Download the Father and Child Trust annual-report07-08 [648 KB PDF]

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.
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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…)

A Christchurch dad is wrestling with Child Youth and Family (CYF) to have his six months old daughter placed in his care.
CYF has removed the child from the mother at birth, as all the mother’s other children have ended up in CYF care due to neglect. The father had been standing by to take care of the child, but CYF decided to place the baby with foster parents and order a paternity test first although neither parent had raised any doubt about parentage.
The father has also undergone one-on-one babycare training with Father & Child Trust in preparation for taking care of his daughter.
Although the test proved the father’s paternity, and no concerns had been raised about his ability to care for a baby, CYF wants to leave the baby in foster care saying that she has now bonded with the foster parents and removing her would not be in the child’s best interest. The case highlights what some fathers’ groups claim is a bias by the agency against fathers.
In another Christchurch case, CYF made no attempt to contact the father of a 4 year old girl after the death of her mother. The girl was moved into foster care with a woman, who the father claims has made anti-male comments. The Family Court has since revoked CYF’s custody over the child, opening the way for a greater involvement of the father and possibly day-to-day care.

Dunedin may soon have its own Father & Child branch again, if local dad Graham Dewhirst gets his way.
A separately incorporated Father & Child Trust Otago was first established in 1998 and operated out of premises in Moray Place but became dysfunctional due to political disagreements a few years later.
Graham, who was involved with the old Trust for a short time, wants to set up the new group under the structure of the existing Father & Child Trust, which has branches in Christchurch and Auckland. He has a nine year old daughter Maria and a seven year old son Joseph, and from involvement in their early years he has made good connections with Parents Centre, the Homebirth Association and other groups.
He says the parenting organisations need to work together to do what’s best for the whole family and hopes that Father & Child can do their bit.
Graham separated from his partner five years ago and they now share parenting, with him having contact with their children most days of the week.
He says he would like to establish a group that represents a good mix of
dads with different family backgrounds.
Contact: Graham Dewhirst, dewey@xtra.co.nz, ph 03 476 6463

The various men’s organisations in Christchurch have given birth to a new service called the Canterbury Men’s Centre (CMC). The CMC was originally proposed at the 2005 Men’s Issues Summit and since then the guys involved have been diligently working away at creating it and defining its purpose.
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