Tracing the lives and support needs of young fathers: A participatory, qualitative longitudinal and comparative analysis
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Lincoln
Department Name: School of Social and Political Science
Abstract
The proposed study advances understanding of an under-researched topic; the lived experiences and support needs of marginalised young fathers (aged 25 and under). It has an ambitious aim of both understanding and transforming the way society currently thinks about young fathers and the extent to which these ideas influence policy and practice support that enables them to be positively engaged in their children's lives. In the current UK context, young fathers are often viewed as 'a problem' within family social policy (Duncan 2007). In professional settings, including maternity, child and family support services, these negative pervasive assumptions have been found to translate into practices of surveillance or sidelining by practitioners (Neale & Davies 2015). Such practices also exclude young fathers from dominant expectations of 'engaged fatherhood' (Miller 2011), despite proven societal and wide-ranging benefits of men's involvement in caregiving for children, mothers and fathers (Ives 2018). Current policy and practice approaches therefore reinforce and reproduce the very stigma and exclusion they seek to diminish against a backdrop where knowledge about the diversity and dynamics of young fatherhood remains limited. The broad aim of this research is to address this gap in knowledge, offering a unique extended, longitudinal and international evidence base, and evidenced practice and policy solutions that promote gender equality and the citizenship of young men who are fathers.
The data and findings generated will be interrogated through fresh theoretical and substantive lenses, addressing the following research questions:
1) How do the multiple disadvantages faced by marginalised young fathers impact on their parenting trajectories and longer term outcomes and aspirations?
2) How are young fathers' experiences shaped within a shifting climate of policy and professional practice and evolving ideologies of engaged fatherhood?
3) What are the benefits and key challenges of initiating supportive, client centred models of intervention in the UK and what might be learnt across comparative, international contexts?
The study will document and intensively track the changing lives of a number of young fathers, both over time and in different comparative contexts and implement and evaluate equality friendly practice. This will enable a clearer picture to emerge about the impact of different cultures of understanding and expectations on young fathers and how varied professional responses shape their experiences, their orientation to fatherhood and their capacity to sustain positive relationships with their children and families. The study is multidisciplinary in scope, straddling youth, family and parenthood research and provision, and social work, housing, employment and health care policy; fields that will be drawn upon and integrated. It also engages with a shifting policy landscape that has moved on since the days of New Labour's 10-Year Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood Strategy (1999-2010). Using creative, participatory qualitative longitudinal (QL) methods of enquiry, the study will produce new understandings of this shifting landscape of family, parenting and youth policy and its impact on the lives of young fathers. Three complementary strands of work will ensure research impact and uptake including: 1) an extended QL study of the dynamics of young fathers' lives and support needs in the UK, examined within a shifting climate of policy and professional practice and evolving ideologies of engaged fatherhood; 2) longitudinal engagement with practice partners from the Young Dads Collective and Grimsby to track and evaluate developments in innovative forms of good practice that respond directly to key policy challenges by recognising young fathers as 'experts by experience'; and 3) an international, comparative enquiry (UK and Sweden) and the development of an international research network on young parenthood.
The data and findings generated will be interrogated through fresh theoretical and substantive lenses, addressing the following research questions:
1) How do the multiple disadvantages faced by marginalised young fathers impact on their parenting trajectories and longer term outcomes and aspirations?
2) How are young fathers' experiences shaped within a shifting climate of policy and professional practice and evolving ideologies of engaged fatherhood?
3) What are the benefits and key challenges of initiating supportive, client centred models of intervention in the UK and what might be learnt across comparative, international contexts?
