Plunket Developing Dads Course

Plunket has joined the ranks of mainstream organisations setting up a parenting course specifically for dads.

The course, called ‘Dads4Dads’ is trialed in Wellington at the moment, and Plunket is hoping to roll it out nationwide. Initial facilitators include Scott Lancaster, who runs the diyfather.com web site..

So far no organisation has successfully managed to roll out a parenting course for fathers nationwide, generally because of lack of interest from the fathers.

Research on Fathers Planned

The dearth of local research on fathers may be alleviated in the next year or so, as both the Families Commission and the Father & Child Trust are planning research projects.

The Families Commission wants to build on a 1999 survey by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner, which tried to identify barriers to involved fatherhood.

“We’re looking at the obstacles to fathering and what information and services fathers want and need. We want fathers to be as fully and confidently engaged with their families as possible,” said newly appointed Commissioner, Kim Workman.

In particular the Commission feels that there is a need for quantitative, representative research on these issues.

The Father & Child Trust has applied for funding with the new Lotteries Community Sector Research Fund for a study on custodial fathers with young children under eight, in cooperation with Canterbury University Men’s Health lecturer Jeffrey Gage.

The study aims to identify the support needs of both the fathers and the children of these families.

Although a whopping 24,000 fathers in New Zealand live as sole parents with dependent children, according to 2006 Census data, both local and overseas research is extremely scarce.

Dads Unhappy with Societal Attitudes says ‘Couch Poll’

The Families Commission’s ‘Couch Poll ‘, a regular internet-based survey, found that respondents to special ‘Families Day’ questions about fathers felt better attitudes are needed.

However, only a small number of people responded to the poll (142), and 22% of them were female.

When asked to tick the three most important things that could be done to support fathers, ‘better attitudes from society’ came out on top (46%) followed by ‘special parenting programmes for fathers’ (33%), ’better paternal leave provisions’ (32%) and ‘more flexible working hours’ (32%).

‘Partners’ and ‘friends’ were the most important support people (71% and 65%). A majority also stated that they would attend a parenting course if one was available, or had already done so, either at work (56%) or outside of it (53%).

Antenatal classes received a hammering, with more than half of respondents saying that they felt excluded from them. Three quarters felt that there was nothing about parenting in them and that it was entirely focused on birth and practicalities.

The respondents also showed a preference for written or internet-based parenting information, with 80% saying they would use, or are already using, father-specific written information, and 72% internet-based information.

Active church members appeared strongly represented in the survey, with 28% naming a pastor/vicar or similar as an important support person.

Mums Prefer Step-Dads—Study

Australian ‘at-risk’ mums rate their partners slightly higher as ‘good fathers’ if they are not the biological fathers of the children, according to a study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family in August.

According to lead researcher Lawrence Berger, stepfathers were more likely than biological fathers to share a mother’s parenting views, and show a higher level of cooperation.

However, mothers’ more positive views about step-fathers may have been influenced by the fact that they were compared to a biological father they had broken up with, while mothers living with the biological fathers of their children has no such comparison.

Good news about step-parents is rare: Statistics from both New Zealand and overseas show substantially increased child abuse rates in homes with a live-in step-parent.

However other research has found that a positive relationship with a step-parent can contribute to better attitudes about sex in adolescents.