Cocreating with Young Fathers: Producing Community-Informed Training Videos to Foster more Inclusive Support Environments

Abstract

Our contribution draws upon a collaborative project called ‘Diverse Dads’, which ran between October 2020 and April 2021, during the 2020–2021 COVID-19 pandemic. The team comprised members of the North East Young Dads and Lads (NEYDL) Project, advisors from support organisations that champion inclusivity, and the Following Young Fathers Further (FYFF) research team. ‘Diverse Dads’ sought to identify and address gaps in service provision for young minoritised dads in the North East, and to promote cross-sector conversations concerning inclusive support for young dads from diverse communities. With support provided remotely by the FYFF team, peer research was undertaken by three young men from NEYDL. Our work highlights how methods of coproduction and cocreation were achieved during the pandemic. NEYDL is also embarking on an ambitious new digital service journey with partners DigiDAD, producing digital outputs that are made by and for young fathers. Working collaboratively, the peer research team and DigiDAD produced a set of videos designed to support training for professionals in mainstream, family, and statutory services. Showcasing one of these creative outputs, our contribution will discuss the continued value of coproduction and cocreation with young people and using creative, digital methods to support productive discussions between young fathers, professionals, and researchers.

Rethinking Visual Arts–Based Methods of Knowledge Generation and Exchange in and beyond the Pandemic

“…Located in the inaugural issue of ‘Beyond the Text’, each contribution provides a digital output, including animation (Lomax and Smith, 2022), comic strip (Spray et al, 2022), creative arts (Rizzo et al, 2022), film (Aissatou et al, 2022; Anas et al, 2022; Way et al, 2022), and zine (Ptolomey and Nelson, 2022; Pybus et al, 2022). Produced in collaboration with children, young people, families, and artists, these forms of representation challenge conventional understandings about what counts as knowledge, contributing new perspectives on knowledge democracy (Rowell and Long, 2017).…”

“…Laura Way, Anna Tarrant, Linzi Ladlow, Jonah York, Adam Gorzelanczyk, Dylan Brown, and Will Patterson (Way et al, 2022) contribute the penultimate piece, 'Co-creating with young fathers: producing community informed training videos to foster more inclusive support environments'. Exploring the experience of young fatherhood, the series of videos 'Diverse dads' facilitates new evidence with minoritised young fathers and promotes inclusive practice and enabling representations of diverse young fathers to transform how young fathers are seen by society.…”