Leaders in Swindon identified a need to better engage with young fathers to help build their capacity as parents to provide safe, nurturing care for their babies. The FNP supervisor developed a service model based on theories, practice and implementation underpinning FNP, working alongside a fathers worker and the FNP National Unit.
The fathers worker has a therapeutic and early years background. She sits within the FNP team, receiving supervision, psychological and safeguarding support alongside the family nurses. She has a caseload of 16 young fathers whose current or former partners are enrolled in FNP. Most are aged between 16 and 25 years old. Some access a longer programme of one-to-one support, lasting from pregnancy up until their child is aged one year; others take part in a shorter programme lasting around six months.
The aim is to enable young fathers to build attachment and parenting skills, while helping them address any poor mental health they may be experiencing, or unsafe behaviours including anger, violence, drug-taking, and criminality, often linked to adverse childhood experiences in their own lives. The fathers worker helps young dads understand when their behaviour is unsafe and to take responsibility for being calm and emotionally regulated around their baby. The service provides dedicated help to enable fathers to learn to parent independently, whether or not they remain in a relationship with their child’s mother.
The service has also undertaken outreach work with local midwives in response to feedback from young fathers, who said they felt excluded in antenatal and postnatal care which often felt exclusively focused on mothers. Some young fathers talked about not being spoken to in the room during appointments or included in correspondence, or supported to take an active role in the birth when their partner was in labour.
This has helped midwives reflect on how small changes to clinical practice can enable fathers to feel more involved in classes and appointments. This builds opportunities for fathers to develop practical and emotional aspects of their parenting from early on, such as changing a nappy or bathing a baby, as this provides key moments to build attachment through touch, play, singing or talking. Knowledge built during pregnancy through antenatal care can provide fathers with a blueprint for building a bond with their baby after they are born.
A formal qualitative evaluation of the pilot’s first 18 months was completed by researchers from Leeds Trinity University. This showed improved short- and medium-term outcomes in aspects such as assessments and identification of a father’s needs, professionals’ and the fathers’ understanding of risk. There were also improvements in parental confidence, self-efficacy, and parent child relationships, in the young fathers’ behaviours, attitudes, and relationships with others, including their receptivity to professionals. Family nurses report lower levels of parental conflict for mothers who are separated from their partner, where the partner is engaged with the fathers worker.
As a result of the programme, changes have been made to integrate fathers work into the FNP programme. Fathers are now represented within all Dads at Their Best and FNP professional and supervision meetings, and in the child’s notes. There has also been cross pollination of learning from fathers worker to Family nurses and from Family nurses to the fathers worker which has improved clinical practice when working with fathers. This is being extended through Swindon’s Working with Father’s community of practice where collaborative learning is being disseminated through a wide range of services.
Lessons learnt
- Working with fathers provides an effective whole family approach, reducing stress for the mother providing improved outcomes for children.
- Pockets of good practice across services need to be standardised, through partnership working with other services to share knowledge and good practice.
- When given a voice, young fathers state they want help and support to parent but there are limited services available to them. There is therefore a need to raise awareness and advocate for unmet needs across local partnerships.