Focus on Fathering Week Report 2009 - Auckland · PDF fileConcert and promotion in Catherine Mall 12 noon ‐ 1:30 p.m. 28‐30th ... Celebrating Pacific Fathers ... Waitakere Focus

Focus On Fathering Week

Report

31st August to 6th September 2009

Report compiled by

Elaine Dyer and Chris Mullins

Waitakere, October 2009

Violence Free Waitakere ©

Waitakere Focus on Fathering Week Report, October 2009 2


Promoting Great Parenting in Waitakere is a project which is dedicated to supporting children to get a great start in life. In this instance it has coordinated a week of activities and displays, skills training and events, with fathering in the spotlight.

Focus on Fathering Week reminds us all how important fathering is, how our children need the engaged presence of men in their lives and how, for many men, fathering is an essential part of what it means to be a man.

Focus on Fathering Week is our community celebrating fathering.

Graphics and layout by Nada Cottrell

Photographs by Chris Mullins, Sylvie Souchon, Lynn Houghton, Wing Li, Elaine Dyer

and Sharon Burger

Printed by the Waitakere City Council


Table of Contents Sponsors 5

Background 6

Events Held 7

Events Synopsis 9

SWOT Analysis 27

Media Coverage and Publicity 35

Where to next? 38

Who was involved? 39

Personal notes from the Organisers 41

Summary of Collaborators and Participants Evaluations 43

Appendices: 46

A. Fathers’ Film Festival 46

B. Ranui’s No Sweat Parenting 47

C. Resources for Fathers 50

D. Advertising 57

E. Publicity Articles and Releases 60

F. Evaluation Data and Comments 67

G. Evaluation Form 81

H. Last Word – Students’ Photographs 82

I. Supporter’s Certificate 86

For more information contact Violence Free Waitakere phone (09) 837 4849 or [email protected]

www.violencefreewaitakere.org

www.dad4life.co.nz


Thanks to the following participating agencies and sponsors:

West Auckland

Parents Centre


Background This week has been evolving for the past four years. Like many good ideas, it emerged as a group of us worked alongside Warwick Pudney on the scoping report exploring the way fathers were treated in Waitakere which he was commissioned to do for Te Korowai Manaaki / Promoting Great Parenting Project over 2005‐2006. Warwick conducted interviews with groups of fathers, service providers and other professionals, and after many hours of advisory group discussion and refinement, the report was released at the beginning of 2007. One of the recommendations we generated in this report was to promote positive fathering in the city, with a week of activities leading up to Father’s Day. Our inaugural event was held in 2007, again in 2008 and following its success, Violence Free Waitakere committed to working with the week for 2009. Ideally we would like to see this become a regular annual event. The focus of our week is on awareness raising, and celebration of the role of father, as too often we felt that the public attitude about fathers and fathering was one of suspicion. We wanted to change that to a more positive focus which would share great stories about fathering and to be a series of events that would have the whole community thinking about how fathering could be supported. So we had two aims… to promote great fathering, particularly of the under fives, and to support the network of services supporting fathers in our city. We wanted to extend our range from the previous years, but also to spread the responsibility for hosting and promoting the events to a wider range of organisations and agencies. The other factor of the week that we once again celebrate, is the working together of organisations at community, local and national government levels. Our partnering with the Waitakere City Council, Ministry of Social Development’s SKIP and the many other community agencies based in Waitakere was not only very effective in the energy and resources we were able to coordinate, but it gave a sense of solidity to the event and our networks overall. Included in this report are the posters and descriptions of events, evaluations and our musings on the process of our promotion. We trust that this will be of interest to you, both for the resources it contains, but also as an inspiration to you in spreading the work into your communities of Great Fathering… as our logo says… ‘Dad 4 Life’! It is a journey that doesn’t just depend on the relationship with the other parent… it is a contract for life with the children of our world.


Events Held PRE THE WEEK:

29th August Concert and promotion in Catherine Mall 12 noon ‐ 1:30 p.m. 28‐30th August Carey Park Dads and Daughters Camp

WHOLE WEEK:

Exhibition of photos of fathering and a resource display at West City Mall in downtown Henderson. (Tuesday 1st through to Saturday 6th September) Tues, Thurs and Friday: Health bus Railside Ave 8:30 a.m. ‐ 4:30 p.m. Monday 31st August 6:30 p.m. ‐ 9 p.m. The Focus on Fathering Week launch in the Waitakere City Council Chambers Tuesday 1st September

12 noon – 1 p.m. Unitec lunch time talks at Waitakere Library Harald Breiding‐Buss – Including men in the health / social services 6 ‐ 7 p.m. Trusts Stadium Swim Ed: Splash and Play learning key aquatic skills though play 6 ‐ 8:30 p.m. Ranui Baptist Church Pio Te Rei: No Sweat Parenting / Building Awesome Families Wednesday 2nd 12 noon ‐ 1 p.m. Unitec lunch time talks at Waitakere Library Dr Geoff Bridgman: Teen boys and web pornography 6 ‐ 8:30 p.m. Massey Rugby Club Pio Te Rei: No Sweat Parenting / Building Awesome Families 7:30 ‐ 9 p.m. Kelston Community Centre Harald Breiding‐Buss: Dads and Babies Thursday 3rd

12 noon ‐ 1 p.m. Unitec lunch time talks at Waitakere Library Alex Williams: Engaging men in Early Childhood Education 7:30 ‐ 9 p.m. Plunket Waitemata Rooms Dads 4 Dads peer support programme 7:30 p.m. ‐ 9 p.m. Henderson High School Rex McCann and Warwick Pudney: Fathering Teenagers

Friday 4th 12 noon ‐ 1 p.m. Unitec lunch time talks at Waitakere Library David Kenkel and Ian Hyslop: Myths about boys 7:30 p.m. Unitec basement lecture theatre Men’s Group ‐ the Movie Saturday 5th 10 a.m. ‐ 1 p.m. Tui Retreat Waiatarua Donna and Darren Hunter: Guiding your Under Fives 11 a.m. ‐ 12:30 p.m. Rhythm Centre Kelston Fraser Bruce: Make Music with Dad 7:30 p.m. Unitec basement lecture theatre Men’s Group ‐ the Movie Sunday 6th 9:30 a.m. ‐ 2 p.m. at Tui Glen. “Dad’s Day out / Big Clean Up Event” ‐ fun, music, games, pony rides, kayaks, free BBQ 3 – 4 p.m. West Auckland Hospice Father's Day Remembrance service

