Guiding Principles - Working inclusively with fathers, male carers and social fathers

Our vision

The positive contribution that fathers, male carers, and social fathers make to the lives of their children is recognised and supported by all statutory, universal and third sector services within Perth and Kinross.

This will be achieved through services:

• Ensuring that working relationships and communication with fathers, male carers and social fathers are strong and inclusive of their full role as parents.
• Ensuring all staff having the same expectations of fathers, male carers, and social fathers as they do of mothers and birthing parents.
• Upholding children's rights to have meaningful relationships with their fathers, male carers, and social fathers. These relationships will be upheld, supported, and strengthened wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so.
• Actively including fathers, male carers and social fathers in assessment and decision-making for their children consistent with their legal rights, wherever it is safe and appropriate to do so.

Purpose

These guiding principles are designed to support services to consider and promote the inclusion of fathers, male carers and social fathers. The ways in which services are set up or operate influences how inclusive they may be for this group of parents and caregivers. For example, where mothers or birthing parents continue to be seen as the 'primary' parents for children, barriers may be unintentionally created which inhibit or prevent those in the role of father from being fully involved and included in their children's lives. 

Where there are child protection concerns regarding the behaviour of a father, male carer or social father, the safety of the child is always the paramount consideration in decision-making regarding the extent to which the father, male carer or social father can be involved.

Who are fathers, male carers and social fathers?

The most common definition of a father is the person who is the male biological parent of a child. These fathers may or may not hold parental rights and responsibilities (PRRs) for their children. PRRs are normally obtained through the father's name being added to the child's birth certificate or through a court application at a later date. For certain legal purposes, it is important to check if fathers hold PRRs.  Men who have adopted a child become their legal father and therefore hold PRRs. For more information about PRRs please visit the Scottish Government website. 

Social fathers are people who may not be biologically related to the child but have chosen to be emotionally and materially involved in the child's upbringing through fulfilling the social elements of being a father.  They may be close family friends or members such as a grandfather or an uncle or the partner of the mother, birthing parent, or non-birthing parent.  They may be a person of any gender. 

Male carers include those who care for children as part of a kinship or fostering arrangement or are involved in providing care for a child on a regular basis. 

In some families, the child's current or former stepparent, may act as a social father for the child.   Practitioners should provide opportunities for children and young people to identify and share with them which adults in their lives fulfil these important roles for them, where it is appropriate to do so.

For families who are part of the LGBTI community, it is important to ensure that adults who are in the role of parent to the child or young person are actively engaged in discussions and their views sought regarding their child's needs.  Workers should discuss with the parents or caregivers how they identify themselves with respect to the child and how they would like to be referred to within correspondence and documentation.   

Every family is different and unique and there is no 'right way' to be a family. Some parents live and raise their child or children together whilst some parents live and co-parent separately.  Some children will be in foster or kinship care and be looked after by adults who are not their parents. Sensitivity is always needed in relation to the family arrangements of children and young people and assumptions should not be made.

The importance of promoting the inclusion of fathers, male carers and social fathers' involvement in the lives of their children

Messages from research

There is an increasing body of research regarding the importance of including fathers, male carers, and social fathers in the lives of their children:

Improved mental health for children

Where fathers are more involved with their children, large scale studies and systemic reviews have found that their children have better cognitive and social competence, better relationships with siblings, improved emotional regulation, higher levels of social maturity and life skills. This is conducive to improved mental health for children and young people.  

Improved child development

Where a mother or birthing person's mental health has been adversely affected in the perinatal period, the involvement of fathers, male carers or social fathers can mitigate the impact of the illness on the child as well as for the mother or birthing person.  The father, male carer or social father's direct involvement with the child is supportive of the mother or birthing parent, promotes her/their recovery from their illness and so may improve the wellbeing of the whole family.

Improved outcomes in education

Where fathers, male carers and social fathers are constructively involved in the child's life, there is a small but significant improvement in attainment and educational outcomes for children.

Therefore, promoting a rights-based approach to the inclusion of safe and supportive fathers, social fathers and male carers is congruent with promoting the best interests of the child.

However, some children do not have relationships with their fathers due to the father or child's own choice not to have a relationship. Alternatively, there may be external factors which prevent contact such as the father being in prison, safety concerns or the necessary actions of the mother or birthing parent to protect the child such as fleeing to a place of refuge. Practitioners must always be sensitive to the different situations that children and young people may be living in or with.

