Speaking at a fringe meeting at the Labour party conference, Balls said he wants more services to target fathers and whole families, as opposed to mothers and children alone.
He said: "Relationships are now firmly on the agenda. I think our families green paper is an opportunity to challenge ourselves across public services, to think about the strength of families' realtionships and how that impacts on the wellbeing of our children."
Duncan Fisher, who manages the Kids in the Middle campaign, said engaging fathers in maternity services is key.
He said: "If we could engage with fathers when they go with the mother for a scan and then link that up with children's centres then we'd save a lot of money in the long term. It's much cheaper than chasing fathers through the community once they've already become distanced from services".
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