1. Supporting Fathers and their Children David Bartlett Fatherhood Institute

2. Some research summaries on the Fatherhood Institute website: Fathers and Smoking http://www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id=2&cID=579 Fathers and Breastfeeding http://www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id=2&cID=581 Fathers and Postnatal Depression http://www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id=2&cID=580 Young Fathers http://www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id=13&cID=575 Main Research Summary: ‘The Costs & Benefits of Active Fatherhood’ http://www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id=0&cID=586

3. GOVERNMENT POLICY and LEGISLATION explicitly requiring engagement with fathers 1.The Children Act (1989, 2004) 2. The Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (DH, 2000) 3.The National Service Framework for Children, Young People & Maternity Services (DH/DfES, 2004) 4.The Childcare Act (2006) 5.Routine postnatal care of women and their babies (NIHCE, 2006) 6.The Equality Act (2006) 7.Maternity Matters (DH, 2007) 8.The Children’s Centre Practice/Planning/Performance Management Guidance (DfES, 2006; 2007)

4. GOVERNMENT POLICY and LEGISLATION explicitly requiring engagement with fathers 9. Every Parent Matters (HM Treasury, 2007) 10. Aiming High for Children (HM Treasury/DfES, 2007) 11. Teenage Parenting Strategy & Guidance (DCSF, 2007; 2008) + Teenage Pregnancy Independent Advisory Group Annual Report (2008) 12. The Children’s Plan (DCSF, 2007) 13. The Child Health Promotion Programme Update (DH, 2008) 14. SCIE guidelines for supporting parents (2008) 14. The Welfare Act (2009) 15. The Childcare Strategy (DWP, HM Treasury, DCSF, Cabinet Office, 2009) 16. Healthy lives, brighter futures: the strategy for children and young people’s health (DCSF, DH, 2009)

5. So What is New? Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families (DH, 2000) Assessors must take all reasonable steps to gather information about, and from, all relevant family members, whether resident or not, and requires them to be clear about the roles played by fathers or father-figures. The Children Act (1989) Fathers are parents under the Act irrespective of whether they have Parental Responsibility, so they should be involved in case conferences and kept informed about child protection procedures

6. The Childcare Act (2006) Requires local authorities to identify parents and prospective parents who are unlikely to use early childhood services (e.g. fathers – who are specifically mentioned), and facilitate their access to those services The Equality Act (2006) Requires publicly funded bodies to: publish an action plan for promoting gender equality assess differential impact of services on women and men gather information on the differential impact

7. Every Parent Matters (2007) “irrespective of the degree of involvement they have in the care of their children, fathers should be offered routinely the support and opportunities they need to play their parental role effectively” Children’s services must: (i) have a strategy to publicise all their services to fathers specifically (ii) have effective systems to gather information about fathers in all the families with whom they are in contact (iii) routinely offer fathers the support and opportunities they need to play their parental role effectively (iv) recruit and train all staff to be sensitive to the needs of fathers as well as mothers (v) involve fathers and mothers in planning, delivery and governance of services

8. Child Health Promotion Programme (2008) “working routinely with both mothers and fathers (whether they are living together or not).” [p 13] “Fathers should be routinely invited to participate in child health reviews, and should have their needs assessed.” [p 9] “Any system of early identification [of needs] has to be…..acceptable to both parents.” [p 14] Increased focus on pregnancy “and the need for mothers and fathers to be supported during this time”. [pp 9, 13, 34]

9. Launched by Beverley Hughes, Minister for Children, end of 2008 following publication of research [“A Review of How Fathers can be Better Recognised and Supported Through DCSF Policy”] which showed that children’s services’ implementation of father-inclusive policies was patchy Organised by DCSF with Children’s Society, Fatherhood Institute and National Academy for Parenting Practitioners Aim is to engage as many stakeholders as possible

10. Activities Think Fathers Guide to provide practical know how to individual services and employers – including self assessment framework Identifying local authority, voluntary sector, employer and practitioner champions to develop and showcase good practice Think Fathers media debate Think Fathers summit in June to celebrate inclusive services and employers, with testimony from dads and sessions from expert practitioners and managers

11. How can you be involved? Become a Think Fathers champion Tell us about your good practice Contact David Haynes at dhaynes@parentingacademy.org dhaynes@parentingacademy.org Log on at www.think-fathers.orgwww.think-fathers.org

