MY DAD MATTERS IN SUNDERLAND

Laura Johnstone (Parenting Strategy Officer)Sunderland City Council

9th November 2010

THE PICTURE IN 2008

• Summer 2008Family and Parenting Strategy 2008-2012 completed

• December 2008Parenting Strategy Officer comes into post

• January-December 2008367 parents/carers accessed the Universal, Targeted andSpecialist Parenting Offer.

This included Family Nurturing, Triple P, Teen Triple P, Incredible Years, Strengthening Families, Transitions, The Parent Factor – ADHD, Early Bird and Early Bird Plus.

THE PICTURE IN 2008

• Only 8% of these parents/carers were male

• 181 females and only 6 males accessed the Universal Parenting Offer

• 72 females and only 7 males the Targeted Parenting programme

• 83 females and only 18 males accessed the Specialist Parenting Offer.

ASSESS

The Family and Parenting Strategy 2008-2012 nine themes

included:

• Services need to work together and with the whole family, not just parents

• Services need to be non-stigmatising and welcoming to parents• Services should be available at times and on days that are outside

traditional ‘office hours’• Parents should be offered a choice of local and citywide services• Services should signpost and make information about all parenting

support services readily accessible to all parents• Services should be more inclusive of fathers.

ASSESS

A piece of consultation carried out in spring 2010 revealed:

• Dads were not clear about referral routes into support and generally didn’t like to be seen asking for help

• Activities, posters and literature were geared to and depicted mothers• Staff were predominantly female and lacked specific skills to work with men• Parenting programmes were written for mums rather than dads/both parents• Times, locations and activities are not father friendly or male oriented• Funding favoured mums and taxis and crèches were not offered to dads• Fathers would prefer, especially in the beginning, an all male group• The part played by grandfathers is often not recognised.

ASSESS

Quotes from dads included:• “Young dads are treated differently. They are frowned upon as being

‘the problem’. The assumption is made that the parent will be the young mum.”

• “Men don’t exist – the main service response is ‘get them out of the house’ – men are seen as a problem but we don’t address this.”

Quotes from workers included:• “Dad’s details are not automatically asked for by Teenage

Pregnancy teams. We come into contact with dads by chance

through our mainstream work where it might be asked if the young man is a father.”

PLANThe Family and Parenting Board commissioned a service to achieve the

following outcomes, outputs and targets in 2010/11:

Outcomes for male parents/carers:Increased • Confidence in their own Parenting skills• Awareness of their child/young person’s needs• Attachment to their child/young person• Ability to take up support within mainstream organizations • Time spent with their children/young people engaged in enjoyable play

or learning activity.

Outcomes for children/young people• Improved opportunities to play, communicate and learn with their male

parents/carers.

PLAN

Outputs:• Engage 150 male parents/carers of children/young people aged 0-19,

make an initial 1-1 assessment of their needs and signpost them appropriately

• Retain 100 males and offer them more in-depth Parenting support. (A male will be judged to have received more in-depth Parenting support if they attend at least seven two-hour sessions.)

Targets:• 50 males who access more in-depth Parenting support demonstrate at

least one improved outcome • 25 males who access more in-depth Parenting support demonstrate two

or more improved outcomes.

DO

Fathers Plus were awarded the contract to deliver what became ‘My Dad Matters in Sunderland’. Their planning and engagement work began in early 2010. Their delivery commenced in March 2010.

By August 2010, 50% of the parents/carers who accessed a parenting

intervention in Sunderland (either a programme, 1-1 support or a Family

Man activity) were male.

By 22nd October 2010:• 214 male parents/carers had been engaged by ‘My Dad Matters’ • 98 men could be counted as having accessed more in-depth Parenting

support.

DO

Specifically:

• 8 'Family Man through the Ages' sessions had been delivered in primary schools to 116 males (5 sessions delivered via this contract and 3 sessions purchased by schools)

• 26 'Fitness and Wellbeing' sessions had been delivered in schools and community venues to 25 different males (series of 10 sessions)

• 8 'Forest Survival' days had been delivered in schools and community venues to 73 males

Also:• 1 ‘Family Man Celebration Day’ held and attended by 69 males and 157

partners and children (NB not all attendees signed in).

TO DO

The following will be delivered before March 31st 2011:

• 1 'Family Man through the Ages' session• 3 'Dads-to-Be' sessions • 18 'Fitness and Wellbeing' sessions • 2 'Dads Forum' meetings • 6 'Dads Nurturing' sessions.

ALSO DONE

At the Family Man Celebration Day, males were signposted to ‘Men

Behaving Dadly’; a Parents’ Week 2010 event delivered and attended

jointly by Children’s Centres, City Libraries, the Family and Parenting

Team, Fathers Plus, Connexions and Job Linkage:

• 230 family members attended and registered for information, support and activities at Sunderland Children's Centres

• City Libraries are to begin to deliver a monthly Dads and Kids Club• Meetings are to be held with all partners to explore how services for

family men can be developed and expanded.

REVIEW

“We were absolutely delighted with the reaction we received from our male family members. It’s extremely important that we are able to build and maintain positive relationships with all our families – ‘Family Man through the Ages’ has allowed us to target male carers through an interactive, hands-on learning experience. “

Ruth Firth, Deputy Headteacher, Diamond Hall Infant School

25 began to access a dads and kids group established at Diamond Hall Infant School following the ‘Family Man’ days. The school are now working with Extended Services and Family, Adult and Community Learning to increase their offer to parents. They also hope to fund from their own budget another Family Man day for their new Reception ‘dads’.

REVIEW

• On 4th November the Family and Parenting Steering Group reviewed their current service delivery to family men and are to:

1. Revisit a piece of work that was begun in 2008/9 to make the whole of the City Council and its partners ‘male-friendly’ and to tie this into the current work around Think Family

2. Capitalise upon key times in a family’s life, such as the birth of a new baby, and engage men at this stage, rather than trying to bring them back ten years later when Mam and Dad have split up and the child is in trouble at school

REVIEW

3. Look at the data we currently have around male engagement in Children’s Centre activity, family men’s attendance at TACs and see how we can redress any gender imbalance

4. Visit all schools who hosted and/or accessed a Fathers Plus event to explore how additional services can be brought in to continue the good work begun by Fathers Plus.

ANY QUESTIONS OR FURTHER INFORMATION…?

The Family and Parenting Team

1st Floor, City Library and Arts Centre

30-32 Fawcett Street

Sunderland

SR1 1RE

laura.johnstone@sunderland.gov.uk