EVENTS AFTER THE WEEK

Wednesday 9th 7 ‐ 8:30 p.m. Hoani Waititi Marae, Glen Eden Pio Te Rei: No Sweat Parenting / Building Awesome Families Saturday 13th ‐ Sunday 14th Changeworks Trust. “Journey to the Falls” ‐ for fathers and tramping age sons A Fathers Film Festival of DVDs to see at home was also promoted (see Appendix A) Teen Dads A new and ongoing group targeting young fathers was promoted through the week Celebrating Pacific Fathers Leataata O Tupulaga O Le Pasefika M assey held an evening celebrating the fathers of the pre‐school


Activities Program

me / Poster


Events Synopsis Carey Park Dads and Daughters Camp The camp was cancelled due to poor response. Organisers think it was because of bad advertising, or rather lack of, and have learned they need a bigger advertising budget and strategy about getting it out on time and to the right people.

Pre week promotion at Catherine Mall On the Saturday prior to the week beginning, Jay Williams gathered a group of performers to create a feature for our week. Chris Mullins and Elaine Dyer wandered around handing out information to fathers in the mall, and a lot of people came and watched the two brackets of song and dance. We particularly attracted a group of older teenagers. We all felt that this was a useful way of outreach and publicising the week.


The Focus on Fathering Week Launch Approximately 80 invited guests, including families of our young photographers, celebrated the opening of the week. Alongside short talks from Mayor Bob, Rex McCann, Harald Breiding‐Buss and Inspector Gary Davey of Waitakere police, there were songs, drama and Haka performed by the Phoenix group from Henderson High. Mark Laurent sang a moving song “Hey Dad it’s Me”. Maori Television filmed the event. The photographic exhibition was launched and as usual a lot of networking happened, over great food and wine donated by Corbans. MC Michael Alofa brought a polished touch of humour to the evening which was opened and closed by Papa Fred Holloway.


The Joy of Fathering through My Eyes Photographic Exhibition Images of fathering by Waitakere youth

The Focus on Fathering Week photographic invitation was met with much enthusiasm from the students participating in the project. Students from Hoani Waititi School in Glen Eden, Timatanga Community School in Whenuapai, Henderson High School in Henderson and teen mothers from He Wero O Nga Wahine in Henderson participated. They were each given a camera and asked to photograph the significant male role model in their lives. All captured fathers, brothers, uncles and grandfathers doing loving, ordinary and fun things in their daily lives. This year we had more older students representing fathering as they saw it, and the images reflect a different level of intimacy than last year’s younger photographers displayed. See photographs in Appendix H.


Photo and resource exhibition in West City Mall Once again the photographs from the young people were exhibited in West City Mall. Alongside these images we infused SKIP messages and had tables with resources for fathers and information about agencies working with fathers specifically and parenting in general. A roster was organised to ensure that the display was attended throughout the week by people from a wide range of agencies working with fathers. Balloons were inflated and used to draw children (and their parents!) Many commented on the value of the display and resources. For those attending, it was an invaluable opportunity to interface with the public. Many useful conversations were held, questions explored, resources handed out… over 250 SKIP packs were distributed alongside the many other resources.


Health West Bus with Free Health checks for Dads During the week, the bus was parked in Railside Avenue between the Mall and the Council, from 9:30 am to 4:30pm on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Numbers overall were quite low, approximately 17 tests were conducted.


Unitec Lunchtime Seminars Consistently drawing about 10 people each time these seminars were affirmed as very interesting by those who attended. We had been somewhat less organised about getting the final publicity out about these talks in order to make the most of the opportunity (for example Unitec was interested in being part of the Aucklander feature, but missed the deadline) Topics covered were varied… the one on teen boys and web pornography drew nine women (worried mums) and three men. Opportunities exist to take these seminars and develop a training package for agencies working in the community for example. It was felt to be a useful seeding ground which could be further developed.


Swim Ed Splash and Play Splash and Play is designed to be a Learning Tool for Parent and Child, whereby they can experience water exploration within the comfort of their home, beach or swimming pool. The foundation of the program is to use songs and play to develop water confidence, brain development and foundation movement skills through the medium of language, music and water. Imagination and play is fostered to enhance water play in a safe environment with Actively Engaged Adult Supervision. SwimEd ran a Splash and Play workshop for Dads and children. Advertising was done through the Regional Sport Trust, Early Childhood centres, Plunket, Swim Schools and other relevant networks. Dropped off flyers at West Wave Swim School, who were keen to promote the workshop and week’s events. The workshop consisted of two components. The first part was a workshop which consists of water play activities and water safety messages. The workshop is inter‐active with practical ideas, songs and understanding of the importance of bonding, water confidence and safety. Although 8 families registered to attend, ultimately only three people came, but other agencies such as Play Centres have requested that the work be repeated. One person was a swimming teacher who learned some useful new skills.

Sharon Burger


No Sweat Parenting These were run by Parents Inc and Ranui Action Project, Massey Matters and Hoani Waititi Marae as well as Violence Free Waitakere. Well promoted, with Pio Te Rei who is a popular national draw card, the events were supported by displays of parenting resources from a wide range of Waitakere agencies and there were many useful connections made with agencies and parents as well as many resources given out. Dinner was also served for free at the events, and activities for the children were arranged to keep them happy and safe. Attendance was great. 150 came to Ranui, 70 plus at Massey and 80 at Hoani Waititi. Pio managed to create an atmosphere of fun, laughter and learning. Even if it was seen as a comedy night, it was excellent value! Parents were busy writing down tips and strategies and it was enjoyed by all ages.

See Appendix B for fuller report on Ranui Event.


