I'm a better dad now

‘I’m a better Dad now’ A report that looks at ways of improving support for young fathers Executive summary  Perceptions of young fathers and young fathers’ work – project workers became very aware of the negative way in which young fathers were perceived and described by some professionals, particularly in antenatal services, and to some extent by workers from parenting agencies. The workers felt that an important part of their role was to try to change such views.  Working with other agencies – from the beginning, both of the pilot projects felt that building effective, strong links with other agencies working with parents, especially young parents, would be a key to their success.  Reaching young fathers – both projects encountered difficulties in finding young fathers in the first place, in encouraging them to engage with the project, and in keeping them coming along to sessions.  Assessing young fathers – because no models existed, the projects had to learn as they went along what were the best ways of identifying young fathers’ needs. The Wolverhampton project devised its own tool for assessing the level of need among fathers attending the project. Executive summary ‘I’m a better Dad now’ is a report of two pilot projects, which aimed to support young fathers, to enable them to keep in touch with their children. The projects ran from 2000 until 2003 in Wolverhampton and Rotherham. The report:  describes the two projects, looking at the processes of establishing and running the projects, and how they worked to overcome the barriers that young fathers face  summarises the outcomes of a survey of literature and projects about young fatherhood – examples of successful methods and approaches are highlighted  reports on the findings of the project evaluation  offers guidance for others working with or providing services to young fathers  includes examples of practical tools used by the projects in their work. Throughout the report, case studies and quotations from those taking part in the projects are used to illustrate the points being made. The report outlines issues that emerged as the projects got under way:  The recruitment of fathers’ workers – both pilots experienced problems in finding workers who were suitably experienced, and who were available to do sessional work. The recruitment process raised a number of interesting issues which would reward further study. Project evaluation The summary of the findings of the final evaluations of the two projects focuses on the following topics:  the increasing success of the projects in reaching young fathers, especially those in greatest need  the benefits of involving young fathers themselves in the development of the project’s work, particularly through supporting other fathers just joining the project and through taking part in visits to schools to talk about being a parent  the value of the innovative approaches that both projects developed, including the Life Planning Game, devised to help fathers consider and deal with the issues facing them; the Game of Two Halves, used in schools to help young people think about what being a parent means; and the tool for assessing the needs of young fathers, which has already been mentioned  the positive results of well structured and well planned work with other agencies, which led to a greater appreciation among these agencies of the needs of young fathers, and greater support for projects working with them. As the projects’ relationships with other agencies, particularly health agencies, improved, they were more likely to refer young fathers to the pilots. Conclusions and recommendations The report calls for better support for work with young fathers, as a means of tackling the issue of teenage pregnancy and of improving the situation of young parents – both fathers and mothers – and of their children. In making recommendations for future work with young fathers, the report stresses the importance of:  ensuring that projects are well planned and monitored  sharing experience, information and resources between projects  finding ways of sustaining and mainstreaming projects, so that lessons learnt are not lost if a particular piece of work comes to an end  providing more locally based support for projects, particularly with publicity  drawing project workers from as wide a pool as possible, and ensuring that they have access to relevant training and qualifications, if they have not already gained these  developing, and sharing understanding about, effective ways of reaching and working with young fathers  gathering information about the needs of young fathers and setting clear priorities for a project’s work in the light of these  working closely with other agencies, including antenatal services, explaining the project’s approach and how it can support and supplement their work  working to change the negative attitudes towards young fathers that may be found in some services working with parents  referring young fathers to sources of educational and other support which may improve their ability to engage better with statutory health agencies, and with the mother and their child. ‘They have shown me that there is something there for me … that it’s good to be a Dad, not a bystander … that I have a right to be a Dad. I can help them grow up, show my young boy to be a man, be his own person.’ Young father ‘My perception is that, even if some of the young fathers might seem careless with their health, when they were given a chance to learn, they all wanted that chance – deep inside them they do care about their health and the health of their children. Some of them were ready to make positive changes in their lives and take control of their own decisions.’ Health session worker Before joining the project ‘... I did normal things, but I felt I was in a shell, not getting where I wanted to be for my son’s sake. Why is it different for a single male? We get treated differently.’ Young father ‘Since taking this approach, we have been more successful in engaging dads, and have seen an increase in referrals from external agencies, especially those from the medical and parenting sectors … potential funders of the work became interested when they could see evidence of a clear framework for assessing and working with young dads.’ Project worker ‘Now I think I’m an excellent Dad, I’ve got an understanding. I go down to his level.’ Young father Order form Please send me copies of ‘I’m a better Dad now’ at £10.95 per copy (inc p&p). (Please note that publications orders below the value of £30 must be prepaid.) Name Job title Organisation Address Postcode Telephone Payment  I enclose a cheque for £ made out to ContinYou Solutions.  Please invoice. (Orders over £30 only)  I wish to pay by credit card. Please send your order to Publications Sales at ContinYou. ContinYou Unit C1, Grovelands Court, Grovelands Estate, Longford Road, Exhall, Coventry CV7 9NE Tel: 024 7658 8440 Fax: 024 7658 8441 Email: info.coventry@continyou.org.uk Website: www,continyou.org.uk Card no  Visa  Mastercard Expiry date Name on card Address (if different from above) You can obtain copies of ‘I’m a better dad now’ by filling in the form below and sending it with your payment, made out to ContinYou Solutions, to Publications Sales at ContinYou. If you wish to pay by credit card, you can telephone John Noonan on 024 7658 8440. What the fathers and project workers thought Registered charity number: 1097596