"Staff are a centre's most important asset but may unconsciously act in a way that's not very welcoming to dads," says Bartlett. "They need to be clear that centres are for fathers, too."
However, Bartlett believes many centres are improving work with dads. "They're doing far better than five years ago, when it was often seen as a marginal issue," he adds. "Centres tended to think the solution was to get a dads' worker. But really everyone needs to be doing it rather than looking around for the dads' worker whenever a man walks in."
There are many practical steps centres can take, including displaying more images of men. Wording in leaflets and letters is also important. "Research shows it's not really good enough to talk about 'parents'," says Bartlett. "Most of us read that as 'mum'. You need to specifically mention fathers, male carers and grandfathers."
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