Young dads’ films give advice for better parenting

Project: DigiDad

Purpose: To provide parenting support to young fathers

Funding: The charity NEYDL has invested more than £400,000 in the development of DigiDad over three years with funding coming from grant-making foundations, academic institutions, the NHS and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations

Background

Former youth worker Kevin Stoodley founded the North East Young Dads and Lads Project (NEYDL) in 2017. After working on a project supporting young mums, he realised there was little support for young dads in the Gateshead area. “There was a gap in the service and no blueprint for working with young dads in a meaningful way,” he says.

He began to offer one-to-one support to young dads aged up to 25 and created opportunities for them to meet each other and share experiences. Almost all the young men who access the charity – 91 per cent – experience isolation and loneliness. Stoodley realised young dads also needed support in areas such as housing, parenting and relationship skills, mental health, and advice around social care or court proceedings.

The free, online platform DigiDad grew from this work when the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020.

Action

DigiDad is created for dads by dads. Key goals include supporting young fathers to have a positive influence on their children’s lives, promoting the important role of young fathers to statutory services and to reduce stigma associated with young fatherhood.

Being online was important when Covid-19 restrictions prevented the project from doing face-to-face work. However, the project also found young dads liked this way of working.

Young fathers reported that parenting booklets and guides they received from other services were often “very wordy”, “quite middle class”, and did not represent them.

They preferred video guides and were interested in telling their stories on film. “The men were motivated to talk about their experiences and make improvements for the next generation of young fathers,” says Stoodley.

So far, 86 young and expectant fathers have helped create 61 videos or voiced animations. The content reflects the issues NEYDL addresses in person. For example, in one video a man explains the impact of becoming a father aged 15. Although he admits it was “scary”, his message is positive. “If she weren’t here,” he says of his daughter, “I probably wouldn’t be where I am today”. Other videos offer advice on issues such as working with social services and court proceedings or practical topics such as how to childproof a home and paediatric first aid.

The young dads meet in a recording studio in Newcastle to make the content, with some fitting this in around full-time jobs. They have clocked up more than 1,049 hours of volunteer time.

NEYDL found animators and editors to support their work and help the young men inject their own creativity, humour and experiences into the subjects. For example, a series of six films about parenting children aged naught to six begins with a congratulatory message about becoming a young dad. This is in contrast to the negative reaction most young dads receive when they find out they are going to become a father. “Often in films about parenting it’s not young men with young voices and accents from the North East,” says Stoodley. “Our voices are matter of fact, warm, witty, and credible.”

The group created the content in partnership with a multi-agency advisory board of 16 organisations with a wide range of expertise including family law, midwifery and social work. They support the team to ensure the advice it creates is accurate and up to date.

Many of the young dads come from deprived communities, with some having missed large chunks of school, explains Stoodley. Creating the content was also a way for them to learn practical skills. Three of the young dads involved in the project are now employed full-time by NEYDL while another has set up a business as a photographer.

The site also has an e-learning element, where young dads can complete accredited courses on subjects including perinatal mental health and feeding a baby.

In addition to the online offer, NEYDL young dads have set up gaming sessions. Using the Discord platform, they created a safe, moderated community where users can game but also talk about any issues concerning them. The charity provided headsets and consoles, and organised competitions. “When they’re doing something like gaming they’re often more open to talking about their challenges and difficulties in their lives,” says Stoodley. He hopes this approach will help the charity access young dads who are not confident to engage with the project face-to-face.

Outcome

The DigiDad website receives more than 1,000 visitors per month and has 110 subscribers. The DigiDad YouTube channel has had more than 31,200 views to date.

The completion rate for online courses is 82 per cent with more than 630 young men achieving certificates over the past three years.

An independent evaluation of DigiDad carried out between November 2022 and February 2023 by the University of Bradford and University of Lincoln found DigiDad is meeting its three primary objectives.

Interviews with users who were not involved in creating the site described it as user-friendly and helpful. The researchers concluded DigiDad had helped professionals in statutory services understand challenges faced by young dads. They found professionals were increasingly using DigiDad as a resource as well as referring young fathers to it.

Stoodley believes DigiDad has helped young dads challenge stereotypes “because it’s their voice, passion and experiences”.

A study by Newcastle University following 16 young dads who took part in the gaming group found 75 per cent had increased face-to-face social interactions while 38 per cent had gained employment since getting involved in DigiDad.

What's next?

NEYDL is applying for additional funding to complete a series of video parenting guides covering a child’s first two years. The charity is exploring collaborations with new partners in Leeds, and Lewisham and Hackney in London. It has begun a short film project where young dads use mobile phones to shoot content.

NEYDL is planning to relaunch the e-learning platform in April with new courses approved by the University of Lincoln. It is also working with the University of Newcastle to develop the gaming project so it can reach more users.

Experience: Robert overcomes early challenges to become DigiDad adviser

Robert Oughton’s daughter Rose was born in 2014 when he was aged 19. By the time she turned three, Robert’s relationship with her mother was breaking down. In 2017, a local charity referred him to the North East Young Dads and Lads Project (NEYDL).

Initially, NEYDL founder Kevin Stoodley spoke to Oughton on the phone, then they met for one-to-one conversations. “He was just walking me through some of the issues I was having,” says Oughton, who felt anger and frustration at the time. Separating from his partner meant he saw less of Rose. “It was that sense of losing control,” he says. “I’ve got parental responsibility. But I kept getting this one phrase thrown at me – that she [the mother] was the primary carer.”

Oughton and Rose’s mother were able to agree contact amicably without involving mediation services. But he says the support he received from other dads in the same position at weekly drop-in sessions helped him cope with the process and overcome his anger faster. “I felt isolated from my friends and family because I was focused on doing what I thought I had to do,” he says. Playing pool, Dungeons & Dragons, or learning how to make bread while having casual conversations with other dads made a huge difference.

NEYDL supported Oughton through several challenges, including workplace stress, a period of unemployment, and housing instability. When DigiDad started in 2020, Oughton became a key member of the team advising on content creation based on his lived experience. He helped write and produce content alongside other dads and sits on the DigiDad advisory board. He has also appeared in videos and podcasts.

Oughton went on to become a full-time NEYDL project worker supporting about 25 young dads and families. He is passionate about his job, and about spending time with Rose. “I just love her,” he says.

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