What’s it like when a New York City social worker hands over a newborn baby on your doorstep at 9 pm on a Friday night? For longtime artist and journalist Graham Parker, that’s only a small part of the experience of being a father. Parker has focused most of his energy on helping his son – who is African-American – navigate the complexities of race in America.  On this episode of Paternal, Parker discusses the abrupt nature of adoption and all that's come in the five years since he became a father.

Noted social commentator, actress and New York native Fran Lebowitz once said, “You’re only as good as your last haircut.” But for Chris Matthew, a fellow New Yorker and a master barber, there’s far more to walking into the barbershop than just a new look. On this episode of Paternal, Matthew discusses what the barbershop means to men, and why he began cutting hair for homeless men after his father exposed him to the diverse faces of a drug rehab clinic in New York as a kid.

Few places in the United States can match South Dakota's Pine Ridge Indian Reservation when it comes to challenges for a father to raise his kids. Poverty, soaring unemployment, alcoholism and isolation are all omnipresent for many of the Oglala Sioux men on Pine Ridge, but George Apple refuses to give in. On this episode of Paternal, Apple discusses his challenges as a father and grandfather, why he embraced the traditions of his ancestors, and why the future of his family is so closely connected with the past.

How would you describe the conversations at your family dinner table? When Eric Tung was a kid, there was never much room at dinner for communication with his parents, a pair of fairly conservative Chinese immigrants. So it comes as little surprise that they were shocked when he came out of the closet as an adult or that he wanted to find a way to raise a family. “That was even more outlandish,” Tung says. “They had never seen it. The notion of a gay dad was completely foreign to them.”

Martin Rogers moved to the United States a decade ago to take a job in sports writing, a transplant from England with a wife and plans to one day start a family. After his marriage soured and his ex-wife returned to England he worked tirelessly to stay in constant contact with his young son, and he rarely thought about starting over. Then he met his new wife, and he unknowingly began down a path that taught him about love, grief and the possibility of changing your life story in the face of pain.

When was the last time you asked a good friend about where he came from, or the influences that shaped his life? On this episode, Paternal host Nick Firchau welcomes longtime friend and noted New Jersey-based DJ Shawn Francis to discuss his father’s alcohol and drug abuse, which man gave him The Talk and what it meant to him, and what it’s like to raise two African-American kids in Donald Trump’s America. "If my kids knew everything that was going through my head every day," Francis says, "there's no way they'd make it out of elementary school."

What if there was a place where men could go to commiserate about fatherhood and even learn how to be a better dad? This episode of Paternal goes inside the Center on Fathering in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to examine how the center and its founder work with men looking to manage and improve their relationships with their children. Center director Ken Sanders discusses how the classes work, and what motivated him to dedicate his career to helping men better shape their experience of fatherhood.

Raising a transgender daughter has been no easy task for Jake and his wife, Anna. The couple has spent the past five years educating themselves on how to best deal with a set of unexpected challenges that began when their second son began showing signs of her real gender identity even before she was 18 months old. Since then Jake has dealt with his own emotions and the idea that he must have done something wrong, all the while showing unflinching support and love for his daughter. "I don't think I did anything wrong," Jake says. "I just let the kid be the kid."

John Richards is one of the most recognized radio voices in Seattle, and the host of the John in the Morning show on KEXP 90.3 FM. During his lengthy career on the air, Richards has helped uncover and promote bands like Interpol, Death Cab for Cutie, Fleet Foxes, Of Monsters and Men and others. In the debut episode of Paternal, Richards discusses how he's navigated a complicated relationship with his estranged father, dealt with his own failed marriage and a custody battle for his son, and used those experiences to shape his own approach as a dad.