Facing homelessness and early fatherhood created significant barriers to emotional connection for a young father. Growing up in poverty as a Black male, he had learned to repress emotions to avoid appearing weak. This emotional numbness led to feelings of failure and disconnection from his son. His circumstances forced him to seek shelter at Covenant House, significantly impacting his ability to see and connect with his son due to demanding work schedules and travel difficulties for visitation.
Not having a home for me and my son made it even harder to get out of survival mode and learn to connect to him.
As a Black male growing up in poverty, I'd learned that if I showed soft emotions, I would be seen as weak or crazy, so instead I shut down.
I was emotionally absent as a father because I was afraid to fail and somehow harm my son without meaning to.
I started staying at Covenant House full-time, but I still had problems seeing my son.
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