Radio NZ National’s 9 to noon programme helped Father & Child Trust raise awareness for postnatal depression in men.
Father and Child Auckland Coordinator Brendon Smith and Wellington-based Board member and GP Mark Stephenson featured in a 20-minute segment on the topic, in which both the personal and the clinical aspects of the illness were discussed. Show host Kathryn Ryan also challenged a Ministry of Health representative for better recognition of the condition, which affects about one father for every two mothers.
Listen here:
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Full segment on Radio New Zealand’s web site here.
The Families Commission has contracted Christchurch researchers Research First led by Carl Davidson to undertake a literature review of fathers research and a representative survey on Kiwi dads. This will be the first study on any aspect of fatherhood since 1999 involving more than a handful of respondents.
The Commission wants to base the new survey on some of the results of the ‘Fathering in the New Millenium’ study conducted by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in 1999. 92% of the 2,000 respondents interviewed for that study believed there should be a social expectation of equal joint parenting, and 65% believed even day-to-day care should be split evenly between mothers and fathers.
Father and Child Trust were very proud to be at the Parent and Child Show last weekend in Auckland. Our small stand was the first time a dedicated fathers group was present, and our position between the main stage and the cafeteria gave us great foot traffic.
We shared songs to sing at bedtime, magazines and stories. We had many thanks, and comments like ‘It was great to find someone supporting Dads in this oestrogen dominated role.’
So we hope for many more magazine subscribers, website visitors and new faces.
We meet every Monday at 11am for ‘Jingle and Jive’ with toddler age kids,
or this Monday evening, our group meeting 7-9pm, all welcome.
Meetings: Onehunga Community Center
83 Church St, beside Onehunga Library.
Contact: Brendon Smith 021 892 980
For the first time, Father and Child Trust will be at the 2008 Parent and Child Show. This year is their 15th Anniversary, but the first with a trust for fathers. Featuring free seminars and shows, leading parenting authorities, Dianne Levy, Dr Robert Titzer and Spongebob Squarepants!
Visit our stand - 229A for free balloons, poems and booklets! Subscribe to our magazine and get a new copy of the Father and Child New Babies Edition right away! We hope you can make it - Plan Your Day!
Visit www.parentandchildshow.co.nz - adults $15, under 12s free!
From 10am - 5pm, Fri 31 Oct - Sun 2 Nov, ASB Showgrounds, Greenlane.
Father & Child Trust has cleared the first hurdle of obtaining funds for a research project involving solo fathers with full custody of children under 8 years of age. The new Lottery Community Research Fund has invited the Trust to submit a full research proposal after accepting the idea.
The Trust hopes to get a better idea of the support needs of this group of families, including whether any patterns emerge about the needs of their children. Solo fathers appear underrepresented in mainstream family health and social services, and the study aims to find some of the barriers preventing solo father families from being better supported.
We’d like to hear from any solo dads with young children, living in Christchurch, Wellington or Auckland. Please email if you think you can help.
The Plunket Society is trialing a new parenting course for fathers called ‘Dads4Dads’, with an eye to rolling it out nationwide through Plunket. Project leader Claire Rumble says that in principle she prefers courses where both parents can participate jointly, but some of their solo fathers have indicated that having a specific course for dads would be more useful.
Initial facilitators for the course trial include stay-home dad Scott Lancaster, who manages the DIYFather web site www.diyfather.com.
Most respondents to the Families Commission’s internet-based ‘Couch Poll’ on fathers said ‘better attitudes towards fathers from society’ was the single most important thing that could be done to support fathers. Of the 142 predominantly male respondents, 46% agreed with this, followed by flexible working hours, paid paternity leave and father-specific parenting courses with 30-35% each.
Partners (71%) and friends (65%) easily topped the list of people fathers turn to for support and information, while health professionals and social service organisations scored under 10%.
Click here for the report .
On 27th August, Radio New Zealand wanted to know whether including the New Babies Edition of the magazine in the Bounty Pack is more evidence of the ‘feminisation’ of NZ Society. (more…)
News of Father & Child magazine’s free ‘New Babies Edition’ has been picked up by the mainstream media.
Father & Child Trust coordinator Harald Breiding-Buss featured on TVNZ’s Breakfast show: (more…)
Newly formed Canterbury Mens Centre has organised a series of events to celebrate Men’s Health Week (9 - 15 June) and raise awareness for Men’s Health in general, (more…)