The study will document and intensively track the changing lives of a number of young fathers, both over time and in different comparative contexts and implement and evaluate equality friendly practice. This will enable a clearer picture to emerge about the impact of different cultures of understanding and expectations on young fathers and how varied professional responses shape their experiences, their orientation to fatherhood and their capacity to sustain positive relationships with their children and families. The study is multidisciplinary in scope, straddling youth, family and parenthood research and provision, and social work, housing, employment and health care policy; fields that will be drawn upon and integrated. It also engages with a shifting policy landscape that has moved on since the days of New Labour's 10-Year Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood Strategy (1999-2010). Using creative, participatory qualitative longitudinal (QL) methods of enquiry, the study will produce new understandings of this shifting landscape of family, parenting and youth policy and its impact on the lives of young fathers. Three complementary strands of work will ensure research impact and uptake including: 1) an extended QL study of the dynamics of young fathers' lives and support needs in the UK, examined within a shifting climate of policy and professional practice and evolving ideologies of engaged fatherhood; 2) longitudinal engagement with practice partners from the Young Dads Collective and Grimsby to track and evaluate developments in innovative forms of good practice that respond directly to key policy challenges by recognising young fathers as 'experts by experience'; and 3) an international, comparative enquiry (UK and Sweden) and the development of an international research network on young parenthood.
Planned Impact
Key beneficiaries: Multiple stakeholders will be involved in the study from the outset, ensuring numerous practical benefits and outcomes that will increase knowledge and understanding about young fathers and greater effectiveness in policy and practice. Key beneficiaries include young fathers and their families (UK and Sweden); policymakers in national government (across family, education, health and social care, and youth policy domains); service managers and practitioners in local government and the third sector; and the wider public.
Benefits: Young fathers: An extended evidence base about the experiences and support needs of young fathers is vital for ensuring they achieve their aspirations to be engaged fathers, with positive outcomes for them and their families. They will benefit from the establishment of the YDC in Grimsby via improved engagement with services, and subsequent social, health and economic benefits. These young men will be trained, upskilled and given a platform to share their experiences with practitioners, both local and regional; engage in campaigning and influencing; and support a wider constituency of young fathers to access health services, social care, youth support, education and employment opportunities. Previous YDC members have experienced substantial personal change and increased access to education and employment prospects via this approach (Tarrant & Neale 2017). The new cohorts of young fathers who participate in the UK and Swedish studies will also benefit from engagement in longitudinal research, where their subjective experiences are recognised, respected and validated within wider academic debate.
Local government/third sector: The Grimsby case study ensures multiple impacts for local and national partners. Locally, the NSPCC, YMCA and North East Lincolnshire Council will collaborate to strengthen their existing offer by ensuring joined up work across the region. The existing practice of local managers and frontline staff working in a range of mainstream family, child and welfare services will be informed directly by the young fathers and by evidence. Coram Family and Childcare, who manage the YDC, will benefit by upscaling and evidencing the applicability and sustainability of their initiative. Professionals from pre- and antenatal services, youth offending teams, youth work, social work, counselling projects, and schools and colleges from across the UK, will be invited to events fronted by young fathers in Grimsby that will challenge them to see them in a different way. They will be asked to commit to changes in practice reflecting how they intend to operate in a more equality friendly way. The evidence produced will inform the efforts of policymakers, campaigners, and commentators at regional and national levels, by contributing to the development of a more effective, nuanced and evidence-based policy response to the diverse needs of young fathers. Accessible briefing papers and resources will be made available on the project website, and promoted at training events and via the international network.
Policymakers: As above, findings from this research will assert the vital need for ongoing support for young fathers and to recognise this as a public health issue and priority area. An evidenced model of good practice support for young fathers will be developed that both national and international policymakers can promote as a standard for ensuring positive support. International policymakers will be engaged via the newly established research network. Arising is an evidenced based solution for tackling social and economic disadvantage among young men with international, as well as national relevance.
Public: The wider public will benefit from young men who are better enabled to fulfil their economic and social aspirations and citizenship. Young Father's Truth events will also be held across the UK, aiming to challenge stereotypes and promote gender equality in family life.
