Monique Diane

Doula the Daddy: Why Black Fathers Matter

I am a doula and, as such, my work focuses primarily on pregnant and postpartum mothers. However, I assist fathers to be more involved in the process of birth and caring for the newborn. Time and again, black fathers have communicated (verbally and nonverbally) their feelings of being less than fully supported and having their positions, during their partners’ pregnancy, labor, and caring for the baby, usurped.