Father and Child » Families Commission

Father Support Taking Off in Invercargill

Harald — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:36:27 +0000

A Fatherhood Forum held on 1 May in Invercargill drew more than 60 attendees from non-profit and governmental agencies. The event was organised by the Families Commission and hosted by Our Way Southland, a collaboration of the four Southland-based Councils.
Southland is making father support a priority in their upcoming parenting strategy. Attendees reported that they found the presentations ‘inspiring’ and ‘incredible’. Presenters were Families Commission-sponsored speakers Harald Breiding-Buss (Father & Child, Christchurch) and David Mitchell/Philip Chapman (CM Research, Nelson) as well as Environment Southland’s Aaron Fox. It is planned to make the presentations available through the Our Way Southland website.

Govt open to suggestions

Harald — Thu, 12 May 2011 03:00:48 +0000

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English told an audience of 50 ‘Key Thinkers’ at a forum in Wellington yesterday that he wants people involved in social community initiatives to ‘run down our doors’ with new ideas. He and Social Welfare minister Paula Bennett said that the government is committed to social services that strengthen communities and empower community champions. Bennett promised the audience a lively debate through the remainder of the year on social policy approaches.
The forum was organised by the Families Commission, and tried to gather the thinking of the 50 invited people in six working groups. Disappointingly, there was almost no talk about better involvement of males as a key factor in positive outcomes for children, perhaps because only one fathers ‘champion’ was invited (Father&Child’s Harald Breiding-Buss).
Bennett appeared vaguely disappointed with what she overheard from discussions at the workgroup tables, saying that perhaps the thinking could have gone further.
More details about the forum can be found here: http://www.nzfamilies.org.nz/50-key-thinkers/main

Families Commission May Become Family Services Watchdog

Harald — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 23:12:44 +0000

The government has positioned the Families Commission as a ‘centre of excellence for knowledge about families and whanau’. Providing ‘advice on effective, accessible, and appropriately targeted services’ is one of the Commissions key future roles.
The Commission is inviting 50 ‘key thinkers’ from outside government to a forum in May to develop a ‘knowledge base’ about family service delivery.
The Families Commission is best known for its controversial campaigns on male-initiated family violence (the ‘White Ribbon’ and ‘It’s Not OK’ campaigns), which have been rejected by some of New Zealand’s top family researchers. The Commission’s key role in the past has been to fund family-related research, and in 2009 it commissioned a large study on male views on fatherhood.
It campaigned for the introduction of paid parental leave for fathers in late 2009 to a frosty response from the government.

“Include Dads” says Families Commissioner

Harald — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 22:59:00 +0000

Recent research shows that dads need to be more included in family services says Families Commissioner Gregory Fortuin.
“Some old ideas seem to still prevail – that the mum is the main caregiver” he says. Five percent of dads identified themselves as the main caregivers in the recent representative ‘Supporting Dads’ study by the Commission.
“The evidence suggests that service providers have to do more than just say they are father friendly, they need to ensure that their practices, services and resources visibly acknowledge men’s needs and the valuable role they play in family and child wellbeing”, he said.
“Ideally we would like to see some specific funding being given to support services for fathers, particularly those run by dads for dads.”

Media Take to Paid Paternity Leave

Harald — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:51:12 +0000

Father & Child was involved in some of the most prominent media coverage about the Families Commission’s proposal for four weeks paid paternity leave.

Auckland Father & Child coordinator Brendon Smith appeared on TV3′s ‘Sunrise’ programme this morning advocating for giving dads time to bond.
[See post to watch Flash video]

Or see the clip on the TV3 site .

The Christchurch Press covered the issue one its front page, using the case of a solo dad who has been denied parental leave.

Article online: Dads ‘need paid parental leave’.

Harald Breiding-Buss, of the Christchurch Father & Child Trust, yesterday praised the report.

“We’ve been trying to tell service organisations that things have changed and parents see this [raising children] as a partnership.

“Fathers and mothers raise children together, and this report shows this is the reality.”

He said men were unlikely to take parental leave away from mothers and needed their own guaranteed paid leave.

Fathers Unhappy With Media

Harald — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:30:06 +0000

Families Commission research released today Heart and Head, showed that 60% of fathers think the media portrayed them in a poor light, and half thought that society overall does not recognise their importance.

The Commission undertook a representative telephone survey of more than 1,700 respondents earlier this year. On average they say they spend 37 hours per week with their children and think they are doing at least a satisfactory job of it.

The survey gives a picture of parenting in New Zealand that is very much shared between fathers and mothers in every respect now. However, 68% of dads said they would like to spend more time with their children, and work commitments were most often cited as the primary obstacle.

Families Commission Calls For Paid Paternity Leave

Harald — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 20:30:00 +0000

The Families Commission is calling for four weeks paid leave for fathers with today’s release of their father research report. The report showed that fathers are asking for more time with their children.

At the moment employers are required to give new fathers two weeks unpaid leave, and any paid leave can only be taken by fathers if transferred to him by the mother.

‘The Press’ reported about a Father & Child case, where a father who took sole day-to-day care of his son only weeks after his birth had been denied parental leave, because there is no legal entitlement to fathers.

Father & Child Trust supports the Families Commission’s call, but believed the entitlement needs to be worded specifically to birth fathers as they are the only other legal guardians of a child at the time of birth.

Father & Child’s own press release here.

“Urgent Need For Male-Friendly Services”:Study

Harald — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:53:11 +0000

A new study by Nelson researchers David Mitchell and Philip Chapman on experiences of separated non-resident fathers found that research participants were either unaware of existing services or considered them unfriendly towards men.

The fathers in the study felt that the are of their children is not negotiated from an ‘equitable’ base between the parents. The researchers conclude that there is an urgent need for services by men for men, and also a need to review existing services in how approachable they really are toward men.

The full report is online via the Families Commission web site here.

Families Commission Researching Dads

Harald — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:47:11 +0000

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.

Fathers Unhappy With Society’s Attitudes – ‘Couch Poll’

Harald — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:41:52 +0000

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 .