12. POLICIES: What Next? Huge job of implementation across children’s services Paternity / maternity / parental leave Flexible working Welfare to work policies Joining up safeguarding, domestic violence and father-inclusive agendas

13. Father-child relationships: diverse and often fragile Young fathers who have never lived with the mothers of their children are the least likely to stay involved long term (Maclean & Eekelaar, 1997) A young father’s continuing involvement is better predicted by the quality of his relationship with his baby’s mother and HER ‘relational capacity’ than by his own background (Ngu, 2005; Quinton et al, 2002) Fatherhood can be a ‘wake up call’ for of the most disadvantaged who gradually pull their lives together afterwards – often not straight after the birth, but slightly later (perhaps after a spell in prison) (Florsheim & Ngu, 2003)

14. Young Fathers’ Experiences of Services Quinton et al (2002) found young fathers ‘mostly ignored, marginalized or made uncomfortable’ by services, especially BME fathers (despite their general desire for information, advice and inclusion) Young fathers’ mood disorders almost never treated. Where they self-identify anger, sadness/depression, nervousness/tension, helplessness and aggression, they rarely request services to address these: they request jobs & vocational training (Weinman et al, 2005)

15. VIOLENCE, ABUSE, AND THE DEFICIT PERSPECTIVE Motherhood is highly regarded and mothers’ value to their children unquestioned. Fathers and fathering suffer from unexamined negative perceptions (i.e.prejudices) about men/fathers - e.g. “a man can’t cope with children without a woman to help him” “men aren’t much interested in children – their main interest is a job” “if mum can cope, dad’s involvement doesn’t matter” “men can’t or won’t change” “men are violent” BUT MEN’S VIOLENCE IS ALSO UNDERPLAYED

16. The DEFICIT PERSPECTIVE when internalised –by FATHERS can inhibit their involvement with children and with parenting interventions and other services –by MOTHERS can inhibit their willingness to share care of children with fathers, and/or encourage their involvement with services -by PROFESSIONALS can cause them to exclude fathers or treat them as optional extras

17. Service providers’ perspectives DV perpetrator programmes: MEN: resistant, manipulative, dangerous, gendered power relations SERVICES: non-negotiable goals; structured programme; non-collusive; accountable to women Father-inclusive services: MEN: excluded, vulnerable, a resource, diverse SERVICES: ‘start where the dads are’; flexible; partnership with men and women

18. Due to socialisation/situation men’s INFORMATION and SUPPORT needs may be different. e.g. Men usually have Less EXPERIENCE with infants / children / caring Less KNOWLEDGE about sex, relationships, child development etc. Less appreciation that being an effective and involved parent requires SKILLS Less INFORMATION ABOUT SERVICES Greater ISOLATION in parenting Weaker formal/ informal SUPPORT NETWORKS Less WILLINGNESS to access formal service Less WILLINGNESSto accept HELP/SUPPORT Different problems with children – e.g. discipline

19. PARENTING INTERVENTIONS TEND TO BE PARTICULARLY SUCCESSFUL/POPULAR WITH FATHERS WHEN They address basic skills such as handling babies Activities with children are an element (rather than only sitting around talking about them) Activities/skills training are delivered with particular emphasis on the father-child relationship Video playback self-modelling The curriculum is clear and the intervention is well structured Informality and peer learning also work well Support is delivered one-on-one or to the couple alone

20. FATHER-ONLY GROUP ACTIVITIES? Popular with a few fathers Unpopular with most fathers Fathers Groups the least popular way (for most fathers) of interacting with the service – being “on the committee” is actually more popular! However, huge benefits for some fathers (learning outcomes, satisfaction, peer support) Can draw some fathers into the service more widely Can help identify “champion dads” who may undertake volunteer work

21. MIXED-GENDER GROUPS Men can find mixed gender groups daunting and respond by withdrawing or trying to take over Good facilitation (with good training) can handle this – e.g. as in family therapy Fathers can learn well in mixed gender groups Mixed gender groups very much the best in separation and divorce (hostile parental couples attend different groups) Only one study has compared mixed gender with “fathers only” groups: both effective, but learning, satisfaction, implementation and attendance more likely in the couple group