The Trouble With Fathers: The Impact of Time and Gendered-Thinking on Working Relationships Between Fathers and Social Workers in Child Protection Practice in England

Abstract

The lives of families entering the child protection arena may be shaped by a range of troubles, including material deprivation, physical and mental health problems, substance misuse or domestic abuse. Despite the interest in whole family approaches, the issue of how professionals fail to work effectively with fathers is longstanding and resistant to change. This paper illustrates challenges in building working relationships with men, including the challenge of avoiding binary thinking in the assessment of fathers as 'risk' or 'resource'.Drawing on our qualitative longitudinal study of men's experiences of child protection in England, we highlight how both organisational (clashing time perspectives) and cultural (gendered-thinking) factors can trouble the potential relationship between social workers and fathers. We argue for a more gender sensitive approach to social work practice, which can respond more fully and effectively to the experiences of fathers and mothers. 2The Trouble with Fathers: the impact of time and gendered-thinking on working relationships between fathers and social workers, in child protection practice in England.

Video Interaction Guidance: A Return to Traditional Values and Relationship-Based Practice?

“…With such a limited sample of men it is not possible to comment in any depth about father engagement suffice to say that all three had completed the intervention and were positive about their involvement. It is worth noting however, that VIG was able to actively engage fathers; something that is widely accepted as challenging (Philip et al, 2018). Such challenges have included a tendency toward rigid, polarized thinking where workers see fathers as either a risk or resource to their children (Scourfield, 2003), tensions around the timing of involving fathers and need for gender sensitivity (Philip et al, 2018), and father avoidance of contact with child welfare services (Maxwell et al, 2012).…”

‘Any d*** can make a baby, but it takes a real man to be a dad’: Group work for fathers

“…Featherstone's (2009) research on father's involvement in social care, found that services constructed fathers as: 'either absent or disinterested' (161). This binary understanding from professional, can have profound consequences for men, women and children (Phillip at al., 2019). Similarly, Hammaŕen et al, (2014) reported that social work interventions for men in Sweden were inclined to draw on 'traditional 'images of gender that were influenced by a compensatory approach in which men were treated as a problem and a risk in society.…”

“…There is consensus that fathers have the potential to play a vital role in family life. However, there are concerns about the absence of fathers in families, with children growing up without fathers (ONS, 2005; Phillip et al., 2019; Pickard, 1998; Scottish Government, 2017b). There were 141,000 lone parents with dependent children living in Scotland in 2015, and the majority were female (91%) (Taulbut et al., 2016).…”

“…Christie (2001) argues that men are ‘ultra-visible’ in child and family social work due to the gendered nature of the care giving task, with men being perceived as both the solution and the problem. Phillip et al.’s (2019) research on father’s experiences of child protection found that the cultural prioritising of the mother–child relationships filtered into social work practice and professional’s positioned men in a binary way as either a risk or a resource. Featherstone’s (2009) research on father’s involvement in social care found that services constructed fathers as: ‘ either absent or disinterested ’ (161).…”

“…Featherstone’s (2009) research on father’s involvement in social care found that services constructed fathers as: ‘ either absent or disinterested ’ (161). This binary understanding from professional can have profound consequences for men, women and children (Phillip et al., 2019). Similarly, Hammaŕen et al.…”