The Fatherless Daughter Reconciliation Project

From 2006 - 2024, Ms. Afrika Abney provided services for The Fatherless Daughter Reconciliation Project  is now called The Fatherless Daughter Empowerment Project, "a division of Esther Productions Inc, a nonprofit, tax-exempt company based in Washington, started by Ms. Jonetta Rose Barras, pioneer of the fatherless woman's movement. The Fatherless Daughter Empowerment Project was originally the Fatherless Daughter Reconciliation Project, founded in 2004 by Ms. Jonetta Rose Barras, creator of The Fatherless Woman (Daughter) Syndrome.

Some of its programs include  The Fatherless Daughters Speak Out, Discovering Me…Without You: An Annual Personal Essay Contest, Daughters Circle and Awakening: Women Power and Magic.; and Kaleidoscope: A Monthly Writing Club.

​Specifically designed for teen girls ages 13 through 17, The Fatherless Daughters Speak Out guide participants to the path of self-actualization using fun arts-based interactive and intervention techniques. These sessions include PaintSpiration; MoveOn, and the Summer Writing Institute.

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Discovering Me…Without You Essay Contest was launched in 2019 by the Fatherless Daughter Empowerment Project, a division of Esther Productions Inc. The essay contest is designed to educate the public about the importance of fathers in the lives and development of girls and women. Nationally, more than 24 million children are growing up in homes without their fathers. In the Washington Metropolitan region at least 60 percent of homes are single parent households, many of them headed by women. The contest is intended to provide a platform for some of those children, particularly fatherless girls.

Most importantly, the teen girls are asked to reveal that story of self-discovery: how she has come to know her worth and value; how she has come to recognize her imperfections but also her strengths; and how she believes she can succeed in the world despite the challenge of fatherlessness. 

If you live in the Washington Metropolitan Region, are a teen girl growing up without your father in your home, tell us how you have faced the challenge of father absence to achieve self-actualization and self-empowerment.

​The Discovering Me Summit and Awards Ceremony celebrates teen girls who entered the Discovering Me Without You Personal Essay Scholarship Contest which was presented by Esther Productions, Inc and the Black Student Fund. 

The entries were judged by a team of successful professional leaders and youth. Some of them include Ana Acevedo, co- chairperson of Esther Productions Inc.; Patricia Bitondo, Woman’s National Democratic Club; Dr. Misty Freeman, a local psychologist who works with students; Ana R. Harvey, a former senior executive in President Barack Obama’s administration; Alicia Henry, a nonprofit and government expert; Shelly Livingston; Leroy Nesbitt, executive director of The Black Student Fund; Winfield Swanson with the Woman’s National Democratic Club; and Addison Switzer, co-chair of Esther Productions Inc. and CEO of BuckWild Media.

"Esther Productions, Inc. was one of the first national nonprofit organizations to engage women fully in an exploration of the impact of father absence in their lives. The group’s founder and president, jonetta rose barras, wrote Whatever Happened to Daddy’s Little Girl: The Impact of Fatherlessness on Black Women. In that groundbreaking book, barras, for the first time, codified The Fatherless Woman Syndrome: the unfactor; triple fear factor; sexual healing factor; over factor and RAD (rage, anger and depression) factor.  As barras traveled around the United States and Europe, her experiences affirmed her belief that the effects of father absence knows no racial or class boundaries. 

    Today, father absence is a central element of many of the world's social ill. In the United States alone, tens of millions of young girls each year grow up without the presence of their biological fathers in their homes or in their lives. The effect is devastating. A demonstrated lack of self-worth, early sexual promiscuity, fear of abandonment and commitment, substance abuse and/or eating disorders, and toxic rage frequently can be traced to fatherlessness. These problems are played out as early as thirteen years old and continue well into adulthood. It could be said growing disaffection with marriage is directly linked to the large numbers of people who grew up without fathers.

    Understanding these issues, Esther Productions, Inc, created the National Daughter-Daddy Reunion Tour in 2005. That program continued through 2007.

    The organization wanted to do more than celebrate the problem, however. It wanted to lead young girls and women to a place of healing. Consequently, it refocused its efforts. The Fatherless Daughter Reconciliation Project is the result of that process.

    Using gender-specific summits, policymaker symposia, specialized training institutes, in-school lectures and facilitated support groups, Esther Productions has devoted much of its resources to enhancing the voices of women in the fatherhood and marriage movements. More specifically, it  seeks to elevate the public discussion about how fathers affect daughters’ lives; identify specific consequences of father absence in daughters’ lives; educate women and the general public about those consequences; provide tools to help daughters recognize and decrease the negative effects of father absence in their lives; teach daughters how to develop a plan to establish or restore their relationships with their fathers, and develop a network of individuals and organizations that provide a continuum of care and advice to fathers and daughters.

    The Reconciliation Project aims not just to educate individuals, communities and governments but arrest the problem and heal those affected by father absence, thereby enhancing chances for successful, loving and long-lasting relationships or marriages among this population."