The paramount principle is always the best interests and safety of the child, and this will influence the extent to which involvement is possible and how it can be managed. This will always require an element of professional judgment.

'Getting it Right' from the beginning

Fathers, male carers, and social fathers should be pro-actively included from the start of their child's involvement with health care professionals, nursery, schools, and any other service.  Including fathers and male carers from the outset helps to build trust and supportive working relationships. This helps if or when significant issues are identified which require an additional level of parental contact. Services sometimes do not involve fathers, male carers, and social fathers until a significant problem or need for the child has developed. This can create additional difficulties in relationship-building at a time of family stress or distress when feelings are, or may be, heightened. 

Education establishments should seek to include fathers, male carers, and social fathers at the earliest stages in education and within communication, information gathering and support for children and young people. A concerted and active approach to ensuring engagement with fathers, male carers and social fathers is required to achieve positive changes in this area.

Fathers' Network Scotland has resources and videos to help educators consider the perspective of fathers, male carers and social fathers regarding education provisions and approaches.

Where it is necessary for Children and Families Social Work to become involved and intervene into the lives of children and their families, the child's key adults; usually their parents or carers; must be actively involved and included in planning to meet the child's needs, reduce risk, and increase safety.  Fathers with PRRs have a legal right to be included in decision-making and assessment.  However, those without PRRs and male carers/social fathers who are involved in the day-to-day care of a child should also be included in processes and decision-making wherever possible, safe, and appropriate to do so.

Barriers to the inclusion of fathers, male carers and social fathers

Although our culture is gradually changing, parenting has traditionally been perceived to be a primarily female activity with mothers and birthing parents seen as the 'main' parent responsible for their children's care, even within two parent homes. This gave rise to exclusionary language such as 'Mother and Toddler' groups and was off-putting to fathers or others who were the child's main caregiver.  

Fathers and male carers have shared that they can find the high proportion of female workers in education, nursing, social care and social work to be a barrier to their inclusion in schools, nurseries and clinics, for example.  A lack of visible male representation in health, social care and education environments can reinforce feelings of being 'out of place' for fathers and male carers who use services.

As well as traditional attitudes that females are or should be the main carers for children, societal expectations that a child will be parented by a female and a male parent can serve to stigmatise those in same sex relationships. This can create difficulties for parents themselves and for children who may have two male or two female parents. Again, the diversity of families must be considered and appreciated.

In both universal and targeted services, there may be complex reasons which can reduce the involvement of fathers, social fathers, and male carers.  Here are some examples:

Lower societal expectations of fathers, male carers, and social fathers

Societal expectations of fathers remain relatively low by comparison to mothers and birthing parents.  This can influence practitioners to expect less of fathers, male carers, and social fathers than they would of mothers and birthing parents. Equally, it can influence fathers and male carers to have low expectations themselves of what they should or are able to offer their children. This low expectation can be seen in the way fathers are socially rewarded for spending time with their children or for attending a parents' evening, for example, whereas these activities are simply expected from mothers and birthing parents to the extent where they are criticised if they 'fail' to do them.  

Fear of harm to the child and/or mother/birthing parent/another parent

Fathers, male carers, and social fathers of children who are in need of statutory social work intervention, particularly child protection, may tend to be mainly viewed as a source of risk to the child - whether this is founded or not.

Fear of harm to workers 

Where fathers and male carers have perpetrated domestic abuse or other types of violent offences, or their behaviour can be rendered unpredictable due to problematic substance use, workers can be anxious about engaging with and, in particular, challenging these individuals due to the potential risk of harm for themselves.

Overlooked/Ignored

Fathers may simply be overlooked during initial referrals to the social work service due to the mother/birthing parent-focused nature of other services, particularly in the child's early years. Details about fathers may not be known because they have not been sought.  On other occasions, a mother or birthing parent may decide not to divulge the details of the father or non-birthing parent.

