Reaching Out to Fathers

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REACHING OUT TO FATHERS
March 2009
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Family Services must comply with POLICY
LEGISLATIONrequiring engagement with fathers
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• GOVERNMENT POLICY and LEGISLATION explicitly
  requiring engagement with fathers - e.g.
• The Children Act (1989, 2004)
• 2. The Framework for the Assessment of Children
  in Need and their Families (DH, 2000)
• The National Service Framework for Children,
  Young People Maternity Services (DH/DfES, 2004)
• The Childcare Act (2006)
• Routine postnatal care of women and their babies
  (NIHCE, 2006)
• The Equality Act (2006)
• Maternity Matters (DH, 2007)
• The Childrens Centre Practice/Planning/Performanc
  e Management Guidance (DfES, 2006 2007)

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• GOVERNMENT POLICY and LEGISLATION explicitly
  requiring engagement with fathers (cont)
• Every Parent Matters (HM Treasury, 2007)
• 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 Childrens 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)

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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 etc, where
decisions are made The 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.
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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
public bodies to publish an action plan for
promoting gender equality, assess differential
impact of service on women and men, and
gather information on the differential
impact.
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The Childrens Centre Practice Guidance and
Planning and Performance Management Guidance
(DfES, 2006) All Centres must (i) have
a strategy to publicise all their services to
fathers specifically.and to
communicate why their involvement will
benefit their children and themselves
(ii) have effective systems to gather information
about fathers in all the families
with whom they are in contact (iii)
routinely offer all 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) consult with fathers and
mothers before strategies are decided,
and involve them in planning, delivery and
governance of services
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(vi) engage particularly with groups of
fathers who previously have been
excluded from services and whose children are at
risk of poor outcomes - including
young fathers and black and minority
ethnic fathers (vii) monitor how far
different groups of dads have accessed services,
and what they thought of them. 
(viii) A CC Performance Indicator requires
Centres to assess how well they
engage with fathers in the most excluded
groups.  Sure Start Childrens Centres Phase
3 Planning Delivery (DCSF, 2007) Working
with Fathers is one of five priorities for all
Centres All . . .staff should . . . have the
skills and confidence to engage with fathers,
particularly on initial contact.
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• Teenage Parents Next Steps Guidance for Local
  Authorities and Primary Care (2007/8, DH DCFS)
• Working with young fathers is to be a priority in
  teenage pregnancy
• Services are required to develop a culture in
  which the starting point is that young fathers
  involvement in the pregnancy and birth is
  beneficial for the mother and child . . . rather
  than one which starts with the presumption that
  the young father is a problem.
• The Welfare Act (2009)
• Legal change in England Wales to require birth
  registration forunmarried fathers health and
  other professionals will need to engage with
  fathers for this purpose.

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Healthy lives, brighter futures the strategy
for children and young peoples health (DCSF, DH,
2009)

• Review of how Healthy Child Programme is being
  implemented to include fathers 3.29
• Health visitor e-learning programme, including
  couple relationships 3.31
• Review of antenatal education, with particular
  reference to fathers and
• excluded groups 3.36
• Healthy Child Programme pilot projects to test
  ways of reaching fathers
• Fathers Early Years Life Check 3.39

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FATHERS IMPACT ON CHILDREN AND MOTHERS
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• Fathers affect mothers
• Child-mother attachment is more secure when
  child-father attachment is secure (for review see
  Guterman Lee, 2005)
• Heavy drinking by fathers is associated with
  double the risk of insecure attachments between
  mothers and infants (Eiden Leonard, 1996)
• The fathers smoking is by far the biggest
  predictor of the mothers smoking (Bottorff et
  al, 2006)
• Post-natal Depression in mothers is associated
  with a poor relationship with her baby father,
  his non-presence at the birth, his lack of
  support, low involvement in infant care, his
  rigid sex role expectations, being
  critical/coercive/violent, and his own poor
  mental health (for review, see Fisher et al,
  2006).

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Fathers affect children . . . GOOD-ENOUGH
DADS Some people say like father like son. But
I think they are wrong. Like father like
daughter. Im exactly like my Dad. Not in
looks in personality. We both like fishing and
picnics. (Emma, Yr6) (DfES/Fathers Direct,
2003) You are my teddy at night. (Naomi,
Yr4) (DfES/Fathers Direct, 2003)
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• GOOD-ENOUGH DADS
• Children with highly involved fathers tend to
  have
• better friendships with better-adjusted children
• fewer behaviour problems
• lower criminality and substance abuse
• higher educational achievement
• greater capacity for empathy
• non-traditional attitudes to earning and
  childcare
• more satisfying adult sexual partnerships
• higher self-esteem and life-satisfaction
• (for reviews see Flouri 2005 Pleck and
  Masciadrelli 2004)

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Fathers affect children . . . BAD DADS My
dad ... make me feel bad, (is) strict, not happy,
frightens me, dont care about me (12 year old)
(Russell et al., 1999) I love my dad
loveable, fun, mean, unkind ... I hate it when
my dad comes home drunk thats when he starts
fighting with my mum (11 year-old) (Russell et
al., 1999)
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• BAD DADS
• Children tend to do badly when their fathers
  parenting is poor e.g.
• Conflict with father, fathers negativity
  and fathers harsh or
• neglectful parenting are strongly
  associated with behaviour problems in
  children
• (studies cited by Phares 1999 Flouri 2005)
• Fathers harsh parenting has a stronger
  effect than mothers
• on childrens aggression
• (studies cited by
  Phares 1999 Flouri 2005)
• Getting on badly with EVEN ONE PARENT more
  than doubles the likelihood of a young
  person engaging in anti-social behaviour
• (Wood, 2005)

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• Fathers affect children . . .
• NO DADS
• Dear Dad, I only see you once a week Some small
  things I ask of you please come to my school
  plays and come to parents evening to see how
  Im getting on. (12 year-old)
• (DfES/Fathers Direct, 2003)
• Dear Father, I dont say dear dad, because you
  have not been a dad to me, have you? My name is
  Daniel I am Rebecca Bucks son. You might not
  remember my mother, but I think about you all
  the time. (11 year-old)
• (DfES/Fathers Direct, 2003)

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• NO DADS
• When children rarely or never see their fathers,
  they tend to
• demonise or idealise them
• (Kraemer, 2005 Gorrell
  Barnes et al, 1998)
• blame themselves for their absence
• (Pryor Rodgers, 2001)
• suffer substantial distress, anger and
  self-doubt (Fortin et al,
  2006 Laumann-Billings Emery, 1998)

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Some research summaries on the Fatherhood
Institutet website Fathers and Smoking
http//www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id2cID5
79 Fathers and Breastfeeding http//www.fathersdi
rect.com/index.php?id2cID581 Fathers and
Postnatal Depression http//www.fathersdirect.com
/index.php?id2cID580 Young Fathers
http//www.fathersdirect.com/index.php?id13cID
575 Main Research Summary The Costs
Benefits of Active Fatherhood http//www.fathers
direct.com/index.php?id0cID586
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• Agency commitment
• Finding out about local fathers
• Workers and volunteers
• Settings
• Recruiting fathers
• Services
• Partnerships
• Spreading the word (and keeping going)

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www.fatherhoodinstitute.org