Features:

Dads in Prison (Part Two). 
Chris Corlett talks to two fathers who are trying to be a parent from inside a high security wing in a New Zeland prison.

Outlaw smacking ? An editorial.
Harald Breiding-Buss takes a look at the burning issue.

The fatherless link. Policy and research may have underestimated the role fathers play in the sexual maturity of girls and teen pregnancy. Pat Albertson talks to Canterbury University researcher Bruce Ellis about a groundbreaking study.

Mental illness-a fathers personal story. Graeme Reid writes candidly about how his family survived the mental illness of a loved family member.

What's in a swear word. Hugh Joughin takes a light hearted look at the language that sometimes slips out of the mouths of children. 

Dads in drag. Mark Stephenson takes a look at Porirua's "Dads in drag" festival.

It's a Dads life. Cartoon feature.

In Brief:

UK Conference to Put Dads in the Picture

UK group Fathers Direct is organising a conference in London addressing the impact of modern-day fatherhood on the legal, social and health sectors.

Special forums will be held during the day addressing best practice in service provision covering separation, young fathers, early years, youth justice, mental health and others.

“It will be a landmark event in the UK’s debate on the role of fathers in family life and how initiatives working in health, education and social welfare programmes can ensure that fathers are included, not excluded from their services”, says principal organiser Tom Beardshaw.

Working Dads Want More Time For Kids

A web-based random survey by the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust (EEO) found that 80% of the 1200 respondents wanted to spend more time with their children.  Even more (82%) said their paid work negatively affects the amount of time they spend with their children. Respondents were about equally divided whether it also negatively  affects the quality of time spend with children.

 About 10% of the respondents were not yet fathers, and half of them said they would need to change jobs before they could be the fathers they wanted to be.

When asked how workplaces help, respondents most often named access to phone contact with the family, flexible start and finish times, and flexibility to have time off during the day.

The EEO Trust says that (working) men’s and women’s parenting practices follows different patterns: “They [working fathers] are more likely to be involved in particular events rather than continuous care.”

[Source: EEO News 30 (Dec 03)]

National Opposes Families Commission

    Judith Collins

The National party is opposing government plans to establish the ‘Families Commission’, due to become operational in July 2004.

“The Government is spending $28 million of taxpayers’ money on a Families Commission that will not make life any better for one single child or family” says the National’s Family Spokeswoman Judith Collins.

Collins disagrees with the Families Commission Act’s definition of ‘family’, which isn’t restricted to the nuclear family, and claims that especially fathers once again get the raw end of the stick.

“A child needs an active father and an active mother, not just a Christmas card. We don’t need to spend $28 million to find that out. Yet the Families Commission Act contains not one word supporting Mum, Dad and the kids.  “

Collins suggests to spend the money on early childhood education (such as childcare or the Parents As First Teachers Programme) and child safety initiatives instead.