Features:

Absolutely mental: Government has no time for father's mental health.

Father's Day in Dunedin: A group of Dunedin guys hung out with their kids to celebrate. With Photos

Double The Trouble: This father talks about raising twins

Regular: Your Relationship: "I Hate You"

Peter Walker: Holiday Snaps

In Brief:

World Fatherhood Summit Planned: UK group Fathers Direct, with financial support from Holland-based Bernard-van-Leer Foundation, has invited "the world's leading fatherhood specialists" to an invitation-only summit at Oxford, UK, in March next year. The meeting is scheduled to go for 7 days and is limited to about 50 participants. Invitees come from the USA, East and West Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, China, Japan, India and Australasia. New Zealand's sole invitee is Father & Child Trust coordinator Harald Breiding-Buss. The invitation list also features researchers and book authors like Kyle Pruett, Jim Levine, Adrienne Burgess and Australia's Graeme Russell. The purpose of the Summit is to discuss issues and visions for worldwide work with fathers and children, bringing together research, policy and practice. Participants are asked to prepare a position paper about the current state of knowledge about, and practice with, father-child relationships. The position paper will be the basis of a presentation to major international develop-ment funders and policy makers. Harald welcomes input from interested NZ organisations and individuals in preparation for the Summit.More info: www.fathersdirect.com/files/international Email Harald: coordinator@fatherandchild.net.nz

Men's Health Statistics "Shocking": A UK men's health forum has urged their government to develop a specific national men's health policy in response to "shocking" men's health statistics. Men are four times more likely to develop heart disease, commit suicide or die from accidents than women, and also lead the statistics for strokes, cancers and respiratory disease. "Too many men, especially in the lower income groups, are dying too young and suffering from unnecessarily poor health", said Forum president Ian Banks.

Divorces With Children Falling:The number of divorces involving children under 18 is at its lowest since the mid 1980s despite little change in the overall divorce rate, according to Statistics NZ figures. There were just over 4,500 marriages with children dissolved in 2001, compared to nearly 5,000 in 1987. The proportion of divorces involving children compared to overall divorces dropped from 56% to 47%. The number of children affected by divorce is also at its lowest since 1987, at 875