Fatherhood Institute
The Fatherhood Institute is the UK's national fatherhood think tank. It a charity (reg. no. 1075104) is part funded by its own income and part government-sponsored 1 founded in 1999 as Fathers Direct 2 by professionals with expertise in social work, family policy, business development and communications.
It was founded in 1999 by Duncan Fisher, David Bartlett, Adrienne Burgess and Jack O'Sullivan, who added Tom Beardshaw to the founding team.
They have pushed for improvements in public policy and practice relating to fatherhood including:
- The introduction and structure of Paternity Leave in the UK
- Changes to the Practice frameworks for Early Years Childcare and Maternity Services
- Training large numbers of Children's Centre staff in SureStart and other early years services
They have run several major events on fatherhood:
- National Fatherhood Conference 2004 (Brochure) and 2005 (Brochure)
- The International Fatherhood Summit 2003 (Report | Magazine
Its current activities:
- collates and publishes international research on fathers, fatherhood and different approaches to engaging with fathers by public services and employers
- helps shape national and local policies to ensure a father-inclusive approach to family policy
- injects research evidence on fathers and fatherhood into national debates AbOUT parenting and parental roles
- lobbies for changes in law, policy and practice to dismantle barriers to fathers’ care of infants and children
- is the UK’s leading provider of training, consultancy and publications on father-inclusive practice, for public and third sector agencies and employers.
The Fatherhood Institute’s vision is for a society that gives all children a strong and positive relationship with their father and any father-figures; supports both mothers and fathers as earners and carers; and prepares boys and girls for a future shared role in caring for children.
The Fatherhood Institute has three on-going concerns:
- To change work so that fathers can be more available to care for their children. They want to see more fathers, including fathers on low incomes, working flexibly and part-time, and taking more leave off for caring.
- To change education so that boys are prepared for future caring roles and boys and girls are prepared for the future sharing of these roles. They want to see children and young people discussing gender inequalities and understanding that mothers and fathers experience pressure to specialise in caring and earning roles, and that mothers and fathers should have a similar range of choices over their caring roles, not limited by gender. They want to see more encouragement of boys into childcare careers.
- To change supports to family life so that the caring role of fathers and father-figures is recognised and strongly supported. They want laws, policies and public services to encourage and enable fathers to invest more of their time and energy in the direct care of their children. They want all health, education, family and children’s services to be “father-inclusive” – that is, to support fathers in their caring roles as seriously as they currently support mothers..
Their approach
- They lobby for changes in the law, in Government policy and in the targets set for public services that support families, while paying particular attention to families who are disadvantaged.
- They help employers and public services to change, by providing them with information, advice and training; by assessing and evaluating their policies and practice; and by piloting new practice.
- In order to achieve change in all the above, they intervene in, and seek to change, the public ‘discourse’ about motherhood and fatherhood.
- They ensure that the four activities identified above are informed by a solid, balanced and comprehensive body of evidence, readily accessible to ourselves and to others. They consult with experts and, where necessary, commission research in order to achieve a good understanding of the issues they address. They evaluate our own work regularly.
The Fatherhood Institute works in Scotland in partnership with Children in Scotland and in Wales in partnership with Children in Wales.
Fatherhood Institute (formerly as Fathers Direct) published the following statistics in 2004 3:
- In separated and single parent households 55% of children see their fathers less than monthly, 33% have no contact at all.
- 12.5% never knew their father (Smith M (2004) Relationships of children in stepfamilies with their non-resident fathers, Family Matters Vol 67 pp28-35)
- Seventy-five per cent of non-resident fathers would like to see more contact occurring (Smyth B & Ferro A (2002) 'When the difference is night and day: parent-child contact after separation', Family Matters Vol 63 pp 54-59).
- In one study of cohabiting parents, 47% of the fathers had either been their children's primary carers or had taken substantial responsibility for their care before separation - yet none had been awarded through the Courts, or had felt able to obtain through non-court agreements, primary care of their children after separation. (Lewis C, Papcosta A & Warin J (2002) Cohabitation, separation & fatherhood. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation)
David Bartlett, a founder of Fathers Direct, also founded the Gender and Child Welfare Network.
See also
- Fathers' rights movement in the UK
- Parenting