Features:

Mealtime mayhem: Family fun at the dinner table !

Autumn retreat: The Otago F&C Trust "go bush".  

Go Team : Children, sport, and the competetive spirit.

Role Models : Boys and the Role Model Crisis

Dave & Goliath : Child Support and the I.R.D.

In Brief:

DHB Not Interested in Dads
The Plunket/ Father&Child Trust cooperation in Christchurch received a blow
Health Board decided not to roll over the additional funding when the Canterbury District it had made available to support the partners of women suffering from postnatal depression. This was despite a review Plunket had carried out in which both the fathers and referrers to the programme indicated the usefulness of more involvement in the programme.

The DHB took the view that partner support is already included in the original contract and therefore does not need to be topped up.

The Trust has said that it cannot cover its part of the contract from its overall budget, and Plunket and the Trust are looking for alternative funding sources at the moment to ensure the continuation of the programme.

The DHB also declined funding for any other of the Father&Child Trust’s work, saying fathers are “not a priority area”

Government to Replace Guardianship Act

The government has announced plans to replace the Guardianship Act with a
"Care of Children Act",abandoning the concept of "custody" in favour of

"parental responsibilities". The proposal incorporates several changes that

lobby groups for separated fathers have been campaigning for. This includes

scrapping the ban on publishing of any Family Court proceedings and a three-step

process to deal with the excessively common obstruction of access by the

"custodial" parent.

The changes are planned to accomodate a changed family structure, such as more

equal involvement in

childraising by both parents.

Teen Dads a Happy Lot

Preliminary results from the first 14 interviews in a Father&Child Trust survey of teenage fathers presented at the Public Health Association’s National Conference in Dunedin in late June indicate that the young men feel very happy about having a child and reasonably confident in their skills. All but one of the young dads gave the question “how do you feel about having a child” the highest possible rating: “very positive”. And 70% believe they can raise a child just as well or better than an older person.

 But they also say that it is harder to be a young dad (50% said “a lot harder”), that Society looks down on them (all but three found attitudes “negative” or “very negative”), and that they have received no support whatsoever from professionals and agencies. The most supportive people in their own lives were usually the mother of their child and their own families, often their fathers.

 Most of the young fathers, who were on average less than 18 years old when their baby was born, were almost craving for someone to confide in, and they would prefer someone older, who had been through something similar. Meeting other guys in the same situation also scored high on the hitlist of some.

 Half of those young fathers whose own parents separated, spent at least a part of their childhood living with their own father only, and the survey so far does not support the idea that teenage fathers generally come from homes with inadequate or absent fathers. One participant was a second generation single dad.

Question from Teen Dads Survey

Key People Leaving

Wellington-based NZ Father&Child Society coordinator Jim Yates will resign from his position in July, quoting private reasons and other commitments. Jim took up the position only in March last year after Society founder Harald Breiding-Buss resigned. The Society’s office will move to Nelson.

In Christchurch, Community Worker Aaron Williamson left his job with the Father&Child Trust at the end of April, after 3.5 years as a paid employee.

Otago F&C loses Secretary

The Father&Child Trust Otago lost their secretary, Te Ariki Nooroa, in May, who died from a rare lung disease.  diagnosed only a few months earlier.

Te Ariki was the only “family man” involved with the Trust as committee level. He leaves a wife as well as a son, Mathew (13) and a daughter Briana (11).