Dads and Babies There were 10 people at the talk, not a huge crowd, but a highly motivated one. All of them were dads (and this was one of the few events which had a majority of men in the audience), but most seemed unaware that Fathering Week was happening. Most had heard about the talk through the internal Parents Centre newsletter and some had picked it up from a local community newspaper, but the turnout was still less than when we put the talk on exclusively for Parents Centre (maybe because then they have to pay for it and make more of an effort to bring people in). None of the guys left immediately when the talk was finished, they all hung around for about half an hour and talked to the organisers and each other, until we kicked them out (and we didn't even serve beer!) The talk focused on direct father‐baby interaction: what dads tend to do well, what's important, some of the research about the benefits for children of dads being involved with infants, and some of the things that can get in the way. I asked for a show of hands on who had girl(s) and nearly all hands went up, so I spent a bit of time talking about how dads are important to girls beyond the limited role of protector that they often assume. All of the guys had a baby at home, except for one solo dad with a two‐year old, so the audience was exactly on target. Fathers of babies and toddlers are often a bit insecure because baby seems so focused on mum whenever one of the 'basic' needs requires attending to. Some dads hang back until the child is old enough 'to kick a ball around with'. But there is usually some signs that babies

respond to dads in very unique ways, such as certain things they will only do for dad and no‐one else (some sort of 'trick', or poking out a tongue), or the fact that many, maybe most, babies will say something like 'dada' before they feel the need to invent a word for mum. This is driven by the baby's strong drive to learn, and the kind of stimulation that dads give is often fantastic. That's why they laugh and smile so much around him to the point that many dads report they feel like the 'family clown'. While fathers usually don't realise the significance of this, it is probably the reason for advanced problem‐solving skills that researchers have found even in very young children that have had lots of father‐time.

Brendan Smith


Dads 4 Dads Waitakere Focus on Fathering Week provided the perfect opportunity for Plunket to raise awareness of its new "Dads for Dads" program which is, as the name suggests, run by Dads for Dads. Plunket has a strong focus going forward to raise the profile of fathering and give the Dads out there in our communities the same opportunities as Mums to enhance their parenting experience through our free parenting courses, but in an environment that is easier for them to relate to with others that can openly share their experiences as a Dad. While the turn out for our scheduled event was not as great as we would have liked, we are conscious of the other influencing factors that may have contributed to the low numbers and we can take these in to consideration next year if we plan something similar. The other events throughout the week did present the opportunity to raise awareness of this new program and our new "dad" focused resource that has been put together with the All Blacks, again in an effort to raise the profile of our dads with something that most of them can relate to ‐ rugby! These wallet size resources were a hit with Dads, Granddads, Uncles and Brothers alike ‐ all either current or potential dads.


Fathering Teenagers Despite huge efforts to publicise this event through school networks such as newsletters and parent connections, on the night only one woman and one man arrived. For their discussion and support for the issues named, it was invaluable. It was disappointing that there wasn’t a large turn out, as we had two highly skilled and experienced presenters. This is an area that needs careful work to promote, and we have been thinking of ways to give it a more upbeat title and also to get more buy in and support from the educational sector.


Men’s Group the Movie Technical problems meant that the first evening was not able to proceed, but the participants who arrived were encouraged to come back the following night. Five people came on the Saturday. Some discussion followed, and it was agreed that it had been a thought provoking experience. As a result several requests have come from organisations keen to share the film at a less pressured time.


Guiding Your Under Fives This workshop was the brainchild of Donna Hunter, and although ultimately it didn’t proceed, the people from Tui Retreat are eager to promote it at the early childhood centres throughout the wider area. They were grateful for the opportunity to conceive and create the process and are confident it will grow from here.


Make Music with Dad A small, enthusiastic group of seven joined Fraser Bruce for some hands on make and play. This is a workshop that could well be repeated at another time, as the potential to engage fathers in a “doing” event with their children is very attractive.

Dad’s Day Out and Big Clean Up Over 600 people enjoyed this day of superb weather, great music from many different cultures, kayaking, bungy and rock climbing, pony rides and face painting drew enthusiastic families to Tui Glen. This year, the second in the collaborative events alongside Project Twin Streams, we more than doubled the number attending last year. We had a series of activities such as junk sculpture, cleaning up the stream of copious amounts of rubbish, bike riding, under fives area of SwimEd, Barnardos and SKIP, baking flat bread with the Helensville Men and Family Centre or fathers’ and children’s cooperative games. Photos and evaluations from the event show the breadth of cultures attending and the large numbers of fathers, grandfathers and family present. We all ended the week with broad smiles about the gentle day!



Fathers Day Remembrance Service The Father’s Day Remembrance Service, hosted and promoted by West Auckland Hospice, went well. About fifty members of the public attended the service. The Hospice was decorated with bloke’s tools, clothes, gum boots, ladder and saw bench and had a saxophonist to perform live music from his father’s time. People wrote a word on pieces of wood that evoked a memory that they shared with their father, grandfather or father figure. Some people spoke about their memories at the event. The pieces of wood were burnt in a brazier for people to collectively warm up from the memories of their loved ones.


Teen Dads Although this course had actually started a couple of weeks before Focus on Fathering Week, we were keen to publicise this exciting collaborative activity (between Changeworks, Barnardos, Health West and Father and Child Trust) and the ground it was breaking. As a result of the publicity gained over the week, two more young fathers joined the group. One unexpected outcome was that the programme coordinator at Mt Eden prison saw the advertisement and approached us to arrange talks to the young fathers in prison. Ron Hepworth, Junior Tavai and another colleague went to deliver these talks at Mt Eden Remand and the main prison. Other interest has been shown in the group and its focus, so openings are emerging for its spread through the community.


SKIP and the Week Throughout the week, SKIP messages were interwoven into the promotions and events, eg baby frieze images decorated the programme, resources and materials were given out in abundance at the Mall display, other events including the No Sweat Parenting seminars as well as several of the workshops specifically targeted parents with children under five. At the Tui Glen event there was a space dedicated to under fives and SKIP advocates from Plunket and Barnardos were on hand. This comment came from Rochelle Cave of Plunket: “Another successful aspect of the week was the opportunity to promote SKIP actively at as many events as I could physically attend! The positive parenting messages within the SKIP framework are easy to understand and implement making them popular with all our Families in West Auckland and beyond. My key message with these resources throughout the week was that ‘A LITTLE CHANGE CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE FOR YOU AND YOUR FAMILY’ and the SKIP resources can help you achieve that. The opportunity to reach so many families through the organised events was awesome and I will definitely be putting my hand up next year.”


SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Preparation • Great having partnership with other agencies

and projects eg Massey Matters and the No Sweat Parenting

• Having Chris Mullins working on contract as project coordinator with longer lead in time

• Working group meeting since December 08 • Good support from Man Alive in use of facilities

for meetings • Lots of women volunteered support at Mall • Good planning and media templates plus data

base set up for future events

• Several significant agencies not engaged

• Still needs plenty of work done in year ahead of project

• Smaller core this time, bigger load on Chris, Elaine, Christof and Garjana

• Challenge to fill Mall slots • Budget limitations – to

allow planning to start early in the year

• Keep building networks and getting others to add the week to their strategic direction for year ahead

• Getting more men engaged in the process and carrying larger load of organising

• Hand over more responsibility to agencies • Agencies and selected schools to be asked early in the

year to support a specific event and to integrate into their work plan. Build larger men’s networks for Christof to approach agencies, maybe some of the Big Buddies?

Where to with the week if council ends/ transforms into greater Auckland? Do we want to go into a wider focus… eg Auckland region??? Could loose community development focus

Publicity • Good cover in Aucklander with double spread • Useful to put in the programme as part of the

feature • Jay Williams’ story revisited, now three years of

discoveries of fathering from being a new dad • Road signs put up around community • Programme poster good, blend of SKIP images

and local agencies • Good press releases, supported by Council • Teen dads article in Herald good • Posters again great designs by Nada. Generic

ones useful ongoing resource • Radio under used, though sent material to main

ones

• Challenge to get enough advertisers

• Road signs not easy to read • We disappeared from the

media once week was on • Herald didn’t mention FoF

week • How to cover costs if

council isn’t active in this 2010

• Radio profile would have

• Unitec keen to be part of this next time • Road signs… less words, brighter reference to website • Need more stories through week, have extra press

releases ready eg Brainwaves and importance of dads, BCU/DDO event coming up, photo exhibition, Unitec speakers

• Did we get it into the smaller local papers enough? • Build relationship with editor at Herald, Simon Collins

good ally, but not in charge of story’s final version • Agencies might need to print off own posters • Keen to get exposure on national radio. (afternoons /

David Stenson) Could make more relationship with local stations eg Massey Radio

• Jay Williams has contacts with pacific radio stations

Rising costs of advertising


• Maori TV good filming and presence at launch • Good range of activities offered through week • Mall concert in weekend before week started

was effective at getting profile, particularly with younger dads and families

• Some great responses from around the country… Dunedin ECE men for example

• Good on‐line publicity e.g. opening page for Waitakere Online, sent out through networks and agencies e.g. DIY Dads

been useful • Great film, cant use without

purchase? • Some late in getting

organised eg Unitec publicity

• Clearer messages re the week could be given out

• Not all stories / contacts were used… some good ones were proposed

• Each event needs a targeted marketing strategy rather than just a broad marketing strategy

• Ask Murray job to make a DVD of the week for us • Create a deadline for events and have publicity

distributed for at least a month before hand • Get more helpers around to support the promotion,

good opportunity to raise profile of events ahead and converse with dads

• How to use the stories in other ways… eg parenting programmes promotion

• Ask each organisation convening an event for a targeted marketing strategy

• Write letters to the editor after the event or during the week to highlight events and learnings

• Write an article on the evaluation of the week in retrospect

Evaluations • Larger number than last year • Worked to have someone be proactive in

getting the forms filled out • Was good having an online evaluation form and

promoting on the web site also • Great being able to share the results of

evaluations with Parent Inc, though the questions don’t match up, so will be compiling them separately.

• Getting feedback from agencies involved in the week gave another key piece of information

• Still could have much greater reach and numbers collected

• Were Mall attendees proactive around this aspect?

• Not all events promoted the evaluations

• If we have formal evaluation completed 2010, need to get better capture of numbers

• Bigger prize for next year…e g barbeque and meat? • Further refine questions and the areas we want

feedback on • Use touch screens at events? • Capture email contacts eg in online RSVP for launch • What is basis for success? Numbers attending events?

People talking about the issues? Raised profile of fathering? Building each year into larger event and numbers?

• How to sample more feedback… follow through with focus groups / phone survey

Integrating SKIP messages into week • Wide variety of events focusing on under fives

eg Splash and Play, Dads and Babies, Guiding • Attendance at some events

very low • Build better networks with ECE and get information to

centres Not getting more SKIP funding for the work we are


our Under fives, teen dads, Dads 4 Dads @ Plunket, Unitec talk on men in ECE, Pio’s No Sweat Parenting

• Littlies area at Dads Day Out / Big Clean Up worked well

• Using Jays story helpful in focusing on under fives in Western Leader

• Challenge to network with ECE while coordinator on sick leave

• Longer lead in time • Opportunity to try out new ideas for agencies… what

would you like to get feedback on??? • Strengthen link with ECE network • Use events eg TDO/GPF to talk with fathers and ask

what they would like to see offered to them • Phone survey of awareness of event and messages…

link with Unitec

doing

Building / strengthening the networks among men’s agencies

• More agencies than 2008 involved in offering or publicising their events

• Men’s agencies still not proactively taking ownership of the week

• Opportunity for the week to profile and publicise collaborative initiatives within the sector

• Opportunity to seek feedback from key organisations and individuals re their own organisations involvement in 2009 and to seek greater level of involvement for 2010

Events

Launch • Good attendance, approximately 80 people • Food was good this year… plentiful • Great to use the Council Chambers again • Maori TV coming and recording event • Songs of Jay William’s groups very moving • Good variety of speakers • Launching the photo exhibition brought • Michael Alofa did a great job of MC again • Elaine’s contribution of asking for brief

comments on upcoming activities from the floor was great

• Nada's data show was a great addition

• Maybe preaching to the converted

• Long evening… how to keep the speeches short and relevant

• Not many of the photographers attended

•

• Make it a wider open event, we could at least double numbers

• Is this the right time to launch… eg could we launch at the Tui Glen event and then go forward into week after fathers day?

Mall Exhibition • Good exposure of week, resources / photos • More men could have been

in attendance • Make expectations of attendees clear, even though a

form was created for this, maybe it didn’t get


• Kept presence through whole week • Photo exhibition good focus for the Mall • Huge generosity of people to come and offer

time • Great support from Westfield to let us use the

space through the week at no cost • Balloons good to get kids to come over to

exhibition • Ladder safety display and competition also

helped • Promotion of other events during week • Networking opportunities between agencies

attending the stall

• Some slots difficult to fill • Not enough display space

for flyers – need at least 50% more

• Too few pictures this year for the exhibition

• Need to provide more effective info to volunteers on what to target – how to get attention etc

• No real point in the Saturday at the Mall as most events completed – better to start on the Monday?

