TOP TIP - University of Brighton Repository

More documents

Recommendations

Info

In relation to young fathers, recent national policy frameworks such as the National Service Framework (NSF) for Children, Young People and Maternity Services have emphasised the need for greater engagement with young fathers by professionals. Similarly, the Social Exclusion Unit’s (2005) report Transitions, Young Adults with Complex Needs acknowledges the need for improved assessments of the needs of young fathers. In September 2006, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) published ‘Teenage Pregnancy: Accelerating the Strategy to 2010’ which announced that the DfES would be issuing guidance on all aspects of delivering support for teenage parents for local authorities in early 2007 as well as the present publication on promising practice on supporting young fathers. In relation to young fathers, it is envisaged that the forthcoming guidance will look at how maternity services and Children’s Centres can be better tailored to meet the needs of young fathers. Moreover, it will also look specifically at how young fathers can be supported to engage in education, employment and training and how best to support them to take greater responsibility for contraception (over which male partners can have a strong influence) to help reduce second and subsequent unplanned pregnancies. The benefits of young fathers work Work with fathers is important because they make a particular contribution to their children’s development and family life. Men’s involvement in family life is changing, and whether resident or not, fathers have a significant role to play in the development and well-being of their children (Lamb, 2004; Lewis and Lamb, in press; Lloyd et al., 2003; Warin et al., 1999). Research confirms that fathers can have a substantial impact in terms of both positive and negative outcomes for their children (Cawson et al., 2000; Lamb, 2004; Lamb and Lewis, 2004; Lloyd et al., 2003), and has also highlighted the need to support young and vulnerable fathers in the involvement with their children (e.g. Mordaunt, 2005). For example, evidence suggests that children do better among separated families when there is close and positive contact with both parents (e.g. Amato et al., 1999). Moreover, high levels of positive father involvement in two parent families is associated with a range of desirable educational, social and emotional outcomes for children and young people (e.g. Flouri, 2005). These include including better examination results, better attendance and behaviour, less criminality and substance abuse, better peer relationships, higher self-esteem and confidence, and better mental health. Furthermore, studies have found that when fathers are involved with their children at age seven, this can act as a protective factor in relation to education, crime, mental health, and homelessness. Once fathers are involved, they are also more likely to remain so (Flouri, 2005; Welsh et al., 2004). However, it is important to acknowledge that an increased level of father involvement is not always positive. For example a range of negative developmental outcomes for the child have been associated with some fathers’ poor or neglectful parenting, anti-social behaviour, and substance abuse. Whether a positive or negative influence, what is clear is that everything a father does impacts on the child, and as Burgess (2006b) points out, although negative behaviour by some fathers could be seen as an impetus to exclude men from family services and support programmes, the alternative view is that such behaviours actually accentuate the need to work with fathers in public services. The recognition that parenting matters (mothering and fathering), and is an important and critical influence on a child’s life, has been stated explicitly in the government’s 2003 Green Paper Every Child Matters (ECM). In section three of INTRODUCTION Supporting Young Fathers 5
INTRODUCTION 6 Supporting Young Fathers the document ‘Supporting Parents and Carers’, it states that ‘In the past, public policy has paid insufficient attention to supporting parents and helping families find solutions for themselves’. It goes on to acknowledge the need to build responsive and flexible services to support children that involve parents without excluding fathers: ‘…the government would like to develop more and better universal services…which could include…support programmes for fathers as well as mothers so that all children, but especially those who are living apart from their fathers, develop positive relationships with both parents.’ ECM is important because it has led to children and young people’s services being radically reshaped to bring about a new focus on the prevention of poor outcomes. Such an emphasis offers a unique opportunity to develop services that relate to families as a whole (i.e. including fathers), rather than just parts of them. Young fathers and services A growing body of research (Pollock et al., 2005; Ryan, 2000; Quinton et al., 2002) suggests that services often exclude young men through a combination of ‘traditional’ mother-focused approaches, ignorance of male perspectives, and sometimes through overt discrimination. Services that cater for young parents almost invariably focus on young mothers, and even where they also aim to support young fathers, they often struggle to find ways to do this effectively (e.g. Ghate et al., 2000; Ryan, 2000). In their report examining research findings relating to fathers involvement with social care services, Ashley et al., (2006, p.19) point out that practitioners are often reticent about engaging fathers in services because of the ‘possible impact on women and children attending who may have experienced domestic violence, and because of more generalised concerns and worries about child sex abuse’. This means that in many instances, professionals are continuing to juggle with constructions of the father as a ‘risk’ vs. the father as a ‘resource’ (Featherstone, 2001). In their study of young prospective Black fathers, Pollock et al., (2005) also highlight how young men are excluded by services. The authors found that the young men were committed to involvement in fatherhood and the future care of their child. However, the authors report that the young men’s experiences of antenatal care at the hospital, together with extensive involvement of the mother’s family and friends, tended to reinforce feelings of being marginal to the pregnancy. Consequently, Pollock and her colleagues, argue that there is a need to challenge the established ways of working with young fathers in maternity provision in order to promote the development of more father-inclusive services. Practices focusing almost exclusively on the mother are deeply embedded within the teenage pregnancy sector, and probably stem from an understandable desire to empower and respect the young mothers whom agencies are in contact with. But there is a lack of confidence and clarity in many local programmes and services about how to work effectively with both young mothers and young fathers. Practitioners who are used to working with young mums often find it hard to understand the relevance of young fathers to their work (Burgess, 2006a). As a result, even services that do engage with young men place little value on their roles as fathers, and rarely ask questions about parental status as a matter of course. Services that have not been proactive in trying to engage with young fathers are not held sufficiently to account for this failure, either locally
Page 1 and 2: Supporting Young Fathers Examples o
Page 3 and 4: Supporting Young Fathers About TSA
Page 5 and 6: INTRODUCTION iv Supporting Young Fa
Page 7 and 8: INTRODUCTION 2 Supporting Young Fat
Page 9: INTRODUCTION 4 Supporting Young Fat
Page 13 and 14: INTRODUCTION 8 Supporting Young Fat
Page 15 and 16: 10 Supporting Young Fathers
Page 17 and 18: Getting Started Key Questions • W
Page 19 and 20: 16 Getting Started infocus Meeting
Page 21 and 22: Reaching and Engaging Young Fathers
Page 27 and 28: Being Strategic KEY QUESTIONS • W
Page 29 and 30: Being Strategic 26 Supporting Young
Page 31 and 32: Being Strategic 28 ✱ TOP TIP ✱
Page 33 and 34: Examples of Young Fathers Work info
Page 35 and 36: Examples of Young Fathers Work info
Page 37 and 38: Individual, Group, and Mixed Approa
Page 43 and 44: Young Fathers Workers 40 KEY QUESTI
Page 45 and 46: Young Fathers Workers ‘Young fath
Page 47 and 48: Young Fathers Workers 44 Learning P
Page 49 and 50: Working with Other Organisations in
Page 51 and 52: Working with Other Organisations in
Page 53 and 54: 8 50 Thinking PROMISING PRACTICE ab
Page 55 and 56: The Health Initiatives Team at Educ
Page 57 and 58: Learning Points PROMISING PRACTICE
Page 59 and 60: 56 Supporting Young Fathers
Page 61 and 62:
NEXT STEPS 58 Supporting Young Fath
Page 63 and 64:
CONTACTS 60 LIST OF CONTACTS This s
Page 65 and 66:
CONTACTS 62 Great Yarmouth Young Me
Page 67 and 68:
CONTACTS 64 Pro-Thinc Drama, Merton
Page 69 and 70:
USEFUL ORGANISATIONS 66 Supporting
Page 71 and 72:
RESOURCES 68 Supporting Young Fathe
Page 73 and 74:
REFERENCES 70 Supporting Young Fath
Page 75 and 76:
REFERENCES 72 Supporting Young Fath
show all

TOP TIP - University of Brighton Repository

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?