Learnings
Over many years of working with dads, Dadly Does It has developed these key learnings.
Outcomes from positive fatherhood
Improvements in: • the well-being of children and young people • the quality of family relationships • the well-being of partners and ex-partners Dads improve their self-control, self-confidence and well-being. Demand on services and professionals is reduced.
Critical learning It is especially important to engage dads in the ante-natal period and early years – when the relationship with the child is formed, and the tone and mind set are laid for later on. It is critical to get to know each dad as an individual, and to create a relationship in which they feel both accepted and listened to.
“He was saying ‘I go to Salford Dadz and we do things with the children’ and he was saying how they sit down and do craft things and he was explaining some very positive interaction.”
-Social worker
Dadly Does It approach
Use strengths-based working with dads.
Relate to dads as dads, rather than as men. Relationship building takes time, effort and consistency.
Enable dads to work together, ‘shoulder to shoulder’.
If possible, work with dad and mum as a team, affording them equal importance while recognising their differences and similarities.
Enabling positive fatherhood in practice
Make engagement with fathers ‘core business’ as much as engagement with mothers.
Be clear with families that fathers are core to working with them.
Normalise proactive working with dads in daily practice through listening, empathy and respect for dads, mums and families:
- talk about fatherhood positively
- actively recognise what a dad does well
- be clear about your worries and what changes a dad could make
- include the dad within your work with a family
- consider when, where and how you meet with dads
Gather appropriate data on fathers in families, so that there is a baseline on which to develop and measure change.
“[My daughter] was a very quiet child, but now she is outspoken in the right way. Tactful.”
- Mother, Little Hulton