2. Themes
⢠What do we know about fathers in families who come to the attention of
child protection services?
⢠What aspects of fathers' lives and situations are relevant to the issues that
trouble families and services?
⢠Thinking about race, class and gender when developing services that are
helpful and effective
3. The knowledge base
⢠The knowledge base generally is poor but it is possible to say
⢠There is a strong link between deprivation and being subject to child protection processes
⢠Families are complex with high numbers of non-resident birth fathers and social fathers
⢠Histories of deprivation and poverty - class, race, ethnicity âŚ.
⢠Mental health and physical health issues
⢠Histories of abuse
⢠Domestic abuse
4. The issues we know even less about
⢠What is going on for men and women in families?
⢠What do they want for and from each other?
⢠What do they think a âgood relationshipâ looks like?
⢠What do they think a âgood familyâ looks like?
⢠What are their views on what supports them in, or stops them, caring safely?
5. What do fathers want from services?
⢠Reliability
⢠Fairness
⢠Consistency
⢠Time
⢠To be heard
6. Thinking about race, class and gender
⢠Frank
⢠Trevor
⢠Abdul
⢠All three involved in care proceedings where the children had been permanently
removed from their mothers- non-resident fathers with contact
⢠Plan was either adoption or long-term fostering
⢠All three were black men who came to UK from either Africa or the Caribbean
⢠Immigration status issues
7. ⢠All were on low incomes and lived in shared housing
⢠Minimum wage job, seasonal work and one unable to work because of
immigration status
8. Trevor
⢠Afro-Caribbean man
⢠Did not hear about the proceedings until very late in the day
⢠Seen as having a history of drug abuse and domestic violence
⢠Reading and scrutinising the files and police records told a different story
9. Frank
⢠Was refused an assessment because of his lack of history
⢠Non-person
⢠He was in immigration limbo â come as a child so had no papers
⢠In the paradoxical position of being outside the legal protection of
citizenship, but nevertheless subject to the full force of state power
10. Abdul
⢠Assessment questioned whether his culture/religion would allow him to care
for the children
⢠However he was mainly criticised for not securing suitable housing
11. references
⢠Gupta, A and Featherstone, B (2015) What about my dad? Black fathers and
the child protection system, Critical and Radical Social Work,,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/204986015X14502659300361
⢠Maxwell, N et al (2012) âEngaging fathers in child welfare services: A
narrative review of recent research evidenceâ, Child and Family Social Work,
17,2, 160-169