Fatherhood and the Childhood and Families Taskforce: a briefing by the FATHERHOOD INSTITUTE
23 August 2010
Contents:
1Introduction
2Father-involvement and children’s outcomes
3Men in the children’s workforce
4Parental leave and flexible working arrangements
5The needs of families with disabled children
6Protecting children in the event of family breakdown
7Safe areas for outside play – and the commercialisation/sexualisation of childhood
8Conclusion
9Key recommendations for the Taskforce
9.1Men in the children’s and family services workforce
9.2 Parental leave and flexible working arrangements
9.3The needs of families with disabled children
9.4Protecting children in the event of family breakdown
9.5Safe areas for outside play – and the commercialisation/sexualisation of childhood
10References
1Introduction
On 17th June the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, delivered a keynote speech on children and families, which placed family policy in Britain‘right at the heart of the Coalition’ and announced the formation of a Childhood and Families Taskforce.
The areas identified for consideration by the Taskforce were:
●parental leave and flexible working arrangements;
●the needs of families with disabled children;
●protecting children in the event of family breakdown;
●safe areas for outside play;
●commercialisation/sexualisation of childhood
The Deputy Prime Minister identified the government’s role as to ‘dismantle the barriers that prevent families from giving their children the best start’. In this short paper, we demonstrate the relevance of active fatherhood to all these policy issues; and explain how and why the reorienting of children/families policy and practice to include a specific focus on involving fathers is essential if the Coalition is to achieve its aims.
2Father-involvement and children’s outcomes
Why focus on fathers? More than 50 % of mothers are in the paid workforce by the time their baby is nine months old (Dex & Ward, 2010) and those who are not are mainly poorly educated women, often lone mothers (Klett-Davies & Skaliotis, 2009) or dealing with disability (Hales et al, 2007).
Whilst shared parenting - characterised by high levels of father engagement at home and high levels of maternal engagement in the paid workforce - may be more of an aspiration in middle class families, there is evidence that working class fathers undertake more childcare largely because these families are less likely to use formal provision and because parents may be more likely to ‘box and cox’ shifts(Malin et al, 2004).In areas suffering from high levels of unemployment, many fathers are available at home –a real opportunity for engagement, which some fathers take up with positive impact on their children’s development (Denis & Erdos, 1991).
Fathers are now substantial contributors to the daily care of their children. They are the individuals most likely to care for children while mothers work (Ferri & Smith, 1995) and are particularly important when providing ‘wrap around care’ – i.e. when mothers work weekends or evenings/nights. Between 1975 and 1997, fathers’ care of infants and young children rose by 800% (from 15 minutes to two hours on a normal working day) (Fisher et al., 1999) andcontinues to increase (Gershuny, 2009). British fathers now undertake in excess of 25% of childcare related tasks during the week and more at weekends, with higher percentages where mothers work full-time(EOC, 2003). Where mothers of very young children are employed full-time, high levels of care by fathers remove any negative effects (Gregg & Washbrook, 2003).
A robust body of evidence associates high father-involvement with better outcomes for their offspring, (Sarkadi et al, 2008; Flouri, 2005; Pleck & Masciadrelli, 2004).whether or not they are co-resident (Jackson et al, 2010). Demonstrated benefits include better educational achievement, positive peer/partner relationships, fewer behaviour problems, reduced criminality, substance misuse and teenage pregnancy, higher self-esteem etc. Involved fathers can also ‘buffer’ children against negative circumstances, such as poverty or their mother’s depression (Chang et al, 2007; Crockenberg & Leerkes, 2003) or mothers harsh parenting (Jackson et al, 2010).. Fathers provide mothers (including teenage mothers) with important support, commonly enabling then to parent more positively (Gee & Rhodes, 2003; Krishnakumar & Black, 2003).
In addition, high levels of father involvement early on, including substantial uptake of parental leave, are associated with marital stability (Olah, 2001). Conversely, low levels of father involvement are associated with marital dissatisfaction (Ross & Van Willigen, 1996) and breakdown(for review, see Fisher et al, 2006) parenting stress and mental health difficulties among mothers and negative outcomes for children, including school failure, particularly for boys (for review, see Flouri, 2005). This effect is particularly marked where mothers are most needy and disadvantaged, with low father involvement particularly distressing to these mothers (Jackson et al, 2009; Jackson, 1999).
Fathers, like mothers, can impact negatively on their children and it is important to engage with these men to challenge and change behaviour – which, when attempted, often proves possible (Cookston et al, 2007; Saleh et al, 2005). The research evidence suggests that it is the most vulnerable children who are at greatest need of positive relationships with their fathers. These children tend to do worse than better-resourced children when the father-child relationship is poor or non-existent; and to experience greater benefits when the relationship is positive (Dunn et al, 2004).
