finding fathers
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Finding Fathers. Engaging Fathers in Child Welfare Practice. Research Focus. Population: non-resident dads whose children have been identified because of neglect Rationale: neglect is one of the most common and fastest growing forms of child abuse that leads to intervention - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Finding Fathers
Engaging Fathers in Child Welfare Practice
Population: non-resident dads whose children have been
identified because of neglect Rationale:
neglect is one of the most common and fastest growing forms of child abuse that leads to intervention (Trocmé, Fallon, & MacLaurin, 2011)
only 9% of child-welfare identified children live with a male primary-care giver (Trocmé, 2010, p. 40)
Research Questions Where are the dads? Why aren’t they involved? What can be done?
Research Focus
First you have to find them…
Where are the Dads?: Barriers to identifying fathers
What makes a Dad?
Brainstorming about what makes a dad “Good” dad traits “Bad” dad traits
People label things in order to understand
them
One of the “main obstacles to father involvement […] is dichotomous thinking, where men become labelled as either a ‘risk’ or ‘resource’ for their children as opposed to potentially a complex mix of both elements” (Maxwell, Scourfield, Featherstone, Holland, & Tolman, 2012, p. 167)
Barrier 1: Dichotomous Thinking
Canadian BSW programs do not specifically
address issues of fathers and fathering in lecture or in textbooks (Walmsley, Brown, Callahan, Dominelli, & Strega, 2011)
Workers with specific training around fathers were:
more likely to seek out fathers better at engaging them in activities more likely to share the case plan and most likely to consider dad as a placement
option (Malm, Murray, & Green, 2006, p. xi )
Barrier 2: Social Work Education
Who works with dads?
Has anyone had class training specific to engaging dads in their BSW?
Training
Many non-residential fathers report not having
the opportunity to participate because they were never contacted by Child Welfare during the early stages of the investigation (Burrus, Green, Worcel, Finigan, & Furrer, 2012)
Researchers have found that caseworkers often do not put much effort into identifying fathers (Maxwell, Scourfield, Featherstone, Holland, & Tolman, 2012; Storhaug & Oien, 2012; Ferguson & Hogan, 2004)
Question: Does that reflect your practice?
Barrier 3: Identifying Dad
Researchers have identified a number of negative discourses, or myths that are held
by caseworkers, that might influence whether or not they would seek out and engage dads
Scourfield’s Discourses: “Men as a threat”: men are viewed as violent, and a threat to women, children, and the
social workers involved “Men as no use”: men do not contribute to the care of their children, the household, or
income and so they can be ignored “Men as irrelevant”: mom is most present and involved, so you can just work with her
and not worry consider dad. May be because he does not wish to participate, or because mom does not share info to involve him
“Men as absent”: literally dad is not present when Child Welfare comes over – he may live with family or not, but is not seen by Child Welfare workers (Storhaug & Oien, 2012; Scourfield, 2003)
Walmsley, Brown, Callahan, Dominellu, and Strega (2011) looked as case notes and saw dads described as: irrelevant (50%), a risk (20%), father as asset (20%), and father as risk and asset
Walmsley also identified hidden fathers, identified as “ghost fathers”
Barrier 4: Negative Dad Discourses
Ghost Fathers
Inclusion of Fathers in Social Services: New Research and Best Practices: Dr. Christopher Walmsley
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yPcB1Q0HCY
13:16
Now that you have them, what next…
What prevents involvement?: Barriers to Engagement
Despite cultural changes in the last few decades,
there is still a strong view that when we talk about parenting, we are really talking about motherhood (Storhaug & Oien, 2012)
child welfare workers saw "service user men [...] as dangerous, useless, and ‘behind the times’ in relation to societal changes in gender roles and parenting"(Ferguson & Hogan, 2004, ch. 2, p. 4)
Father’s also identified that they did not immediately get involved because they were unsure of their own abilities to take on the nurturing role (Storhaug & Oien, 2012
Barrier 5: Parenting = Motherhood
Oscar:
The Child Welfare Services wanted to take the children away from home because of the wife's alcohol problems, despite the fact that Oscar, according to his account, had no problems. Oscar felt that the Child Welfare Service thought that it was irrelevant that he cared for and protected the children. (Storhaug & Oien, 2012, p. 299)
