Features:

Fathering in the sounds. 
Richard King writes about life as a solo Dad in the Marlborough Sounds.

Family Tree.
Pat Albertson looks at family geneology.

Sleeping like a baby. How many do ? Mark Stephenson offers some practical solutions for problem little sleepers.

Diary of a homebirth.
Hugh Joughin remembers a special day in his life.

Book review.
Brendon Smith reviews "Boy Talk". How you can help your son express his emotions. 

Warrior legend.
Keegan Smith (as a 4 year old) used his imagination and wrote this story.

Cover photo. Meet cover boy Kori Bragg.

In Brief:

Fathers Not Included in Midwifery Practice Draft

Fathers do not feature in consultation documents issued by the Midwifery Council of New Zealand, which seeks to establish qualifications and competency  standards for practicing midwives.

The document extends on the special relationship between a midwife and a woman as well as medical compentencies and a midwife’s role in facilitating the transition to parenthood. It consistently refers to “the woman” or “the woman and her family”.

The Father & Child Trust has made a submission on the document pointing out that, as it stands, these standards would disadvantage babies that are in the care of a solo father or other male relative:

“This [early solo fatherhood] is not a common situation, but it does occur; however because these men are not part of the woman's family a midwife would not be required to give them or their babies any service. In fact in delivering a service to a father and his baby a midwife would fail several of the performance criteria as they stand. A father may not be part of the woman's family, but he is part of the child's family!”

The submission acknowledges the health needs of mother and baby as the most important focus of midwifery practice, but challenges the view that information around early parenthood, pregnancy, feeding options, attachment and others also need to be centred at the woman.

“Targeting pre- and postnatal support only or predominantly at women gives a message to families that men should not significantly be involved in this area and are secondary to the process. It implies that men do not need information about infant wellbeing, family planning, or the health of either parent. […] The current Scope [of Practice] statement presumes certain care and family arrangements, and thus promotes those arrangements.”

Male PND on Video

Thanks to students of Christchurch’s School of Broadcasting the Father & Child Trust in Christchurch now has a valuable resource to raise awareness about male postnatal depression.

After approaching the Trust for assistance with an assignment to put together an 8-minute documentary, polytech students Alexi O’Brien and Stacey Murdoch created a video on the condition.

The video features sufferers speaking candidly about male postnatal depression, and experts in the field comment on causes and diagnosis.

It was shown to first-year midwifery students at Christchurch Polytech earlier this month, some of which found it ’hard-hitting’ and ‘brilliant’. It triggered a multitude of questions about the midwife’s role in men’s postnatal mental health.

The Father & Child Trust would like to make the video more widely available for teaching purposes, but needs to clarify copyright and privacy issues first.

Family Court Considering “Bonds”

The Family Court is considering introducing cash bonds for parents who don’t comply with access orders.

Unlike any other Court Order, an Access Order is not enforceable, and is often ignored by a custodial parent, who does not want the child to have any contact with the other parent. The Court is now considering to make custodial parents pay a bond, which may go towards the non-custodial parent’s legal costs if the Order is not complied with.

Present legislation allows judges to impose a fine of up to $2,000 for non-compliance with Access Orders, however this is almost never used.  In the past the Court took the view that fining a custodial parent  will take money away from the child.