, presume to speak for all of the children of the world, we can point to a group of 54 children ranging in ages from 14 through 17 from Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America who spent the early days of July 2009 in Rome, Italy creating presentations; organizing media spots, debating global issues; crafting policy recommendations about climate change, poverty, including developing nations in free trade negotiations, development in Africa, the global economic crisis, and quality education; and drafting a declaration – known as The Rome Declaration which was presented on 9 July 2009 to world leaders who attended the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy. These 54 intellectually mature, artistically gifted, and keenly intuitive group of children – who are our future – our bridge to the future – took their place on the world stage and urged heads of state of the member nations of the G8 to protect the rights of children throughout our global village.

Our children – our future – our bridge to the future have spoken. They are asking us to protect them. And one of the key “pieces of the puzzle” to protecting our children is the development of additional resources and support services for parents, particularly Fathers, who are entrusted with the responsibility of positively shaping the minds and souls of our children – our future – our bridge to the future. The responsibility for developing additional resources and support services and maintaining mechanisms of support that already exists for parents, particularly Fathers, is a responsibility that should and must be shared among individuals and institutions that reside outside of the family structure. Educators, religious leaders, Fatherhood Practitioners, Fathers’ Rights Advocates, health care professionals and providers, journalists, artists, musicians, publishers, law enforcement professionals, legal professionals, social services professionals and providers, social entrepreneurs, community grassroots organizations, the business community, and concerned individuals must form partnerships and strategic alliances which will ensure that existing resources and support services are maintained and equitably distributed. Every voice must be heard. Every idea is important. We must share information and resources, and examine existing programs which – no matter where in our global village they may be located -- have a proven track record of success. Where warranted, we must create new programs that yield resources and support services that parents, particularly Fathers, can utilize to strengthen themselves . . . create an efficiently functioning family unit . . . and protect our children – our future -- our bridge to the future. We must do this for our children – our future – our bridge to the future. After all, isn’t it really about the children?