Breaking Down Barriers Developing An Approach to Include Fathers in Children’s Social Care

1. Breaking Down BarriersDeveloping An Approach to Include Fathers in Children’s Social Care Understanding defensive behaviours in working with fathers Gavin Swann 25th February 2015

2. A Moment of Reflection Please take two minutes to think about your own father.

3. Contents • The Personal and Professional Context – Reflective Considerations • Breaking down Barriers • Key Messages from the Literature • What Social Workers report • A Psychodynamic Contribution • Findings from a Doctoral Study in LBI • How to Include Fathers in Social Work Interventions and Services • Conclusions

4. Defining Fathers • For this lecture fathers are defined as: Any man who has an emotional relationship with a child ; i.e. a biological father, a step-father, mother’s partner or boyfriend.

5. Exercise Why should we include fathers ?

6. Exercise In pairs for 10 minutes discuss your personal assumptions, fears and even prejudices about working with fathers

7. The Personal and Professional Context – Reflective Considerations • Prejudice, stereotypes, assumptions, years on the front line. • The ‘Tavi’ Experience • Year 1: Baby and Mother Observation • Year 2: Direct work and the Monroe Effect • Year 3: The Research Project • Years 4: – 6 Doctoral Studies

8. Breaking down Barriers • Researching Children’s Social Care • A Whole System Approach • Systemic assessment • A case file audit • Literature Review • 18 months of Action Research / Co-operative Inquiry • ICS • A second case file audit

9. Aims of the Research To design and implement a co-operative inquiry to include fathers in Children’s Social Care Develop the skills of co-inquirers Create and adopt a fatherhood strategy with realistic goals and targets Identify objectives for engagement with fathers Refine the existing referral and assessment process Use data collection system/s Ensure that training is available for staff at every level of the organisation/s in father-inclusive practice. Establish better pathways and referral processes Ensure appropriate focused and gender specific information

10. Basic Measures To increase the numbers of men (fathers, step-fathers, and partners) including telephone numbers, addresses and dates of birth recorded on all referrals. To increase the numbers of men (fathers, step-fathers, and partners) included on Initial assessments. To increase the numbers of fathers comprehensively assessed as part of a core assessment. To increase the numbers of fathers invited to and attending Initial and Review Child Protection Conferences. To increase the numbers of fathers invited to and attending Family Group Conferences. To increase the numbers of fathers invited to LAC reviews. To increase the numbers of fathers involved when initiating court proceedings. To increase the numbers of fathers involved when initiating court proceedings.

11. International Literature Review & Critique • Historic perspectives of the social construction of contemporary masculinity and contemporary fatherhood • A shifting social policy towards men • Ethnicity, class and the construction of masculinity • Men, masculinity and child development • Social work in a modern age

12. Literature Review continued • Gender Bias, the Denigration of Fatherhood or Simply Pragmatic Practice? • The constructions and pathologies of masculinity in social work • An Overview of the Evidence Base; Social Work Practice and the Invisibility of Fathers • The Education and Training Social Workers and Research about Men and Masculinity • Violence - The construction of men as violence in social work - Domestic violence

13. Literature Review Continued A Psychodynamic Contribution: Understanding how Violence Influences the Social Work System Defended Organisations Defended Professionals The Role of Supervision in the Inclusion of Fathers in Social Work Interventions How to Include Fathers in Social Work Interventions and Services

14. Multiple Masculinities Hegemonic Masculinity Subordinated Masculinity Marginalised Masculinity which lead to protest and oppositional masculinity

15. Fathers & Child Development It is now recognised that, in most cases, child centred and sensitive care giving by both parents through complimentary parenting, (where parents agree role differentiation), contributes to a wide variety of positive child outcomes. (Allen: 2011, Field: 2010, Hauari & Hollingworth: 2009, Lamb and Tamis-Lemonda: 2004).

16. What Social Workers report • Male Responsibility • The Personal • Fear • The Need for Positive Male Role Modelling • Organisational responsibility • Male Responsibility

17. Male Responsibility A demand for men to take responsibility for the care and protection of their children. Although, this is not a new discourse, it is one that is rarely spoken of in social work

18. ‘The Personal’ How family origin and life experience influence, through assumption and prejudice, how men are thought about in social worker practice. ‘It is the prejudice that stops us seeing the dad not the timescales’

19. Fear An endemic feeling within social work is the very real presence of fear, fear of a violent sexual attack or fear of allegation. ‘I would always think that at the end of the day a woman could hit you but a man could rape you or sexually abuse you in some way’

20. Sexuality The ever present discourse of human sexuality was present and yet is ignored within the profession

21. Role Modelling The important function of modelling behaviours to demonstrate survival, escape from structural discrimination and male responsibility, ‘a good mother’ and professionalism. ‘I’ve got two men in my team and I don’t think that about them’

22. Organisational responsibility • The need for Children’s Social Care to support and challenge the practice of social workers’ in advancing the inclusion of men • ‘Its not discussed in supervision, our managers don’t challenge us’.

23. Critiquing the literature • Impact of Child abuse and / or domestic violence experienced by social workers in their childhood or adult lives on their social work practice • The profession attracts a disproportionately high number of people who have suffered abuse and the impact this may have on their ability to manage violent and abusive clients

24. A Psychodynamic Contribution: • Understanding how Violence Influences the Social Work System • Defended Organisations and professionals • The Role of Supervision in the Inclusion of Fathers in Social Work Interventions

25. How to Include Fathers in Social Work Interventions and Services

26. Findings from a Doctoral Study in LBI 1. Why have fathers been continually excluded from the social work task? 2. How do we currently exclude fathers from social work practice? 3. How do we create the conditions for fathers to be included in social work practice? 4. What strategies, methods and techniques promote inclusive practice for fathers?

27. Social Work Practice • Identify the father as early as possible (See hand-out) • The Basics: respect, be on time • Understand masculinity • Be a detective • Ask and keep asking • Involve the professional network in identifying and engaging the father • The importance of FGCs • There is a need for a more knowledgeable social work force particularly skilled in domestic violence and with grounding in masculinity and work with couples • For more information on techniques see http://www.fatherhoodinstitute.org/

28. Exercise In small groups: What can you do in your own practice differently to include more fathers? What can your team do to include more fathers? What can your managers / the organisation do to include more fathers?

29. Services • Services for men are few in number, feminised, fragmented, poorly understood and not easily accessed • Men are collectively socialised to avoid therapy and similar services • Services to men need to be designed around the needs of men, particularly non-residential fathers, to improve child safety and family dynamics.

30. Conclusions • Include fathers in your practice; in assessments and interventions • Discuss fathers in supervision • Discuss in multi-agency meetings the identification of fathers • Encourage conversations in your teams and organisations about father involvement

31. Q&A Gavin Swann gavin.swann@croydon.gov.uk 02075277163