A call to action to include dads in assessments and services, with practical tips.

1. Engaging Fathers in Children
Social Care
An Introduction
Dr Gavin Swann

2.  Fathers Excluded from Children Services
 The Benefits of Engaging Fathers
 Breaking Down Barriers Project
 What next? Can you really save millions and still keep
children safe?
 A Call to Action
Contents

3.  My Presentation today is an Advert in an attempt to
encourage you to attend the workshop this afternoon
An Advert

4.  Men perceived as worthless and or a threat
 A cyclical process exists where fathers’ gendered identity is
polarised meaning fathers are poorly constructed and are
ill-prepared for either partnerships or parenthood
 Defensive practice
 The profession has been blind to father involvement
 This blindness means abusive men are not held to account,
whilst abused woman and children remain at risk,
perpetuating the cycle of abuse
Fathers Excluded from Children
Services

5. I did not want to include fathers
My Prejudice

6.  It is now recognised that, in most cases, child centred and
sensitive care giving by both parents through
complimentary parenting, (where parents agree role
differentiation), contributes to a wide variety of positive
child outcomes.
 ‘Involved fathers bring positive benefits to their children
that no other person is as likely to bring’.
 father involvement undeniably influences psychological,
behavioural, social and cognitive outcomes in children.
The Benefits of Engaging Fathers

7.  Researching Children’s Social Care
 A Whole System Approach
 Systemic assessment
 A case file audit
 Literature Review
 18 months of Action Research / Co-operative Inquiry
 ICS
 A second case file audit
Breaking Down Barriers

8. 1. To design and implement a co-operative inquiry to
include fathers in Children’s Social Care
2. Create and adopt a fatherhood strategy with realistic
goals and targets
3. Identify objectives for engagement with fathers
4. Refine the existing referral and assessment process
5. Use data collection system/s
6. Ensure that training is available for staff at every level of
the organisation/s in father-inclusive practice.
7. Establish better pathways and referral processes
8. Ensure appropriate focused and gender specific
information
Aims of the Research

9.  Male Responsibility
 The Personal
 Fear
 The Need for Positive Male Role Modelling
 Organisational responsibility
 Male Responsibility
 Services for men are few in number, feminised, fragmented, poorly
understood and not easily accessed
 Men are collectively socialised to avoid therapy and similar services
 Services to men need to be designed around the needs of men,
particularly non-residential fathers, to improve child safety and
family dynamics.
Research Findings

10.  Include fathers in your practice; in assessments and
interventions
 Discuss fathers in supervision
 Discuss in multi-agency meetings the identification
of fathers
 Encourage conversations in your teams and
organisations about father involvement
Research Conclusions

11.  From a financial perspective, local authorities are
missing opportunities for children to be placed with
fathers or paternal extended families thereby saving
millions of pounds a year in foster placement and
residential costs.
 The Next Step – the Croydon Model
What next? Can you really save
millions and still keep children safe?

12.  Father Inclusive strategy in all organisations (e.g. in
Health – midwifery, Health Visiting, in Welfare, in
Education
 Supporting fathers to become involved in their
children’s lives will reduce pressure on services and
systems
A Call to Action

13.  How to engage fathers
 How to convert your practice and your thinking
 How to support your team and organisation to
engage fathers
 To get access to a Best Practice Guide
 How to save your organisation money by engaging
fathers then come to the plenary at 1.30 pm this
afternoon
If You want to Know more about

14. Copies of the thesis and the best practice guide to
engage fathers is available from
Gavin.swann@croydon.gov.uk
Questions