Picture by Cedric Nunn
“INVISIBLE FATHERS”: THEY NEED OUR SUPPORT
by J. Ngunyi Wambugu
Society frequently sees teenage fathers in a negative light, labelling them as irresponsible, immature and delinquent. The focus has been mainly on single young mothers, yet there is a paucity of information about the needs and challenges of teenage fathers. In South Africa, for example, the personal details of a child’s unmarried father are never collected. Practices of this kind contribute to and exacerbate the “invisibility” of teenage fathers in our society today.
It is assumed by many that once they cause a pregnancy, young men flee from responsibility and are remotely interested in fatherhood. Nonetheless, there are many teenage fathers out there who are keen on being reliable, mature and present fathers. However, in as much as these fathers endeavour to be involved in the lives of their children, they cite a variety of challenges that hinder their transition to responsible fatherhood. These include lack of economic support, low educational attainment, unemployment, and immaturity.
Challenges
Teenage fathers encounter numerous challenges that hamper their ability to successfully function as fathers. They are more likely to face economic and employment barriers than older fathers. Firstly, teenage fathers face financial obligations where very little finances exist for them. Most of them are still dependent on their own parents or other guardians for economic security and even for food and shelter. In addition, most teenage fathers experience fatherhood at a time when most of them are yet to complete their formal education and in all likelihood have not secured steady employment that would permit them to adequately carter to the needs of their children in the long-term. Therefore, providing economic support to their children becomes a monumental challenge for teenage fathers. It can be argued that this prospect of providing economic support to a child in the absence of fiscal recourses may discourage teenage fathers from coming forward to claim parternity.
Teenage fathers also face a premature role transition, which can cause added stress in their lives. The transition to parenthood can be difficult even for older established individuals, yet teenage fathers are expected to negotiate both adolescent development and parenthood. During adolescence, the body is flooded with testosterone, causing many changes, including shifts in feelings about sexuality and relationships. As such, many teenage fathers find themselves having to deal with the effects of this confusing biological transition on one hand, and fatherhood on the other.
It can be argued that teenage fathers may also face customary issues that obstruct their ability to be involved fathers. Some teenage fathers are stopped from seeing their children by the parents of the child’s mother until certain customs and rites have been performed, such as paying “damages” for impregnating their daughter. As mentioned earlier, many teenage fathers due to the nature of their social economic status are unable to meet such fiscal demands and are thus foreclosed from gaining access to their children or even in participating in their day-to-day lives. This sort of action may further alienate the teenage father from his child.
Teenage fathers also lack adequate support from health practitioners and social workers. There are hardly any services or groups in existence that specifically cater for teenage fathers. Furthermore, due to their young age, many teenage fathers feel that they are unable to access support from the existing father support groups. This is because the few father support programmes available tend to attract older men and teenage fathers may not feel comfortable discussing their issues in such a gathering.
Support needed
The policies of educational and employment institutions, social service providers and societal practices towards teenage fathers do influence the extent to which teenage fathers can be involved in the lives of their children with respect to family time, time away from school or training in order to participate in caring and nurturing of the child. Policy makers and program planners need to start considering how best to address the needs of teenage fathers as a specific group. Organizations that work with young men need to address the needs of teenage fathers in regards to education for parenthood and future career choice.
Developmentally, teenage fathers would probably require a different sort of support network and intervention in comparison to their female counterparts, in order to ensure their successful transition to responsible and involved fathers. Fatherhood can be a significant life changing event in a man’s life, especially for adolescent individuals who are still thinking about their self-worth and self-identity. Teenage fathers need to receive emotional support from experienced counsellors and from peers with similar experiences. Such support, especially in the first year of fatherhood, can aid in building confidence in the young father, since many teenage fathers lack the initial repertoire of skills and information that are required to fully support their children.
The particular needs of teenage fathers to complete their formal education and embark on life-time careers is a significant concern, especially considering that they battle to get paid work due to their lack of qualifications. In light of this, it can be suggested that any programme that targets teenage fathers should address issues of skill and capacity development in a bid to empower these fathers in the job market. Programs need to develop creative strategies to help these fathers, such as building partnerships with community agencies and businesses and developing direct relationships with potential employers.
There has been a tendency by society to cast teenage fathers in bad light, whereby they end up feeling undervalued and excluded. As a result, teenage fathers may react by withdrawing, losing self-esteem and confidence. As such, negative perceptions about teenage fathers may act as self-fulfilling prophecies, whereby the teenage father ends up acting the uncaring, uncommitted role that the society casts him in. Consequently, it is important for organizations working with young men to embark on advocacy drives that will educate communities on the importance of supporting and working with teenage fathers for the betterment of not only the child and the child’s mother, but for the father as well and the society at large. Such advocacy campaigns should raise awareness on the various indigenous practices that may obstruct teenage fathers from being involved parents.
A support programme for teenage fathers cannot operate in isolation from support programmes for teenage mothers, or overall parenting and social support services. Such partnerships can flourish if based on mutual respect and transparency, and the capacity to improve outcomes for the teenage fathers as well as the mothers and children. Policies and practices should take into account the range of overlapping life challenges that these teenage fathers encounter especially in parenting, education, economic marginalization and lack of extensive social support.
All in all, it has to be appreciated that if teenage mothers and their children are to be supported, we must then recognise the role that teenage fathers can play and create a conducive space for them to succeed.
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