Benefits: Young fathers: An extended evidence base about the experiences and support needs of young fathers is vital for ensuring they achieve their aspirations to be engaged fathers, with positive outcomes for them and their families. They will benefit from the establishment of the YDC in Grimsby via improved engagement with services, and subsequent social, health and economic benefits. These young men will be trained, upskilled and given a platform to share their experiences with practitioners, both local and regional; engage in campaigning and influencing; and support a wider constituency of young fathers to access health services, social care, youth support, education and employment opportunities. Previous YDC members have experienced substantial personal change and increased access to education and employment prospects via this approach (Tarrant & Neale 2017). The new cohorts of young fathers who participate in the UK and Swedish studies will also benefit from engagement in longitudinal research, where their subjective experiences are recognised, respected and validated within wider academic debate.
Local government/third sector: The Grimsby case study ensures multiple impacts for local and national partners. Locally, the NSPCC, YMCA and North East Lincolnshire Council will collaborate to strengthen their existing offer by ensuring joined up work across the region. The existing practice of local managers and frontline staff working in a range of mainstream family, child and welfare services will be informed directly by the young fathers and by evidence. Coram Family and Childcare, who manage the YDC, will benefit by upscaling and evidencing the applicability and sustainability of their initiative. Professionals from pre- and antenatal services, youth offending teams, youth work, social work, counselling projects, and schools and colleges from across the UK, will be invited to events fronted by young fathers in Grimsby that will challenge them to see them in a different way. They will be asked to commit to changes in practice reflecting how they intend to operate in a more equality friendly way. The evidence produced will inform the efforts of policymakers, campaigners, and commentators at regional and national levels, by contributing to the development of a more effective, nuanced and evidence-based policy response to the diverse needs of young fathers. Accessible briefing papers and resources will be made available on the project website, and promoted at training events and via the international network.
Policymakers: As above, findings from this research will assert the vital need for ongoing support for young fathers and to recognise this as a public health issue and priority area. An evidenced model of good practice support for young fathers will be developed that both national and international policymakers can promote as a standard for ensuring positive support. International policymakers will be engaged via the newly established research network. Arising is an evidenced based solution for tackling social and economic disadvantage among young men with international, as well as national relevance.
Public: The wider public will benefit from young men who are better enabled to fulfil their economic and social aspirations and citizenship. Young Father's Truth events will also be held across the UK, aiming to challenge stereotypes and promote gender equality in family life.
Organisations
- University of Lincoln (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- University of Gothenburg (Collaboration)
- YMCA Humber (Collaboration)
- Coram (Collaboration)
- YMCA England (Project Partner)
- North East Lincolnshire Council (Project Partner)
- Leeds City Council (Project Partner)
- National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
| Anna Tarrant (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Andreasson J
(2023)
Perceptions of gender equality and engaged fatherhood among young fathers: parenthood and the welfare state in Sweden and the UK
in Families, Relationships and Societies
Ladlow, L
(2021)
NCRM Telephone Methods toolkit
Tarrant A
(2021)
'Oh sorry, I've muted you!': Issues of connection and connectivity in qualitative (longitudinal) research with young fathers and family support professionals
in International Journal of Social Research Methodology
Tarrant A
(2024)
Increasing father engagement among minoritised fathers through proactive service support and outreach: insights from a participatory pilot study
in Community, Work & Family
Tarrant A
(2023)
Instigating father-inclusive practice interventions with young fathers and multi-agency professionals: the transformative potential of qualitative longitudinal and co-creative methodologies
in Families, Relationships and Societies
Tarrant A
(2022)
Men and Welfare
Tarrant, A.