Fathers, male carers, and social fathers are perceived as harder to make contact with or to engage with

Employment roles can still tend to be gendered, with mothers and birthing parents more likely to be working part-time, in school term-based positions or in roles with greater flexibility, such as office work.  As there is a societal expectation that mothers and birthing parents are responsible for meeting their child's needs, employers of mothers/birthing parents may tend to be more flexible with allowing time off to attend meetings for children. Employers of fathers, non-birthing parents or male carers may not be so accommodating. This may be linked to the nature of the work, perhaps being engaged in manual work within a factory or off-site where they may be unable to access phones or leave early if needed, for example. This can create barriers which are difficult to overcome such as not having the ability to answer or make phone calls regarding their child or attending a meeting meaning the loss of a day's pay due to a lack of flexibility. Practitioners must be mindful of these barriers (which may also affect mothers and birthing parents) and not interpret them as evidence of a lack of interest or commitment to their child.

This is only a small sample of some of the complexities which may interfere with the involvement of fathers and male carers in their children's lives.

Promoting the inclusion of fathers, male carers and social fathers

Encouraging the inclusion of fathers, male carers and social fathers, where safe and appropriate, is supportive of children and their rights. As practitioners, there is a clear responsibility, particularly where they have PRRs, to ensure that fathers and male carers are included in decision-making for their children. This may require services to change our approach. For example, a father who is unable to take part in a meeting due to not being able to attend through work commitments, should be offered other ways to contribute and to be given the information that was shared at the meeting.  This could be as simple as a telephone call with the Chair of the meeting or inviting the father to send in an email with his views.

In the next sections, there are some useful checklists and resources to support agencies and establishments to become more father-inclusive in terms of their day-today practices.

Information sharing, checklist and resources

Information sharing

All professionals have a duty to ensure that they protect the information of the children, young people, and adults with whom we work.  Information must not be shared without appropriate consent or unless it is necessary to do so for child or adult protection purposes.  When working with family where the father does not hold PRRs, or there is a male carer or social father who does not have a legal right to the child's information, practitioners should establish if the mother or non-birthing parent, and where age appropriate, the child or young person themselves, gives consent for information to be shared.  This must be recorded on the child's record and wherever possible, the agreement to share information obtained in writing.  At the same time, enquiries should be made as to who else, if anyone besides the mother or birthing parent, has PRRs for the child and contact made with them if necessary and appropriate.

In terms of information sharing more generally, the Code of Practice: Information Sharing, Confidentiality and Consent (PDF, 342 KB) provides more detailed information.

Education

As has been discussed, nurseries and schools should seek to build a culture of routinely involving fathers and male carers from the earliest point. A simple way to do this is through ensuring that their contact details are collected and used to communicate with fathers, male carers, and social fathers about their child.

The Fathers' Network How Father-Friendly Is Our School?  is a helpful tool for schools and nurseries to assess how 'Dad friendly' their environment is and identify actions to ensure that they are creating welcoming environments for fathers and male carers. 

Health

Health professions are closely regulated in terms of sharing information with respect to medical records and health care professionals should always satisfy themselves regarding who holds PRRs for infants and children before proceeding to share information.

For health professionals who undertake home visits, such as Family Nurses and Health Visitors, being father-inclusive could be as simple as giving a clear message during the initial and subsequent visits that the presence and input of the father or male carer is welcome and valued.

Third Sector and independent organisations

Third sector and independent organisations have a wide variety of remits and will focus on different groups of people depending on their function. It is suggested that where parental involvement is required, appropriate information is sought regarding the child's father, male carer or social father and that they are included wherever possible, appropriate and safe to do so.

Checklist for Children and Families Social Work

Social workers and social care staff should ensure that they consider the following issues from the outset of their involvement with children and young people:

Standard questions and actions at point of referral/during initial assessment

• Father's name and address, contact telephone number if known.
• Father's level of contact with child if not resident with him.
• Father to be informed of referral (if appropriate).
• Father to be invited to be part of assessment process.
• Father to be provided with a copy of assessment report; appropriately redacted.
• Father to be invited to Child Protection Planning Meetings (CPPMs) - arrangements to be made for a split conference if required.  If a worker assesses that a father should not be invited to the CPPM due to safety concerns, this should be discussed with the CPPM chair and a formal disinvitation decision made and recorded. This should be communicated to the father and an opportunity provided to make his views known via communication with the Chair.

Ongoing work with families

• Father to be invited to decision-making meetings such as Child's Plans, CPPMs or LAC Reviews.
• Father's support needs to be explored, and signposting provided to relevant services.
• Where parents share custody of the child, home visits should be undertaken at the father's home, as well as that of the mother or birthing parent. This facilitates an informed assessment and enables workers to form a relationship with the father.

Resources

Resources regarding working with fathers, male carers and social fathers.