Gender‐sensitive intervention to improve work with fathers in child welfare services

Abstract

A B S T R AC TAlthough the importance of including fathers in child welfare services has been increasingly recognized, social workers' engagement with fathers is still limited and sometimes fraught with negative bias. This paper attempts to lay some needed foundation to meet the challenge of working with fathers. It presents in succinct form the existing knowledge on how fathers experience and manifest their distress and on how they view the social services and social workers. It discusses, in some detail, three main issues -power relations, mutual fear and communication differences -in the interactions between female social workers and the fathers in the social welfare services. And it emphasizes the need for social workers to be aware of how their experiences with their own fathers may affect their interventions with men. It ends with observations and recommendations for developing the gender awareness that is necessary for effective practice with fathers.bs_bs_banner

Fostering a culture of family‐centred care: Child welfare professionals' beliefs about fathers, family instability, and the value of relationship education

“…In contrast, the highly concerned profile group reported more favourable views of fathers as reflected in their higher scores regarding the positive benefits of father involvement on children and their concerns about divorce and unwed childbearing. As expected, certain personal experiences were associated with their attitudes about fathers (Baum, ). Those who were highly concerned tended to be older, male, African American, married, and in the child welfare field longer.…”

“…Empirical research on fathers in the child welfare system typically focuses on a lack of father engagement both on the part of child welfare professionals (CWPs) and the father (Saleh, ). Generally, fathers are rarely involved in child welfare services, and this is often attributed to a multitude of reasons, including difficulties CWPs experience engaging fathers, concerns regarding safety, maternal gatekeeping, or fathers' lack of desire to participate in services offered (e.g., Baum, ; English et al, ; Maxwell et al, ). Consistent with calls to promote awareness and understanding of the different ways that CWPs engage fathers in their work (Baum, ) and the need for more empirical research to understand how CWPs' attitudes about fathers may influence practices (Arroyo & Peek, ), the current study explored variations in CWPs' beliefs about father involvement and family fragmentation (i.e., divorce and unwed childbearing) and whether these patterns were associated with specific demographic and employment characteristics as well as their perceptions about the value of strengthening couple and coparenting relationships.…”

“…Generally, fathers are rarely involved in child welfare services, and this is often attributed to a multitude of reasons, including difficulties CWPs experience engaging fathers, concerns regarding safety, maternal gatekeeping, or fathers' lack of desire to participate in services offered (e.g., Baum, ; English et al, ; Maxwell et al, ). Consistent with calls to promote awareness and understanding of the different ways that CWPs engage fathers in their work (Baum, ) and the need for more empirical research to understand how CWPs' attitudes about fathers may influence practices (Arroyo & Peek, ), the current study explored variations in CWPs' beliefs about father involvement and family fragmentation (i.e., divorce and unwed childbearing) and whether these patterns were associated with specific demographic and employment characteristics as well as their perceptions about the value of strengthening couple and coparenting relationships. Guided by the Cultural Competence Attainment (CCA) Model (McPhatter, ), we incorporated the position that personal worldviews are related to beliefs and willingness to increase knowledge and skills to meet the needs of fathers by strengthening couple/coparenting relationships through relationship and marriage education (RME).…”

“…While inclusion of family‐centred care is a goal of child welfare, many policies and procedures continue to be gender‐biased such that they focus on mothers and are less sensitive to the needs of fathers and supporting the couple and/or coparenting relationship (Baum, ). This may be because the families served disproportionately include father‐absent homes (Maxwell, Scourfield, Featherstone, Holland, & Tolman, ), often due to family instability (i.e., unsteady or dissolving parental relationships; Sandstrom & Huerta, ).…”

What about the fathers? The presence and absence of the father in social work practice in England, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden—A comparative study

“…As in previous research, he is overlooked as a carer for the family's children (Bangura Arvidsson, 2003;Baum, 2017;Ewart-Boyle, Manktelow, & McClogan, 2015;Ferguson & Hogan, 2004;Scourfield et al, 2012;Skramstad & Skivenes, 2017;Storhaug, 2013), and, here, this continues to be the case even when the mother's substance misuse accelerates. As in previous research, he is overlooked as a carer for the family's children (Bangura Arvidsson, 2003;Baum, 2017;Ewart-Boyle, Manktelow, & McClogan, 2015;Ferguson & Hogan, 2004;Scourfield et al, 2012;Skramstad & Skivenes, 2017;Storhaug, 2013), and, here, this continues to be the case even when the mother's substance misuse accelerates.…”