In order to support this crucial father-child relationship, it is vital that all services encountering parents (and parents-to-be) address fathers directly as clients. We know that all too often this is simply not happening (Page et al, 2008). For example, fathers’ details are not routinely collected in many maternity services, Children’s Centres, or even CAF assessments. Fatherhood Institute subscribers asked to nominate priorities for the Taskforce repeatedly identified father-inclusiveness as a core concern, with one practitioner declaring that ‘we seem to go with the view that fathers are to be excluded and yet I am not sure we are trying to include them yet in ways that they want to be included’.
Where health services have piloted father-inclusive services, such as providing facilities for fathers to stay overnight on maternity wards, the evidence is that mothers are happier, and the staff are called less by the women whose partners are present. Here, as in other situations, father engagement can work both to include men from the start, and to create measurable efficiencies in service provision.
Our work compiling evidence across public services indicates that despite persisting barriers to father inclusion, all types of fathers – including non-resident fathers and those with English as a second language - can be positively engaged and encouraged into more active fatherhood; even men with poor parenting skills, or with more serious problems which prevent them from fathering responsibly, can be engaged(Ferguson & Hogan, 2004). The goal of high levels of involvement with their children will not always be appropriate; but nor should it be dismissed routinely.
Failure to engage with men in vulnerable families (as either risk or resource) is endemic; and evidence over two decades reveals this systemic failure to engage with men as contributing substantially to child deaths and abuse (Brandon et al, 2009). Where professionals are involved with families, it is essential that they record ALL adults (men and women) living in the household and their relationship to the children; and also keep records of key non-resident adults who are the birth fathers of the children, or who play a fatherly role in their lives.
3Men in the children’s workforce
A vision of ‘shared parentingfrom the earliest stages of pregnancy’ requires more men to work in postnatal and early years services, and in primary schools. The gender imbalance here is a concern which has been raised by the Coalition.
Men volunteering in Children’s Centres and engaging as service users have been at the forefront of work to promote men as employees in the early years sector. One Borough has drawn fathers in through strategies which include HMRC sessions on tax and benefits and general finances; and in this district half of students on ESOL courses are now men, as are 36% of the Children’s Centre volunteers. In another district, specific focus has been on encouraging men (often service users) into childcare-related training, and supporting them into (and in) relevant employment. In both these districts, whole staff teams, including individuals hitherto reluctant to welcome men in, have been empowered and expected to engage with fathers and encourage them into volunteering and employment. Such team-transformation has been achieved throughtraining and other support provided by the Fatherhood Institute.
4Parental leave and flexible working arrangements
The Coalition’s commitment to ‘encourage shared parenting from the earliest stages of pregnancy – including through the promotion of a system of flexible parental leave’ goes further than any previous political commitment concerning the importance of father involvement and collaborative parenting; reflects the wishes of the majority of men and women in Britain today (Duncan & Phil, 2008; EHRC, 2009) and recognises overhaul of the parental leave system as central to reforms. We welcome the proposals and the Deputy Prime Minister’s recognition of the importance of breaking down ‘outmoded attitudes concerning who should give up work when couples have children’.
The promotion of a system of flexible parental leave is vital, not only because it recognises fathers’ importance in families and enables couples to choose the care arrangements that suit them best, but also because fathers’ take-up of parental leave and flexible working is so strongly linked with another key ‘plank’ of Coalition policy: reducing gender inequalities at work. For instance, it has been estimated in Sweden that for every month a father takes parental leave, his female partner’s future earnings increase by 7% (Johannson, 2010).
However, substantial uptake of leave by fathers is not achieved simply through providing more parental ‘choice’. International research has identified four factors as crucial: (i) there is only one ‘eligibility hoop’ for the father to jump through – his own eligibility (and not also his partner’s, as is the case in transferable maternity leave);[1] (ii) there is a ‘reserved’ element for the father in the leave (a ‘use it or lose it’ period of leave that cannot be transferred to the mother); (iii) the .differential between fathers’ and mothers’ leave entitlements is at a minimum; (iv) the leave is paid at a high level (Moss, 2009).
While it is likely that payment of leave at a high level will be delayed until the national debt is reduced, this should be held as an important goal. Meanwhile, reserved leave for fathers and a reduction in the leave-differential between parents could be achieved immediately at no cost to government or employers. This could happen in any of three ways: (i) by extending paid paternity leave; (ii) by changing most of the existing (paid) maternity leave into ‘parental leave’ (so that each parent’s ability to take it up depends only on his or her own eligibility) and reserving part of this leave for fathers; (iii) by replacing 16 weeks of the current maternity leave with the existing EU-mandated parental leave[2] and paying this (instead of paying maternity leave) – there is already a ‘reserved leave for dads’ element in this EU leave.