• Wai Health offer to do health checks did not happen as lack of privacy in Mall

through to everyone • Do we need to train more of the people in

attendance at Mall in terms of promoting? • How to capture more evaluations/ observations/

concerns raised • Ask all attendees to complete an evaluation form • More display space needed for resources • Survey… what do fathers really want/ need • Sunday at Mall was a missed opportunity… maybe go

through until lunch time • Triangular displays good… • Photo exhibition could be presented in more dynamic

way… eg digital cameras then project onto screens. Ask Camera House to host a screen through the week as well as hireage of one, have another in reception at Council through week.

• Try to get sponsorship through Fuji of digital cameras… start early

WoW Bus • About 17 screenings completed through week • Less than hoped for

No Sweat Parenting • Good turn out at talks… 70 at Massey, 150 at

Ranui, 80 at hoani Waititi • Fantastic support from Massey Matters, RAP,

Marae and Parents Inc teams • Excellent opportunity to profile other agencies

also with stalls, give‐aways at talks • Food helped bring some people along • Upbeat, fun, targeting at risk parents as well as

others…good messages, lots of laughter • Sharing evaluations • Well marketed

• Lots of energy for still smallish numbers

• More enrolled to attend than turned up, others made spontaneous decision to come

• Timeslot in week nights???

• Building profile on from this time, word of mouth would help

• Engaging schools to greater extent

Unitec Talks


• Wide range of topics • Good speakers • Having a programme for the whole week • Good flow on into Unitec

• Late promotion of the talks • Small numbers attending

some of the talks (6‐10) • Needs a targeted marketing

strategy • No men at ECE talk

• Wider exposure and advertising of these talks • Checking we are meeting target audiences • Higher visibility • Making talk material available on website via Power

point etc • Take talks to other venues/ events • Package as a service for training professionals.. a

business opportunity

Splash and Play • 8 families registered • Good water safety and play material developed

and shared • Created a play / education space at BCU/DDO • Swimming teacher attended and left feeling

very inspired

• 6 families didn’t show at last minute

• All are still keen to attend a future workshop • The resources and messages re safety and

importance of water play are able to be shared with the network

• Waipareira has requested similar sessions to be run for their clients

Dads and Babies • Harald came up from Christchurch, spreading

inspiration re the fathering week • Good collaboration with Parents Centre and

Father and Child Trust

• Small numbers attended… 8 • Needs a targeted marketing

strategy

• Ongoing opportunity to spread word about importance of fathers and their play with their children from the beginning

Dads 4 Dads • Launch of Plunket’s men’s/ dads network and

support group • Small numbers attended • Importance of further nurturing of the idea and

promoting it through Plunket

Fathering Teenagers • Rex and Warwick both very skilled presenters • Lots of work went into promoting this through

the schools • Valuable discussion was held for participants

• Only two in audience

• Need stronger support from WEST (Waitakere Education Sector trust)

• How to market idea to attract more interest • In future should we not rather focus on fun and

interesting activities that involve both parents or families – with punchy titles for activities, involving well known personalities etc

Men’s Group The Movie • Men who wouldn’t necessarily come to • Was having a woman as • Make these all men’s opportunities


something like this came along

part of the hosting team a dis‐incentive to discuss more?

• Small numbers on first night meant it wasn’t shown and only (3) on second night

• Many men who expressed interest never attended

• Potent film to show the challenges of men getting and giving support

• Other groups interested in seeing it so will keep DVD moving through community

• Discussion… what does this show about fathering?

Guiding your under Fives • Team has got excited and clear about what they

want to offer and will promote it at other places such as ECE centres

• No one attended the workshop

• Good opportunity to take the idea to next stages of development

• Positive strategies for parents in the post Sect. 59 referendum

• See comment for 'Fathering Teenagers' re activities for men only

Make music with Dad • Practical and fun workshop • Small number (7) but people had a great time • The doing rather than talking trick!

• Needs targeted marketing strategy

• The best workshops are practical opportunities to do./ make

Big Clean Up / Dads Day Out • Excellent collaboration with Project Twin

Streams once again • Increased numbers, more than doubled 2008

participants (600) • Weather was awesome!!! • Great cultural diversity of entertainment and

ongoing live music – and it drew a greater cultural mix of families

• Michael as MC, good upbeat touch • Excellent to have some “doing” for the week…

kayaks popular and rubbish from stream stunning in quantity!

• Rock climbing / bungee good draw card, visibility in venue

• Cycling events went to plan B since an illness with presenter at last minute. 15 people participated… good beginning

• Info tents need to provide more than just info to engage public

• Ensure that Project Twin Streams still feels visible in event… they had initially invited us to join them.

• Ground levels not easy to play / race or have other

• Feels as though the event is on a major growth spurt and will become even bigger next year.

• Lots of 1:1 conversations and contact… between organisers and presenters, very positive relationship building opportunity

• Could make this event the launch event (as long as it was in September as this the Keep Waitakere Beautiful month which first inspired the event for Project twin Streams)

• Could have it on the previous Sunday… or Saturday… and leave Father’s Day free for fathers (especially the helpers!)

• Give tasters of other events during the week ahead • Increase the activities for the event

Project Twin Streams funding agreement ends in July 2010 but still keen to keep on with event


• Food good, wonderful to have Helensville Men’s and Family Centre involved

• Great support from Sea Scouts with coordination of games and with Kayak activity

• Kayak safety was excellent Good road signage through the week and on the day

• Lot more volunteer support than 2008 • Greater diversity of activities than 2008 • Lots of great feedback received on the day • Raw eggs in egg and spoon race great!

activities on • More Maori participation and visibility in event eg performances and activities

• Strengthen the little children’s area.. was affirmed as very useful and appreciated having open space around it

• Move the junk sculpture activity up to this area and site the performers changing tent where that used to be as the location for the changing rooms was too tight and too noisy for sculpture.

