Parental involvement is not just for mums
Anne Longfield
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Ensuring that fathers play an active role in family life is essential to children's wellbeing. Their involvement can make a big difference to a child's attainment and development. Yet too often in policymaking parenthood equates to motherhood and services are very female-orientated.
Substantial barriers exist that prevent many fathers from playing a full caring role. For a start, men in the UK work the longest hours in Europe, which combined with the gender pay gap, means that for many couples there is little incentive for dad to play a more active domestic role. Men also do not necessarily want to change their habits.
A survey for the Equal Opportunities Commission found that three-quarters of fathers were satisfied with their level of involvement, despite most playing a supporting role to mothers. The way services are delivered, particularly in the childcare sector, reflects a wide gender imbalance: 97.5 per cent of the childcare workforce is female, which can hinder men's full participation.
But there are some good examples where services are going beyond simply offering dedicated fathers groups. One such example is The Fatherhood Institute, which has pioneered innovative models of working and which trains 2,000 practitioners a year from a range of services, including early years, education, family liaison and teenage pregnancy to think about this group's needs. The institute has also introduced the fatherhood quality mark, which provides standards for routinely offering a more father-friendly environment. Managers offering services to children are encouraged to review all aspects of their delivery, from addressing the ethos and presentation of children's centres to ensuring that they are inclusive and welcoming to dads, through to reviewing forms that previously only collected information about children's mothers.
One of the many centres providing inclusive support for fathers is the Ferry Hill Sure Start Centre in Chiltern. As part of its work it conducted a survey with local fathers that found many of them lacked confidence in their parenting role. To address this, the centre offered a martial arts class, which attracted many local men. After this initial contact was made, the centre encouraged the fathers to use the wider services on offer there. As a result, the number of fathers now involved has increased from three in 2002 to 115 this year.
As services reach out to fathers in more innovative ways, we can move beyond simply allowing mums time off, to developing practices that involve men and women as equal carers. Practices that allow fathers to share and enjoy time with their children as they grow up.
Anne Longfield is chief executive of 4Children.Email anne.longfield@haymarket.com.
