Childcare practitioners are increasingly keen to encourage fathers to be more involved, be it in nurseries, Sure Starts or family centres. The reasons are not just sentiment or political correctness.
Fatherss have much more responsibility for children's care than ever before. Indeed, they now do one third of parental childcare in dual earner families, according to research published by the Equal Opportunities Commission.
The active involvement of fathers, and father-figures, can also make a big difference to child development. Pre-schoolers typically have better social skills, according to Charlie Lewis, professor of developmental psychology at Lancaster University. Early father involvement, he concludes, also has pay-offs in terms of children's educational achievement, better long-term mental health and a reduced likelihood that a young person will get into trouble with the police.
Support from practitioners can do a lot for a dad's skills. Men are not prepared for parenthood as well as women. There is a dearth of information targeted at them. Given the high levels of family breakdown - especially in the years after the birth of children - there are particular problems for separated fathers who may be unable to fall back for advice on their traditional mentors, the mothers of their children. Yet the continued involvement of these men in their children's lives is often vital to children surviving relationship breakdown. In short, professionals can be a lifeline for men who may be in sole charge of their children for extended periods, but lack the usual supports.
It is not always easy to engage fathers. Often childcare facilities employ only women and staff may not feel confident about what to do. Fathers may stand back, feeling that such a setting is not a place for them. Or they might be busy during the normal working hours of a nursery - despite evidence of increased father involvement, men also increase their hours of work after the birth of a child.
Fathers Direct, the national information centre on fatherhood, has just published (April 2004) 'Working With Fathers', a guide for all practitioners in family and community services.
It emphasises the need for teams to take time to examine attitudes - and perhaps prejudices - that they may have about fathers, and to understand what benefits dads can offer their children. It is also essential to agree ways of obtaining information about fathers without putting off (or putting at risk) other family members.
Workers wishing to extend services to fathers do not necessarily have to be male. Some of the most successful services aimed exclusively at fathers have been set up and run by women. Indeed, some fathers feel more comfortable with a female worker. However, it is usually helpful to have men on the staff. Typically, fathers feel more comfortable attending a service where at least one member is male. In the long run, agencies with no competent male workers find it harder, though by no means impossible, to engage and support local dads effectively.
The most obvious way to make a setting father-friendly is to display positive images of dads. However, this can be upsetting for those who may have seen the space as safely 'man-free' or who have had negative experiences with men.
There may be concern among staff members or mothers that children without dads will feel excluded. You can point out that not seeing a father doesn't stop a child wondering about or 'loving' him - seeing images may help children express their confusion about their relationship with their own father. It is vital, however, to have these discussions with staff and users before putting up new images.
It is useful having a 'starter day' highlighting the father-friendly initiative. It might involve a barbeque, a dads' breakfast, an open day, a Fathers' Day celebration or a 'bring your dad to nursery' day. Such events can allow fathers to acclimatise to the idea of involvement, without having to make an early commitment.
Most centres find that events for dads and children work best. It is best to invite them directly, by personally addressed letter, phone or in person. Be persistent and positive. Record the men's names and contact details systematically so you don't lose them, and invite them back for other events, having identified their needs and catered for them. It's good to take photographs and then offer them to the fathers, or put them around your premises.
Bringing dads in is a sensitive process. If you frame your service as 'helping' him or suggest that he has a problem, you may lose him. Better to present what you are doing as a benefit to his children and as 'information' rather than 'support'. It can take a lot of professionalism and commitment to get the process of institutional change right. Don't give up if it doesn't work first time. Don't blame the client. Do ask for help.
Jack O'Sullivan is co-founder of Fathers Direct, the national information centre on fatherhood, which provides training for childcare practitioners seeking to increase the involvement of fathers. Contact him at: j.osullivan@fathersdirect.com.
Creating a father-friendly setting
* Greet dads properly and make them feel welcome.
* Put up posters of dads and children.
* Give some rooms masculine names - not Primrose or Daisy, but Beckham or Ferrari.
* Slap strong colours over pastel paints.
* Designate a toilet for men or, if there is only one, mark it unisex.
* Leave men's magazines and sports supplements among the women's titles.
* Create baby-changing facilities that dads can easily access.
* Get a pool table.
* Provide games dads enjoy playing with children - table tennis, footballs, cards.
* Provide dressing-up gear that dads will appreciate on children - football strips, superhero outfits.
* Designate part of the centre a 'man space', even if only for a few hours a week.
Barrow-in-Furness Sure Start
Soon after Sure Start was set up in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, the team did a consultation in the town square asking what locals wanted. It was a rainy Saturday morning in November and they noticed lots of dads with young children wandering about. They soon discovered that these were estranged dads having their contact sessions.
Many lived in bedsits so were wandering in the rain, putting off the moment when they took them into McDonalds. So Dave Morrison, community support co-ordinator, opened up the centre, put the coffee on, got the toys and videos out and invited them in.
It was the first time that Sure Start had done anything for dads in Barrow.
Soon Dave's team had set up dads' groups in all six of the town's wards.
They weren't all estranged dads. A large majority live with their children, but want to spend more time with them and improve relationships.
Large numbers now do Sure Start parenting training and community support training. They offer a 14-week course with young parents, men and women.
There are lots of modules, coming with accreditation, including counselling skills, child protection and health inequalities. It is all about training non-professionals how to support their community better.
The impact has been huge. When Dave did the course 18 months ago, he was the only man among 20 female trainees. Since then a dozen men either have trained or are being trained. Most are not employed, but by the time they have finished many are undertaking work with families in the community paid on a sessional basis by Sure Start and other organisations. Work can involve helping a single parent who is having difficulty getting the children to school, helping a woman suffering post-natal illness or supporting a lone father. Equally, the work might involve extending Sure Start's existing dads' groups. One dad transports the pregnant teenager groups to the baths for aqua-splash sessions.
'We're a shipbuilding town. There's a macho environment,' explains Selwyn Wright, Barrow Sure Start's programme manager. 'We have high rates of alcohol-related violence and domestic abuse. It is great to see dads having fun with children and contributing to their community. And it takes pressure off the mums.
'We network with other Sure Starts. A busload of dads went to Anfield and the children had a great day being coached by the Liverpool staff. Quite a few have been on our cook and eat courses. Everything comes from the dads themselves. If I said it would be great to do a dads' cookery course, it would fall as flat as a pancake.'