• MC brings the whole focus of the gathering to the games area for 30 minutes to encourage fuller enjoyment and participation. Get roving microphone (Phil has a set up available)

Fathers Day Remembrance • Good turn out at event (50) • Atmosphere created of the men’s shed idea • Well organised and promoted by hospice

• Useful example of the opportunity to work alongside an organisation that is clear on what it wants to do in the week and works in parallel

Journey to the Falls • Event was postponed due to low registration

numbers at critical time

Teen Dads • Numbers increased by two extra young dads

and more enquiries being received • Link between the teen Mums course at

Henderson High where students took photos of their partners fathering

• Good publicity in Herald • Opportunity opened to go into Mt Eden prisons

twice to speak to the fathers inside • Excellent collaboration between Health West,

Barnardos, Change works and Father and Child Trust

• Was good opportunity to draw attention to the area of need

• Keen to follow through with teen dads one (and two and three) years on


Engaging with Maori and Pacific • Pio and Parents Inc doing a presentation of NSP

at Hoani Waititi Marae, as well as targeting this community in his talks

• Good cultural selection of presenters and entertainers at events, Jay Williams, whanau and students from Henderson High were great role models

• Papa Fred Holloway’s support and blessings of events

• Wai Health doing health check ups in Mall • Maori TV proactive in getting coverage of launch • Leata in Massey did a Fathers Day treat for the

dads of her pre‐school • Photos taken by students at Hoani Waititi & Te

Wero a Nga Wahine

• Planned grandfathers forum didn’t progress

• Lost connection with Greg and Waipareira

• No responses from Pacific approaches

• Papa Dennis lost his phone, challenge to connect with him

• Maori Health checks didn’t happen at last minute after being set up for Mall

• Potential for some great waananga… we all created some good thinking on this but it needed major organisation and financial support

• Bobby Newson had offered some ideas which could be followed through

• Could we strengthen the interest in the Maori and Pacific community to create an event for their community

• Further talking to happen sooner in process re 2010

Too busy with too many other issues of high priority to be able to add extras.

Engaging with fathers • Events such as the Big Clean up attracted many

fathers • Activity based events seem most popular.

• Are fathers noticing the publicity material?

• Increase ways of getting ECE, men’s agencies, work places, health and midwives on board to promote the week to their communities and clients

• Opportunities to make some reflective spaces for fathers in midst of activities – refer Wiki from Helensville Men and Family Centre who has skills in this area

• Create some more action events eg Sea Scouts could host a dads and kids sailing evening during the week. Phil has lots of ideas… eager to get fathers more engaged.

Engaging with other agencies • Over 27 other organisations and agencies were

involved in supporting the event • Most agencies still need to

be asked and invited to contribute, still a lot of selling of the value of Fathering week needs to happen

• Possibility of putting out a well structured invitation to organisations early in the year to consider what they could offer through the FoF week – how they could get value from activity (collaborate etc), how market it – get organisations used to proactively planning for this as an annual event


Media Coverage and Publicity Advertisements Paid advertising in the Western Leader.

Also see Appendix D: Advertising for Fathering Week double page spread in The Aucklander.


Publicity Articles and Releases Waitakere News (August issue)

New Zealand Herald (September 1st)

• Pioneer course gives teen dads guidance Western Leader (August 25th)

• Embracing the challenges of fatherhood Massey Matters (September issue):

• Dad 4 Life ‐ Focus on Fathering Week • Building Awesome Families with Pio Terei

HealthWest PHO Community Health Newsletter

• Dad4Life: Focus on Fathering Week (Appendix E: Publicity Articles & Releases)


Street signage Corflute signs were erected on eight major traffic junctions across the city.


Where to next? Waitakere Focus on Fathering week has come a long way in three years. In 2009 we had the support and participation of 27 different Waitakere based organisations. It is now establishing itself on the Waitakere calendar of events. The Father's Day event at Tui Glen Park was a great success! The intention for 2010 is to build on the support and contributions offered in 2009 and to approach participant organisations early in 2010 to start them planning for the fathering week events. Some of the lessons from 2009 that we want to improve, is to limit the number of talks offered, and to focus more on activities and fun events for fathers and their children to do together or with the whole family. Events for dads only we have found very difficult to successfully market. It is also clear that we need targeted marketing strategies for each event and sector, eg Early Childhood Education, alongside the more generalised publicity which we do. The general publicity is good for profiling fathering and the organisations involved, but is not enough to attract men to events. One of the areas we would also like to focus on the 2010 is to provide an opportunity to acknowledge, profile and publicise deserving initiatives and collaborations for fathers, that are taking place in the community (this year it was the Teen Dads collaboration project). Another area is reaching the fathers and sectors of the community we are not effectively touching as yet. Some ideas are emerging… building connections with Rugby or other sports clubs or other clubs and gangs for example, to invite them to create events that will engage fathers and children. Feedback has come requesting an event focused on separated fathers. Unless a suitable agency is prepared to adopt such an event, this is unlikely. However, it has been noted as a gap opportunity. We also hope to engage more men in the Toddler Day Out and Great Parenting Fair.. not only to offer an experiential activity for fathers and children but also to sample the dads ideas on what would be useful for them to have included in this week. The challenge for 2010 and beyond is the possibility of losing some of the key support and resources that the Waitakere City Council has provided but we firmly believe that with the support that we now have in Waitakere, Focus on Fathering week will continue as a collaborative annual week of celebration and acknowledgement of the role of fathers.


