Feeling Fatherly

Earl Price couldn’t make it to the hospital when his son, Isaiah, was born four months ago. The 17-year-old father was doing time in a juvenile probation camp.

On Saturday, Earl met his son for the first time. He tucked his baseball cap into the back of his pants and held the tiny baby with the wide brown eyes close to his chest. He changed his diaper. He kissed Isaiah on the elbow, the cheek, the wispy curls on top of his head.

Camp Fred C. Miller, a county facility on Encinal Canyon Road that houses 120 teenage offenders, wasn’t exactly the setting Earl had imagined for a family reunion. There he was, a lean young man in regulation green pants and a white T-shirt, stuck behind a fence topped with barbed wire, trying to be a father.

“Being incarcerated feels awkward, but being a dad is something real special,” said Earl, who was sentenced to probation camp for petty theft. “It feels rewarding. It’s a lot of stress, I’ll tell you that much.”

All around him, young men were cradling infants and leading toddlers from one animal to another in a petting zoo set up for the occasion. For a few hours, they took a break from their military drills and literacy classes to celebrate Father’s Day. About 10% of the juveniles at the probation camp are fathers.

“We want to break the cycle of violence,” said Larry Dorsey, the camp’s director. “Some of these young men have not had strong relationships with their fathers. We want to stop that cycle, so that their children will have good family support.”

To that end, the Los Angeles County Probation Department has teamed up with the county’s Office of Education to reach out to the young fathers who are under the authority of Juvenile Court. Their program, L.A. Dads, teaches teenage dads about family planning, child development and the importance of positive role models.

The participants have been sent to probation camp for a variety of offenses, including robbery, assault and drug crimes. They generally spend six months to a year in the juvenile system. L.A. Dads matches them with mentors who encourage them to be responsible fathers.

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As the boys huddle around picnic tables with their families, Justin Anderson, a deputy probation officer, asks each one to stand up and introduce his family.

“My name is Benjamin Cervantes,” said a young man holding a little girl. “This is my daughter, Valerie, my girlfriend, Cynthia, and my mother, Helen.”

“What a cutie,” Anderson said as Benjamin showed off his daughter. “You don’t have your dad’s looks. I’m only kidding,” he joked.

Benjamin and his girlfriend were both 15 when their daughter was born. Next month, she will turn 2. Benjamin, who said he was convicted of assault and battery after a fistfight with another boy, plans to find a landscaping job and marry Cynthia.

“I want to provide everything that my daughter needs, do everything possible to have a good life,” he said. “I feel happy. I just hope I’ll be out there to be with my own family and be a good father.”

Ordinarily, girlfriends and children are barred from Camp Miller. Only the boys’ parents are allowed to visit. The Father’s Day pizza party was an exception, and the young men soaked up the rare moments with their sons and daughters--some of whom they had never seen before.

Earl held onto his baby boy for almost the entire two-hour visit. He gave Isaiah and his girlfriend, 16-year-old Crystal Aguilar, a ceramic leaf that he’d made. On the front, he had inscribed their names. The back read: “From a father 2 a mother.”

After the party, Crystal wheeled the baby stroller out past the security gate and Earl walked slowly toward the other boys. One of them offered him a piece of cake.

“Nah,” he said softly. “I’m full just from seeing them.”