Implications for social care services of marginalising fathers.

1. Marginalised fathers
The implications for services
January 15th, 2016

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 ….
• 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 ‘good relationship’ looks like?
• What do they think a ‘good family’ 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 – 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) ‘Engaging fathers in child welfare services: A
narrative review of recent research evidence’, Child and Family Social Work,
17,2, 160-169