Who was involved? The week was jointly coordinated by Elaine Dyer of Violence Free Waitakere Promoting Great Parenting and Chris Mullins of Wellpoint Associates under contract to Violence Free Waitakere. Lynn Houghton coordinated the photographic project. They were supported by a working group of: Nada Cottrell of Waitakere City Council’s public events team, Brendon Smith of Father and Child Trust, Christof Schneider and Garjana Kosanke of Violence Free Waitakere, Haylee Verryt and Michael Alofa of Waitakere City Council, Geoff Bridgman of Unitec, Greg Noda of Waipareira Trust, Junior Atua –Tavi and Kay Lindley of Health West, Wendy Claire of Project Twin Streams and Community Waitakere, Chris Davidson of Man Alive, Dave Ryan of NZ Police , Phil Nisbet of Endeavour Sea Scouts (Te Atatu) , Sharon Burger of SwimEd and Jay Williams of Henderson High. Mayor Bob Harvey was again a supporter of the week, including offering us use of the Mayoral Chambers for the Launch and a generous contribution from his special fund towards the launch. The core of people working with the project were further supported by a group which included Richard Aston, Warwick Pudney, Rex McCann, Griff Richards, Ron Hepworth, Claire Richardson, Linda Shaw, Emma Frost, Huhana Wilson, Fred Holloway, David Kenkel, Rochelle Cave, Annie Gordon, John Wenger, Donna and Darren Hunter, Fraser Bruce and Amy Wang, Russell Williams of Auckland Canoe and Kayak, Miles Blackwood and a team from Waitemata Canoe and Multisport Club. The following schools were involved in the photographic display: Timatanga Community School, Henderson High School, Hoani Waititi Kura kaupapa, He Wero O Nga Wahine Speakers, presenters and performers included: Papa Fred Holloway, Mayor Bob Harvey, Harald Breiding‐Buss from Father and Child Trust, Inspector Gary Davey from Waitakere Police, Pio Terei, comedian and parent educator, Lynne Pillay, MP for Waitakere, Rex McCann of Essentially Men, Warwick Pudney, author and lecturer, Kate Bottomley of Health West with the Health Bus, Donna and team (Tui Retreat), Changeworks Team, Enua & Pierre Wichman , Andrew Hall, Dave Wells, Martin Malinsky , Sue Colman, Lisa Pester, Jay and Pat Williams, Andrew Connolly, Tanya Sun and the Chinese cultural performers, Jacob Penfold and Waitakere School of Dance, Mhara Marimba (plus the Pacific performers via Wendy) for their involvement in the Dad’s Day Out / Big Clean‐Up; West Auckland Hospice team Darren Wooley, Lisa Murphy and Caroline Kotoisuva of West City for supporting us to have our display in the Mall and the large numbers of other agencies who came and supported the Display…. Barnardos, CYFs, the Department of Courts, Man Alive, Change works, Police, Safe Waitakere, Community Waitakere, Grandparents Parenting Grandchildren, Family Works Glen Candy of Pernod Ricard for four crates of wine for the launch and The Waitakere Licensing Trusts for donating six bottles of local wine for speaker gifts and the Mad Butcher for a $50.00 meat voucher as a prize for those completing evaluations.


We are grateful for the support of the local media, Stephen Forbes of Western Leader, Adi Desai, Farida Masters and Delicia Wipa of The Aucklander, Simon Collins of the NZ Herald and Lisah Henry of the Waitakere News. Funds for the event were provided by Ministry Social Development’s SKIP, Waitakere City Council and Violence Free Waitakere. As with all these events in Waitakere, just working with agencies alone isn’t enough to make the promotions fly! Thanks also go to the many people who sent word out into their networks, who talked about it, shared their experiences, encouraged friends and family to come along and who turned up themselves. And to the support teams to the families of us at the core of the work… thank you for your tolerance and generosity with our temporary unavailability! Lastly, thank you to the fathers, grandfathers, uncles, mates and mentors, of the children in our community. May you grow in confidence and awareness of your importance to us all as you offer fathering to our city. Thank you all for your input and support, the children of the community are worth it!


Personal notes from the Organisers So how come this woman is so passionate about fathering? My own dad has been an incredibly important influencer in my life, blessedly still here in his mid eighties. From early days onwards, his opinions and processes were of core value in my life (not that we didn’t test one another about them more than once!) My husband, although our relationship didn’t survive the long journey, is father to two amazing children and within the limitations of being an absent dad, has found many creative ways of holding connection with them. As a solo mum, I too explored creative ways of ‘fathering’ our children including moving into a community with six other families which became a long term village to support them and myself in our growing. Over the years, my father also grew into a mentoring role for my son in particular. Those children, now grown are both parents. My son is a wonderful father to his two boys, and my daughter has a hugely passionate father to her son. I love watching their commitment to giving their boys the very best of their active attention and care, while supporting their wives in their mothering roles. I watch my grandsons growing beautifully in this embrace. In my wider circles and beyond, there are so many great fathers out in the world today, as well as many young men who are stepping up to be involved in a new way with their children. For many years of my working life, I spent a lot of time doing ‘men’s groups’ in the prisons. What I discovered inside the prisons were huge numbers of abused, abandoned and neglected children who grew into lives of numbing out their pain through the use of drugs and alcohol, turning to crime desperately seeking a sense of belonging in gangs or in accumulating the things that they felt they never had… no matter the means used. When I was running three day intensive groups through the Alternatives to Violence Project, ultimately the personal stories would emerge… of deep pain at the loss of safety, affirmation, empathy and caring from their parents, particularly their fathers. Although only a small percentage of our children go along this route, the fact that any do is a concern. I know that the most effective way to make a difference in the lives of people who end up in prison (the emotional prisons as well as the actual ones) is to help connect with the children before this troublesome journey has begun. The first three or four years is the best place to start, and reaching young parents is one of the ways that this work can be supported. So many parents struggle to understand what it is about their own experience of being parented that shapes the way that they go on and parent themselves. Becoming conscious of this choice that they can make, of what they want to carry forward from their experiences, and what they want to do differently is one foundation of the positive parenting work. And it is not just in the prisons that men need support. So many men have struggled with the weight of expectation that they will be the ‘providers’ for their families though often don’t feel capable or easy with the emotional side of this equation. Yet watching the new fathers in my family, I know how deeply the love in their hearts is awakened as they hold their new baby, and learn to support them through those early days, travel the sleepless nights and move, day by day into the months and years of that unfolding person, their child. Not without challenges, this time is also hugely rewarding, and sets the foundation stone for the lifelong relationship with that child. Becoming a father is a relatively easy step… becoming a


dad is actually an active relationship for life… even if the relationship with the mother doesn’t go the distance. If I can encourage more men to gather support and inspiration for their life long journey of fathering from this work, then I will be content. If I could be a small part of a social change which saw more fathers staying involved more creatively and being committed to the emergence of their children’s gifts throughout their lives, I would feel hopeful that we could turn the tide for all our children. So many men are great fathers, uncles, mentors and friends. Getting them together to share with others, to support and encourage each other to hang in there would be potent. Celebrating their fathering as an opportunity to make a difference. Embracing their fathering. Bringing organisations who work with the families and fathers of our community together to ensure that more men are held, less fall through the cracks when they reach out for support. To me, that is what this week is about. Men’s work… and women’s work. Our children and grandchildren deserve it.