Getting the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the design of parental leave right could be done immediately and would benefit both the economy and employers. This is because for every father who took leave, there would be a mother returning to work; and it is when women take more than six months’maternity leave that employers face the greatest difficulties - and women’s careers are most adversely affected. Britainloses £15bn-£23bn per year due to the under-use of women’s skills (EHRC, 2009) and, at 22%[3], the UKgender pay gap is way above the European average of 17%[4]. The gender pay gap is, in itself, an inhibitor of men’s take up of paternity/parental leave and needs to be tackled independently of, as well as through, the parental leave system - as the Coalition recognises. There is also potential to increase fathers’ motivation to take leave by involving them more in the ante natal process: establishing a paid-leave entitlement to fathers to attend at least one ante-natal appointment would deliver an important benefit at minimal cost.
In terms of flexible working, a similar set of arguments related to gender applies: as well as ensuring that a business case is made for flexible employment, the Taskforce must acknowledge the gendered nature of current arrangements. Not only are men less likely to request flexible working, they are also less likely to have their requests granted – by employers, and again by Tribunals(Working Families, 2006). This suggests that men, women and employers need to take male employees’ family roles seriously; and that special attention needs to be paid to promoting and supporting men’s requests for flexible working to care for children.
5The needs of families with disabled children
The benefits of father involvement may be particularly great in families where children suffer from disabilities, since other family members need such high levels of emotional support, understanding and practical assistance (Heywood, 2010). Yet a substantial body of evidence shows fathers of disabled children generally sidelined by services: parental separation is particularly likely in these families, possibly in part due to the identification of mother-and-child as the ‘couple’ with the father cast as an outsider by services, family and friends.
While some fathers of children with disabilities speak of new values and personal growth as a result of successfully adapting to their children’s needs, they tend to experience more depression and child-related stress than other fathers. Fathers from lower income families tend to be most adversely affected and to spend less time with their disabled infants and children. Some fathers may also have a disability themselves which may go unrecognized: fathers are unlikely to be assessed unless their live-in partner is identified as having a disability. Fathers as carers for children whose mothers suffer from disabilities are also often overlooked as a resource.
Here it is clear that systems to develop father-inclusive practice among the volunteers, professionals, family members and others who provide support to mothers and their disabled children will be central to drawing fathers in alongside mothers, as vital support within their families.
6Protecting children in the event of family breakdown
We agree with the priority placed on preserving the best interests of children in the event of family breakdown, and on the need to improve families’ access to help and advice. Ideally, such help and advice should happen not simply at times of crisis, but preventatively, through informing parents and parents-to-be of likely crunch points and services to turn to when these do occur. This can even be done ante-natally, where health service staff are sufficiently trained in the non-clinical aspects of the transition to parenthood, and in supporting both parents-to-be. In terms of providing truly joined-up support for parents, the parental leave system is an integral part of the picture: allowing both partners to be involved from the start, and keeping that involvement going, should the couple relationship break down. Workplace flexibility is a key requirement for fathers to take on substantial care of their children after separation.[5]
Separated fathers have traditionally been referred to as ‘absent’, a concept which has been reinforced by describing separated mothers as ‘single’ parents, although only a minority parent without the participation of their children’s father or another resident male.
The percentage of fully absent fathers has been exaggerated.The great majority see their children and about 40% maintain a really close and substantial connection with them.[6] However, that leaves around 60% who do not see enough of their children to transmit values and buffer them against negative influences. This is very worrying, since a high quality non-resident-father/child relationship is one of five factors that provide protection for children in the event of family breakdown.[7] Furthermore, a strong correlation has been found between childhood depression and children perceiving themselves as distant from their separated father, with only 4% having negative feelings about contact with him (Smith, 2004).
Factors connected with less contact include low socio-economic status, low education, geographical distance, father having lived only briefly - or never - with the child, mother or father re-partnering, and high conflict between the parents. Factors associated with more contact include early establishment of a reliable visitation schedule, specific details of the visitation schedule written down and agreed, and fathers’ feeling competent as parents, satisfied with parenting and having influence over their children(Amato & Sobolewski, 2004)
Close paternal involvement immediately post-birth supports the notion of men as intimate carers which can translate into very high levels of shared care/meaningful father-child relationships. In Sweden, where there is high uptake of parental leave days by men, fathers’ involvement is high nationally, both before and after separation (Singer, 2008).
Clearly, the Taskforce will not be able to solve all these issues on its own, but it can bear them in mind in all its work; and all policy makers are in agreement about the need to improve families’ access to early help and advice. Ideally, this should happen preventatively, with parents informed about likely crunch points and services to turn to.
This cannot start too early, given the well documented drop in relationship satisfaction experienced by men, in particular, following the birth of a baby.[8] This year the Fatherhood Institute compiled a Guide for New Dads to be distributed to all fathers of newborn babies. All the other information produced by the Department of Health (and most of that which is provided commercially) is either explicitly or implicitly addressed to mothers, confirming the father’s role as an outsider from the pre-birth period. The Fatherhood Institute New Dads’ Guide does not have a print budget for future years although it has guaranteed free distribution for another twelve months, via the Bounty organisation. While information for mothers continues to attract financial support from the government, there is a risk that fathers will have even poorer access to information in future.