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

Abstract

Within Northern Europe, gendered roles and responsibilities within the family have been challenged through an emergence of different family forms, increasing cultural diversity, and progressive developments in welfare policies. To varying degrees, welfare policies in different countries support a dual-earner model and encourage men to be more active as fathers by reinforcing statutory rights and responsibilities. In child welfare practice, there has traditionally been a strong emphasis on the mother as primary carer for the child; the father has been less visible. This paper explores, in four national welfare contexts, how child welfare social workers include fathers in practice decisions. Data were collected using focus group interviews with social workers from England, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden. Similarities and differences emerge in relation to services and the focus of social work assessments. However, overall, the research suggests that despite gains in policy and legislation that promote gender equality, fathers remain largely absent in child welfare practice decisions about the parenting of their children. From the research, we raise questions for social work practice and the development of welfare policies.

Fathers who use domestic violence: Organisational capacity building and practice development

“…protection social workers, family service workers and specialist DV workers to 'pivot to the perpetrator' (Mandel, 2014) and re-orientate practice which has tended to ignore fathers and their impact on children (Nygren et al, 2019;Scourfield et al, 2015). However, statutory child protection practice has generally been orientated to the child's mother and her ability to protect her children from violence, rather than using the leverage of statutory involvement to assess and work with fathers who use violence (Anonymous, 2018a).…”

“…Service responses tend to focus on intervening with women as victims/survivors and as mothers (Witt & Diaz, 2019), rather than on the parenting capacity of fathers who use domestic violence (DV) (Anonymous, 2018;Nygren et al, 2019). The skills, knowledge and organisational support that This article is protected by copyright.…”

Social Work with Single and Non-Resident Fathers: How Inclusive Is Our Practice and Where Do We Go from Here?

“…This can not only lead to the oppression of mothers through the scrutiny of social workers [7] and blame being placed on their shoulders for family difficulties, neglect and abuse [8,9], but also fathers becoming 'secondary clients' [10] or invisible where: "This invisibility exists whether or not the fathers are deemed as risks or as assets to their families." ([11], p. 25) It can be argued that social work literature predominantly constructs fathers as a problem, through over emphasis upon their negative characteristics and behaviours [12,13], creating stereotypes of fathers as uncommitted and unwilling to change [4,7,9,12,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]100]. This poses challenges for the profession, as single and non-resident fathers can act as important figures for children and their well-being, and need to be assessed as resources as well as potential risks comprehensively and fairly.…”

“…Instead studies have tended to use the mother as the source of information [29] or considered parents together rather than distinguishing between them [100]. When fathers have been included as an individual entity, the numbers involved have usually been small [19].…”

Fathers and substance misuse: a literature review

“…Research into "fathers" and "fathering" has gained momentum in recent years, as researchers and policymakers interested in research about parents have shifted their attention away from a predominant focus on mothers (Dermott and Miller, 2015;Lee et al, 2013;Miller, 2010;Osborn, 2015;Palm and Fagan, 2008;Williams, 2008). However, it is widely suggested that, in practice, professionals still tend to equate "parent" with "mother" (Brandon et al, 2017), and they display ambivalence about the role and contribution of fathers (Gilligan et al, 2012;Nygren et al, 2019;Philip et al, 2019). Indeed, there is evidence that social care professionals may resent the extra time involved in working with fathers (Gilligan et al, 2012).…”