George: A case conference had even been arranged to try to organise
appropriate foster care. It was not until the possibilities of relative care were exhausted that even the community care social worker considered George as a possible carer of his own daughter. (Ferguson & Hogan, 2004, ch 4, p. 18)
Case Examples
Many fathers are not considered as possible
placements for their own children One study suggests only 45% of contacted
fathers were considered as possible placements, even though more than half expressed interest in taking custody (Malm, Murray, & Green, 2006)
Children with identified fathers are more likely to find a permanent kin placement and more likely to result in permanent placements with a parent (Burrus, Green, Worcel, Finigan, & Furrer, 2012)
Barrier 6: Not Suitable for Placement
Dads do not feel included or feel like they have to
constantly "prove themselves” to social workers (Ferguson & Hogan, 2004; Maxwell, Scourfield, Featherstone, Holland, &
Tolman, 2012)
Many “parenting” services are shaped to mothers, which reinforces the idea that dads are unwelcome
When activities and services are shaped to intentionally engage men, more fathers participate and stay engaged (Cabrera, 2010; Maxwell, Scourfield, Featherstone, Holland, & Tolman, 2012)
Barrier 7: Services for Dads
Conclusions
Cautions: I acknowledge sometimes dads are not safe, do not want to participate, and cannot be found, but the research indicates this is not as often as we claim.
Dads are valuable to the development of children, and their presence improves case outcomes. We need to do a better job at working with them.
Burrus, S. W. M., Green, B. L., Worcel, S., Finigan, M., and Furrer, C. (2012). Do dads matter? Child Welfare outcomes for father-identified families. Journal of Child
Custody, 9(3), 201-216.
Cabrera, N. (2010). Father involvement in public policies. In M.E. Lamb (Ed.), Role of the Father in Child Development (5th Ed.) Hoboken, NJ, USA: Wiley.
Ferguson, H. and Hogan, F. (2004) Strengthening families through fathers: Developing policy and practice in relation to vulnerable fathers and their families. Bristol, UK: The
Centre for Social and Family Research..
Malm, K., Murray, J., and Green, R. (2006). What about the dads? Child welfare agencies’ efforts to identify, locate and involve non-custodial fathers. Washington, D.C.:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Maxwell, N., Scourfield, J., Featherstone, B., Holland, S., and Tolman, R. (2012). Engaging fathers in child welfare services: A narrative review of recent research
evidence. Child & Family Social Work, 17(2), 160-169. Storhaug, A. S., and Oien, K. (2012). Fathers' encounters with the Child Welfare Service. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 296-303.
Trocmé, N. (2010). Canadian incidence study of reported child abuse and neglect, 2008: Major findings. Public Health Agency of Canada. Ottawa : Public Health. Agency of
Canada.
Trocmé, N., Fallon, B., and MacLaurin, B. (2011). Canadian incidence study of reported child abuse and neglect: Changing patterns of reported maltreatment, 1998 and
2003. In K. Kufeldt & B. McKenzie (Eds), Child welfare: Connecting research, policy, and practice (2nd Ed.) (pp. 23-36). Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Walmsley, C., Brown, L., Callahan, M., Dominelli, L., and Strega, S. (2011). Engaging with fathers in child welfare. In K. Kufeldt & B. McKenzie (Eds), Child welfare:
Connecting research, policy, and practice (2nd Ed.) (pp. 385-398). Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
References
Discussion & Questions
Assess your Father-friendliness
1. Does the entire staff have an understanding of the role men play in children’s lives?2. Do fathers believe there is value to using the program?3. Is there a male on staff that fathers are able to connect with? Is there a male volunteeror representative (another father) who is the point man for fathering activities?4. Is the physical environment welcoming to fathers?5. What biases may be influencing your efforts to engage men?6. Are there resources available that speak to fathers?7. Do promotion materials reflect fathers in the wording and images?
* adapted from: Best Start Resource Centre. (2012). Step By Step: Engaging Fathers in Programs for Families. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: author. Retrieved from http://www.beststart.org/resources/howto/pdf/BSRC_Engaging_Fathers.pdf