(2021)
Written submission to Youth Unemployment Inquiry
| Description | The Following Young Fathers Further study is still ongoing having commenced in January 2020. As a qualitative longitudinal study it has begun to produce findings based on the two waves of interviews conducted with two cohorts of young fathers in the UK and Sweden. Our interviews with both cohorts have been thematic in focus. In the first wave of interviews, we explored the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on young fathers and their families. Our findings with young fathers in the UK demonstrate that young fathers navigated a complex set of challenges during the pandemic linked to changing welfare systems, increased financial precarity linked to changing and increasingly punitive youth and family policy, and challenges seeing their children if non-resident. Our research has also evidenced how multi-agency services who engage with families responded to the pandemic illustrating that remote working has not been a straightforward replacement for face to face working. These findings highlight that in the post-pandemic context, young fathers are likely to benefit from a combination of face-to-face and digital support from professionals and may require greater to support, around parenting and partnering, access to education and employment, housing, mental health and childcare, so that they can remain engaged in their children's lives. Our comparative analyses of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK and Sweden illustrate remarkable similarities between the everyday experiences of young fathers, including compelling evidence that the pandemic exacerbated existing precarity and disadvantage for young fathers in both countries, albeit to varying extents and dependent on individual circumstances and policy contexts. Through interrogation of their narratives of their parenting transitions, employment and education trajectories, and altered familial, socio-spatial and relational contexts, it has been possible to develop a more complex picture of how, and why, young fathers experienced increased instability and inequality. We have also developed analyses of how differences in welfare and parental leave systems have a clear influence on the extent to which the young men in the respective countries are able to fulfil their commitments to their children and act as local agents of change in the wider social project of gender equality. In a submitted journal article we argue that while policy processes and discourses in support of young parenthood and gender equality are currently treated as disparate concerns, their articulations with one another are actually complementary and symbiotic. As part of the research, we have also implemented a new social intervention called the Grimsby Dads Collective (or GDC). The GDC is a new social intervention for Grimsby, a coastal town in the East of England. Based on an evidence based model of practice called the Young Dads Collective (established by Coram Family and ChildCare), the intervention aims to promote father-inclusive and gender transformative support approaches, that are developed and promoted, by and for, young fathers. So far, three young fathers in Grimsby have received training and mentoring so that they can share their knowledge and experiences of their parenting journeys and support needs with multi-agency practitioners, service providers and policy makers in the town. These young men also achieve a Level 2 qualification for the induction and training they complete when they become a member of the GDC. So far, the young dads have delivered an Ask a Dad training workshop to professionals in Grimsby. Feedback suggests that they were encouraged to think more about including dads in their support approaches. Via an additional strand of our work, the 'Diverse Dads' study, which received funding from the University of Lincoln QR Strategic fund, we have also advanced new knowledge about the support needs and parenting experiences of minoritised young fathers. Developed through a community-based participatory methodology, involving the training of young fathers as peer researchers, our findings challenge common assumptions that young fathers are 'hard-to-reach' and that localities are lacking in diversity. The peer research team found that understanding local demographics, mapping local and regional resources and building new partnerships with community leaders and across services are important steps in ensuring services are more accessible to young dads, especially those that are minoritised. When professionals listen actively to young fathers and engage with intersectional, as well as father-inclusive approaches to practice, they are better equipped to understand their support needs and to develop a tailored and responsive approach that empowers them. |
| Exploitation Route | We have developed numerous recommendations for policy and practice based on the above, and other emerging findings. As we continue to conduct the research, we also continue to raise awareness and increase the visibility of young fathers and to pose ways of addressing the social disadvantages they experience via the promotion of these findings and our analyses of them to professionals and policy makers. On the basis of these findings, not only are we increasing understanding of the lives of young fathers, but we are also actively engaging with and encouraging professionals to recognise the need to work in a holistic way that acknowledges the diverse support needs young fathers may have. Professionals tell us that our findings both confirm that their existing approaches are effective, and/or that they intend to make changes to practice by working more inclusively with fathers as