Two years ago, KJ Lee’s divorce lawyer recommended he seek out the Center on Fathering in Colorado Springs, after his three young children were stripped from their dad’s life with the stroke of a pen in court.

Lee, who works in sales, said he contacted the agency with the intent of checking off a box to prove to the judiciary powers that he was worthy of being an active, involved father.

But he said Wednesday at a 30th anniversary celebration for the Center on Fathering that he quickly realized he’d found his people.

“There were other dads like me who’d had their children taken from them for no reason other than the system,” Lee said. “I wasn’t alone. I was a member of the community of dads.”

And there’s no one quite like a dad in a child’s life.

As a quote by an unknown author goes, a dad is someone you look up to no matter how tall you grow.

Throughout the years, the child-father relationship can be strong or broken, and when it needs developing or nurturing, programs at the unique Center on Fathering are available for mandated or voluntary guidance.

Since 1995, the Center on Fathering, the only one of its kind in the state, has been a source of strength for fathers of all types and circumstances.

The center profoundly changed Lee’s life, he said at the luncheon at El Paso County’s Citizens Service Center headquarters.

Not only did he learn tactile tools to help him improve his day-to-day parenting skills, but Lee said he also became more emotionally stable, built a community he’s maintained for support and developed resilience to navigate the challenges.

The program of the El Paso County Department of Human Services serves families regardless of whether they are a client of the agency, have a court order to carry out or just want to improve how they parent their children, said Jessica Hardwicke, manager of the county’s Children, Youth and Family Services division.

“There are not a lot of programs in our community that are specific to parenting geared toward men,” she said. “Here, you’re coming to a supportive atmosphere. I think that’s why it’s been so successful.”

The center teaches any dad — as well as grandfathers, uncles, cousins and others influential in a child’s sphere — to understand and fulfill the role of being one of the most important people in a child’s life.

Classes on how to be a good dad, mentors to walk alongside clients, support groups, seminars on infant and toddler care, training for incarcerated or recently-released fathers and access to a library of resources are among the center’s offerings.

Between 30 and 35 men participate at any given time, with a three- to four-month rotation of clients, said Supervisor Rick Gonzales.

So far this year, the center has received 250 referrals, 95 of whom have become clients, Hardwicke said.

Common comments that Gonzales hears is that people didn’t realize something they were doing wasn’t recommended, how they benefited from learning caring disciplinary methods and that they didn’t know co-parenting could be done without conflict.

The center, which unveiled a new logo at Wednesday’s event, opened in June 1995, with founding director Ken Sanders leading the crew for 23 years, until his retirement in 2018.

As the pandemic took hold in 2020, the organization sold the downtown home that served as its headquarters and moved to the consolidated county office building.

The program has been visionary in the state, Sanders said Wednesday.

“I knew when we built it that for it to stay, we needed programs, services and the people to make it work,” he said, adding that’s been accomplished.

Gonzales said the work is meaningful to staff, as they watch men’s journeys unfold.

“It’s one of the most rewarding and challenging jobs that’s out there,” he said. “We know how much a child is impacted by having a father in their life.”

Then as now, all services are free of charge to clients.

The center funds an annual budget of about $422,000 from money allocated to the El Paso County Department of Human Services, as well as private foundations, state and federal grants, and individual donors, Hardwicke said.

As another anonymous writer penned: “Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, storytellers and singers of song.”

For more information, call (719) 634-7797, or go to https://humanservices.elpasoco.com/center-on-fathering/.