Elaine Dyer

***

This is the second year of my involvement with the Focus on Fathering week event. It is a huge challenge organising such a collaborative event, but probably even more so is getting out the message of positive parenting to men. I have found it very inspiring and immensely rewarding working with so many organisations and individuals who are doing such special work. It is my hope that the Focus on Fathering week event becomes an established annual event that is able to profile and support the work of these organisations, strengthening collaborations within the sector and strengthening them in their work with men and fathers. It is, at times, interesting to reflect on why we get pulled and drawn into particular kinds of work. I had a 'remote' father who died when I was 20 ‐‐ before I had time to really meet him, as a man. I was angry when he died for all of the conversations that I still wanted to have with him. I am now father to a teenage boy and a pre‐teen girl both of whom I love with all I have. Yet love is not enough to teach me how to be the father I want to be, and the father my father never was. I have carried a 'woundedness' around with me about my lack of a father in my life ‐ the father that I did not have. I carried my woundedness very privately ‐ like too many men do and kept myself busy being a good dad ‐ but my teenage son a few years ago painfully exposed to me my lack of fathering skills. I sought the help of other men and have since discovered that just about every man out there seems to struggle in their own way with a 'father wound' and that few of them cannot be stitched together with a good dose of tears and laughter. It has been inspirational for me to discover many great people that are out there supporting men, supporting fathers and supporting families in Waitakere. My involvement with the Waitakere Focus on Fathering week has been a huge challenge to step up ‐ (as a father 'still in learning') and it has been a deeply enriching experience personally. It has also been hugely satisfying to get so much great feedback and support


from so many local people and organisations who have appreciated the work Elaine and I have done. My own story motivates me to reach out to other men out there ‐ struggling on their own ‐ and encourage them to just ask for help from other men ‐ and also to affirm and celebrate so many of the great role‐model fathers out there. It's easy to be a dad, but I think to become a good father we need the company and companionship of good men, and the challenge and love of good women! Let the journey continue!

Chris Mullins


Summary of Collaborators and Participants Evaluations Each year we get a little better at capturing comments and information from and about the fathers who attend our events, however this year we realised that we needed to be more proactive in ensuring that events were thus sampled. The Mall display this time got very few responses, mostly because the people on the stall hadn’t been encouraged to promote the questionnaire. The Dads Day Out and Big Clean up got more because our team was actively interviewing men on the day. However, we have a good sample just the same and the results are easier to see as we managed to use some of the technical tools like online surveys. Next year we are keen to arrange for a professional evaluation to be done. Alongside our participant evaluations, we also invited our collaborators to contribute their experience. Both sets of data are presented here. See Appendix F for evaluation data and comments. Summary of Feedback from Participants Marketing of the event

• 39% of respondents heard about the events through family and friends, more than double that of the next category which was 'other’ – 17 per cent

• 16% heard about them through the website/e‐mail and through their organisation

• 13% through newspaper and only 12% through posters

Enjoyment and usefulness of the event

• 92% of respondents rated their enjoyment 4 – 5 out of five on a five‐point scale where five was the highest score

• 84% of respondents rated the usefulness of the activity they attended 4 – 5 out of five

• 59% of respondents felt that the event was well promoted

• 64% felt that it had increased their awareness of the resources and services available to support fathering

• 66% felt that they had gained information on specific fathering strategies The profile of respondents

• 45% of people attending events were aged between 30 – 40 followed by the 20 – 30 age group (22%)

• An equal number of those who completed questionnaires were fathers or mothers (44% each) and 45% of all attending had preschool age children

• 32% had children between the ages of 5 – 12 years old

• 24% had adult children. Only 16% of respondents had teenagers


Brief comments on the summary

All in all the feedback received was very positive. Although most respondents heard about the event through family and friends, the assumption must be made that family and friends themselves must have heard about the event through some of the marketing media. As anticipated the majority of parents are parents of younger children and it is interesting to note from the feedback that we are not reaching enough of the parents of teenage children. This is something for consideration for our strategies for 2010.

Summary of Collaborators’ Evaluations How did involvement in the week help your work?

• Linking in with other agencies and resources • Increased profile for men and fathering issues • Connecting with agencies outside immediate area • Enlivening for agencies to be part of a growing event • Connecting key people together • Joining with others decreases work load and increases profile • Strengthening networks and opportunities to promote key messages

How much and what kind of work did your involvement create for you / your organisation

• Assisting with publicity and promotion of the events, networking • Several meetings, not always at most convenient time • Practical tasks like travelling, setting up stalls etc

What support did you need ‐ and did you receive it?

• Developing and production of fliers • Advice on topics needed • Referrals from Violence Free Waitakere of at risk men with health issues • Outstanding support from Elaine and Chris and team

What resources did you need and did you receive them? What was missing?

• Good support… publicity, resources to give away, platforms to speak from • Needed more balloons at mall • Some small technical things eg projector not in venue, but overall very helpfully

organised and supported by all, council included • Were directions to the event at Tui Glen clear enough?

Describe the attendance to your event?

• Disappointed in small numbers at some events, concerned re the multitude of events on

• Needs targeted marketing • Growing numbers at events such as Tui Glen. Good numbers at Pio’s talks • Missed having many children at launch • Good crowd with a huge range of cultures… well pleased with outcome


What are your thoughts about your involvement in next year's Focus on Fathering Week?

• Yes, though think that there will need to be ongoing evolving of the form as needs change

• Majority are keen to keep on being part of it • How to reach the dads who really need this? Get sports clubs / churches / gangs

involved? Other comments

• Well done!!! Good to connect the academic / agency side of the issues together but also to target specific groups eg teen dads, separated fathers

• Get local schools involved in performing • Other work for our courses has emerged as a result of being involved • Get fliers out earlier • Is it worth considering starting after Father’s Day?

Documents

Focus on Fathering Week Report 2009 - Auckland · PDF fileConcert and promotion in Catherine Mall 12 noon ‐ 1:30 p.m. 28‐30th ... Celebrating Pacific Fathers ... Waitakere Focus