well as others. We are also actively generating and promoting practice-informed research and research-based practice via our engagements throughout the research process, via our work both with professionals who already provide effective support to young fathers, as well as with those who may come into contact with young fathers as part of their professional role. This work is driven by our participatory approach to research with practitioners and professionals who are actively involved in producing the evidence we are generating. We are also feeding our findings into the implementation process for the Grimsby Dads Collective, a new, evidence-based social intervention driven by and for young fathers, that promotes father-inclusive approaches to practice. Via this model, young fathers are recognised as 'experts by experience' with the capability to promote messages about effective practice among professionals. We are currently generating findings with professionals about the extent to which the messages they hear from the young fathers are influential to their practice, including the extent to which they are making changes in their organisations. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Other |
| URL | https://followingyoungfathersfurther.org/ |
| Description | The FYFF study is designed to generate useful and distinctive knowledge for policy and professional practice and is producing impact already through a variety of impact pathways; through the promotion of our emerging evidence at webinars and training for professionals, through the nurturing of effective community-academic-professional partnerships, via presentations to policy makers, written submissions to Parliamentary Inquiries and, perhaps most importantly, through the implementation of a new social intervention called the Grimsby Dads Collective. In our interviews with young fathers and with professionals we ask specific research questions designed to address contemporary policy and practice concerns and to promote new understandings of young fathers as involved and engaged in order to address the stigma they are still so often subjected to. These data and our analyses and promotion of them are therefore benefitting young fathers, by increasing understanding of their lives, their support needs, and the lives of their families and children. With professionals we are uniquely developing practice-informed research evidence via a unique approach 'knowledge-to-action' approach to knowledge exchange that involves affecting change both through the promotion of research-based practice and as an inherent part of the longitudinal research process. Longitudinal engagements with young fathers, including follow ups with young fathers who were interviewed for the baseline study 'Following Young Fathers', are also yielding dynamic knowledge (in some cases over a period of decade) about young men's transitions into and through fatherhood, the impacts of COVID-19 on their parenting journeys; their mental health; and their views on gender ideologies and fathering practices. The study also continues to generate data on their support needs and views on their relationships with professionals. The knowledge generated is already benefitting professionals across a range of multi-agency statutory and voluntary sectors and/or wherever support is provided for young men and young parents. Audiences attending our webinars, conferences and events evidences that the study outcomes are of interest to a broad constituency of beneficiaries, including researchers. parents and young people, and professionals who work with young men and fathers. This includes specialist support for young fathers, schools, health and social services, family support services, youth groups and parental advice groups. We have also been invited to present at the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fatherhood, sharing our evidence with policy makers who are engaged in promoting effective strategies and practice guidance, especially in relation to fatherhood and father-inclusive practice, where current knowledge is patchy and limited. We also submitted a report based on our findings to the House of Lords Youth Unemployment Committee: 'Skills for every young person'. The resultant report, cited evidence from the 'Following Young Fathers Further' research project and has raised the need for the greater visibility of young fathers/parents in unemployment data and policy making. The implmentation of the social intervention the Grimsby Dads Collective, has created impact in various ways. It has engaged three young men who are now trained in promoting father-inclusive practice to a diverse professional audience. The FYFF team is capturing the implementation process as the intervention unfolds and is already yielding data about the generalisability of the model, about the value of cocreation model for policy responses to community identified challenges, and about the effectiveness and appropriateness of service provision for young fathers more generally. The intervention is already of direct use to local practitioners and service providers and they are telling us how they are making changes to their professional practice as a result of engaging with the young fathers. Overall, the social intervention is serving as a unique and distinctive mechanism for bringing practitioners, service providers and young fathers into conversation with each other, in forums where young fathers as 'experts by experience' are empowered to engage in advocacy and education. Central to this work is recognition of the effectiveness of public services and policy in enhancing the quality of life for young fathers and their families, and for identifying the wider mechanisms that drive and enable a systems change that promotes equality and inclusivity. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Healthcare |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | Ask a Dad workshop |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | Three young fathers have been trained to deliver Ask a Dad workshops and have been upskilled through their recognition as 'experts by experience' who advocate on behalf of themselves and others as 'experts by experience'. Following training, they have delivered their stories to professionals from mainstream and specialist services who engage with families who in turn, have been encouraged to reflect on, and make positive changes to their practices, influenced by the voices and experiences of dads. Beyond these workshops, the project partners are also influencing decision making in the locality in terms of policy and the FYFF team are presented at relevant meetings to promote the model and its core messages. |
| URL | https://followingyoungfathersfurther.org/asset/grimsby-dads-collective/ |
| Description | Citation in Youth Unemployment Inquiry |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
| URL | https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/7988/documents/82440/default/ |
| Description | Coram Family and Childcare |
| Organisation | Family and Childcare Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Some of the project funding is supporting the roll out of the organisations model of practice called the Young Dads Collective. This will result in a new local initiative in Grimsby and new learning about what works (and what doesn't) for the organisation. My role is to act as broker between COram Family and Childcare and the local partners in Grimsby. We are also producing data as part of a real-time evaluation process to track and respond to the implementation process as it unfolds. |
| Collaborator Contribution | These London based partners are delivering the Young Dads Collective model in Grimsby. They are currently developing a training module to train young fathers in Grimsby who have expressed an interest in the model. Megan Jarvie and Richard Dejardins attend regular monthly meetings with the project team and are currently liaising with the partners in Grimsby (YMCA Humber; NSPCC, Together for Childhood). |
| Impact | N/A |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Prof. Thomas Johansson and Dr Jesper Andreasson |
| Organisation | University of Gothenburg |
| Country | Sweden |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We are working with Prof. Johansson and Dr Jesper Andreasson to develop comparative insights about the lives and support needs of young fathers in the UK and Sweden. We currently have two journal articles under review in Families, Relationships and Societies and Social Policy and Society that report on the analyses of the two datasets generated in each country context. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Prof. Johansson and Dr Jesper Andreasson are conducting qualitative interviews with young fathers in Sweden and are making contributions to the analysis of the data and written outputs. |
| Impact | Two papers are currently under going peer review: The impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and policies on young fathers: comparative insights from the UK and Sweden, Social Policy and Society Perceptions of gender equality and engaged fatherhood among young fathers: parenthood and family policy in Sweden and the UK, Families, Relationships and Societies |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | YMCA Humber |
| Organisation | YMCA Humber |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | This project has created a employment for a Young Dads Worker who is employed by the funding. Drawing on expertise developed through a previous study (Tarrant and Neale, 2017), the project team is supporting this work to identify young fathers who will participate in the model and benefit from their engagement. |
| Collaborator Contribution | These Grimsby based partners are supporting the deliver and implementation of the Young Dads Collective model in their locality. This organisation is supporting the recruitment of young fathers to the Young Dads Collective model and will work with young fathers to support them on an ongoing basis as the model implementation unfolds. Debbie Taylor attends regular monthly meetings with the project team and is currently liaising with the national partners and others in Grimsby (e.g., NSPCC, Together for Childhood). |
| Impact | Implementation of the Young Dads Collective in Grimsby is now underway |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Title | The Grimsby Dads Collective |
| Description | Underpinned by the participatory methods of coproduction and cocreation, a major objective of 'Following Young Fathers Further' is to address the marginalisation of young fathers in support contexts, working directly with them and the professionals who support them, to promote and implement a practice and policy environment that recognises the importance of involved fathers both for (young) fathers, mothers, children and society as a whole. The establishment of the Grimsby Dads Collective is cen |
| Type | Health and Social Care Services |
| Current Stage Of Development | Refinement. Non-clinical |
| Year Development Stage Completed | 2022 |
| Development Status | Under active development/distribution |
| Impact | To add |
| URL | https://followingyoungfathersfurther.org/asset/grimsby-dads-collective/ |
