Amy Fa'atoafe, the youngest of six, remembers when her father’s entrepreneurial spirit was crushed by the need to support his young family. While is was a disappointment to him at the time, it led to his using his degree as a marriage and family counselor and ultimately the formation of the Native American Fatherhood & Families Association.

Twenty years later, Amy serves as executive director of the organization, which has impacted a stunning 240 tribes in North America, and trained more than 2,000 certified facilitators. The group has been invited to present at the United Nations four times.

“My father put together our programs,” says Amy, “but he always says he’s there not to teach people something new, but to remind them of what is already so deeply rooted in our very identities and traditions.”

This is an amazing story about finding commonality in the importance of family in indigenous peoples – and in anyone else who attends their sessions.

To learn more about Native American Fatherhood & Families Association, click here: www.NativeAmericanFathers.org 

Original air date October 6, 2022.