| Description | Ask a Dad workshop, Grimsby |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The young fathers who have been trained to participate in the Grimsby Dads Collective used their training to deliver a workshop to promote father-inclusive practice to local professionals. The young fathers gained confidence and new skills as 'experts by experience' and professionals gave feedback saying they would use the learning in their own practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Authentic engagement with fathers and systems change: research and practice in collaboration |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to present about the Grimsby Dads Collective model, the new social intervention funded by the research, to health and social care practitioners in Grimsby at their local Safeguarding Board meeting. The audience said that they valued the work and were inspired to adopt father-inclusive approaches in their work and to promote the key messages. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Diverse Dads Learning and Sharing webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The Diverse Dad project was additionally funded by the University of Lincoln QR Strategic fund and aligned with the aims of FYFF to respond to and address knowledge gaps about young fathers. In this case, Diverse Dads explored how to improve outreach and support for minoritised young fathers via research with young minoritised fathers and professionals who support these communities. The project was also built on a participatory approach, supporting young fathers to conduct peer research. The project concluded with a co-designed and delivered 'sharing and learning' webinar for researchers and professionals on Wednesday 28th April 2021. The main research findings were launched at this virtual event alongside three videos produced by Digidad, a new digital support offer, created by and for young fathers. The videos have been created to prompt reflection among professionals about good practice in outreach and support for young fathers in all their diversity. The peer research and webinar provided the young father research team with an opportunity to upskill and gain confidence in their abilities to promote and advocate for young fathers. The webinar was also attended by 35 professionals and academics. Professionals attracted to the webinar include those from the third sector, social services, maternity and health and parenting support charities. Feedback suggested that the webinar informed the knowledge and thinking of those who attended. A VCSE worker said the webinar taught them: "How to achieve early and preventative rather than reactive support". Another said it had encourage them to: "Consider what platforms we are using to reach out, Don't assume, ask! Consider question 'Are Dads hard to reach? Are the agencies challenging to reach? How easy is the service to access' Are we getting this right? Are we meeting Dads where they are? What got us to where we are? What will get us to where we want to be?". A health worker said it had prompted them to: "Consider the intersectionality, think about who is not in the room more." |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://followingyoungfathersfurther.org/asset/the-diverse-dads-webinar-april-2021/ |
| Description | Grimsby Social (in)justice training |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to present at this event about the Grimsby Dads Collective at this training event for the professional workforce in Grimsby. The event was hosted by NSPCC, Together for Childhood. Feedback was positive and the presentation was praised by the audience for delivering key practical messages about father-inclusive support in an accessible way. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Launch of a co-created father-inclusive toolkit for professionals |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Following Young Fathers Further team co-created and launched a brand new, digital and interactive father-inclusive practice toolkit with young fathers and the North East Young Dads and Lads. Designed for professionals that engage with young fathers and their families, this interactive toolkit promotes evidence-based practice using creative content that was developed with and for young fathers. The toolkit tackles some of the myths and stereotypes associated with young fathers head on, and creates a space for young fathers as 'experts by experience' where they have a voice. Via a series of visuals, podcasts, videos, zines and other poignant elements, they share what works best for them in their encounters with the professionals they may come into contact with across their parenting journeys. The launch sparked enthusiasm and positive feedback from the 161 professionals that attended the launch. QR codes have been created to encourage professionals to leave a pledge for practice and to track the broader impact of the toolkit and to map its use and reach. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.digidad.uk/think-dad/ |
| Description | Men and Boys Coalition webinar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to present about my book Fathering Poverty and about the FYFF work. I presented about the cocreation projects that we are advancing through the FYFF study. The audience asked soe useful questions and commented that they it was positive that the research evidence supports their own approaches to father-inclusive practice. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Presentation to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Fatherhood |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The Following Young Fathers Further team were invited to present to the APPG. We invited two young fathers from the North East Young Dads and Lads who gained experience of presenting to policymakers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://futuremen.org/appg-on-fatherhood/ |