Fathers Figure!

Work and Play with Fathers

and Male Carers via Kingstanding SureStart

Interim report – One Year On - Draft

1. Engaging fathers is not easy1 - Why work with
them?

SureStart Kingstanding has taken the bold

step of committing time and resources to
work with fathers and male carers in its
catchment area. In this they are attempting
to fulfil part of the stated aims of the national
SureStart philosophy; to raise the
achievement and standards for the whole
family group.

FACT - When in positive contact with their

fathers, children grow up to have fewer
troubles with the police and are less likely
to have mental health problems.2
Yet many SureStart branches have chosen
either deliberately or by omission not to work with fathers7 – why? Fathers are
the major earners, they are out of the house all day, they already have enough
flexibility and resources in their lives to deal with problems as they arise. Even
if this truth were as widespread as its acceptance, it still would jibe with the
aims of SureStart, derived from the U.S programmes “HeadStart” (1965) and
“Early HeadStart”(1994). Our British version is being evaluated via a £16.9
million programme at the “Institute for the Study of Children, Families & Social
Issues”, Birkbeck College. ISCFSI’s Director - Professor Jay Belsky – is a
world reknowned expert on the effects fathers can hace on child development,
and holistic childrearing generally.

The National Evaluation of SureStart (NESS) has conducted a root and

branch evaluation of how well many SureStart programmes are engaging with
fathers.1 It has identified a number of issues common across the country,
citing predominantly female
environments and lack of any
meaningful male presence in
SureStart services. In a gender
imbalanced climate the ongoing
programming of work often
unintentionally results in the
marginalisation of fathers and other
male carers.

Social policy makers have yet to

come to grips with the changing and diversifying roles of British men, in the

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Fathers Figure! Work and Play with Fathers
and Male Carers via Kingstanding SureStart
inner cities and now in the outer ring estates, which Kingstanding typifies. The
first aim of SureStart Kingstanding’s work with fathers must be to explore
ways in which the reasons for and results of working with fathers can become
the foundation for best practice elsewhere. Only by changing the way that
statutory services are delivered at a national level can real change be made
locally to improve real peoples’ lives. The second aim must be to create
opportunities for personal change via exciting and educational experiences for
the fathers in the area, enhancing the way fathers feel about themselves and
increasing their ability to contribute to their children’s lives.

FACT - In Kingstanding nearly 200 children are being lone parented by

fathers4.

2. Who Does The Work ?

Usually, though not exclusively, male workers are considered key for this kind
of engagement work. Negative responses to fathers from female SureStart
staff (and male managers) are documented repeatedly in SureStart surveys
and evaluations,1,7,8 SureStart Kingstanding has shown a lead in trying to
source male staff with the skill and temperament to work in the Kingstanding
catchment.

I have spoken to several dozen residents and a

dozen or so professionals working on the
ground through various agencies and all said
this was beneficial. All the fathers and male
carers I spoke to said that it was important to
them to have a face that dads and other men
could identify with.

The initial work in the area was done by Lee, an

agency worker recruited by SureStart. This is a
very difficult position to fill, as it requires
certified skills and experience, combined with
credibility on the ground. Like primary school
teaching this is a field that men do not tend to
go into, and when they do they either charge to
the top or move on through.

Lee worked from August to November and did an excellent job on the ground,
meeting fathers and making his face known in the area. Lee and I walked the

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Fathers Figure! Work and Play with Fathers
and Male Carers via Kingstanding SureStart
estate and beyond at least three times, meeting fathers and other outreach
professionals, and putting forward
the SureStart agenda.

Lee ran his Fathers’ Groups at the

Ex Service Mans’ Club on alternate
weeks, befriending fathers and
discussing their issues.

After Lee had moved on, we were

lucky enough to have the help of
Alan, the most active Fathers’ Group
participant, volunteering to lead it between November and January.

Alan, (who with his experience as bus driver beat all the other dads to claim
first prize on the Karting day) lives on the Kingstanding estate, close to “The
Pimple”, in one of the areas suffering most from poor housing design and “anti
social behaviour”. Alan was the key to a deeper understanding of local life
and the realities and expectations of local fathers.

Alan took over the biweekly Fathers’ Meeting, but this had now outgrown its
usefulness and relevance. We worked together to follow up Lee’s plan to
create a snooker session, and while this generated some interest it finally
proved unworkable.

FACT - While volunteering at the branch Alan became interested in

training to be a Fathers’ Worker professionally. Working Links picked up
his reemployment contract and have given him the opportunity to
retrain.

3. Prospects for Local Fathers - “Worklessness” at the root ?

Outwardly, Kingstanding seems a pleasant and stable place to live and raise a
family. It is highly accessible from central Birmingham, with well maintained
public transport, infrastructure and roads. Land use is fairly well zoned, and
there are excellent schools, shops, a library and a modern leisure centre.
Many houses have their own gardens, and there is also abundant green
space - yet it features so prominently in Government deprivation indexes3

The movement out of the area of the two major semi-skilled employers – West
Midlands Transport and IMI - has lead to a sense of dislocation and
disenfranchisement amongst local men.9 ‘Employability’ is the capacity to gain
and keep a job, to cope with changes at work and in the wider economy, and
the ability to get a new job if necessary6. Promoting the employability of
parents is an important function of SureStart local programmes.

FACT - Current research links parental employability with children’s

mental health, behaviour and social integration.6 There is also evidence

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Fathers Figure! Work and Play with Fathers
and Male Carers via Kingstanding SureStart
to show that children with employed parents do better at school and
therefore improve their own earning potential in the long run.2

If you are a working man in Kingstanding you are 10% more likely than the
national average to be in a profession currently vulnerable to downsizing3, and
your wage level is also declining faster than the
national average3. If you lose your job your chance
of re-employment is in the UK’s worst 7%3. Twice
as many Kingstanding men have never worked at
all than are employed at a managerial level in any
company.3

Kingstanding men have been particularly hard hit

by the growing trend of employing flexible staff
with lower overheads. In the sample group we
spoke to – about 35 men - this was perceived as
major source of anxiety – it seemed easier for their
wives and even their mothers to get work – in
supermarkets, as packers or in other casual
occupations – than for themselves.9

This feeling of uncertainty and frustration impacts on mens’ health and

learning prospects. On average, men in Kingstanding live two years less than
the national average3; accordingly there are more men under 14 and less over
453. This means that the (so called) “family forming cohort” is displaced down
the (so called) “population pyramid” – men in Kingstanding leave school,
father children, grow infirm and die earlier than the national average. 15

Some men, especially young men, are opting out of what is seen as a “mugs’
game” and into gang culture; selling and using drugs, stealing scooters and
riding them over the greenspace, etc. Of 28 offenders in a sample11 all were
aged 10 - 17 and only one was female. Of 110 registered drugs offenders on
the West Midlands Police database, 84 were male. 44 were under 21 and
another 51 between 20-29.11

Working Links and many other agencies are now geared up to regenerate the
area. SRB monies have been spent. There are many active partnerships -
such as RAIK - and other committed professionals working in the area, many
of whom live locally. It is important however to engage fathers in doing
something for themselves and their families.

FACT - practicing fatherhood helps men at risk of social exclusion re-

engage with their communities and their opportunities in life.2

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Fathers Figure! Work and Play with Fathers
and Male Carers via Kingstanding SureStart
4. What do Fathers know ? What do others think ?

The fathers that we engaged with during the first year were, for the most part,
white, working class and struggling to hold down a job while contributing to
their family. In general they:
• wanted to engage with SureStart at some level, even if they saw it as “just
another initiative”9
• wanted a “conventional” life – a job, a house, a family, to be a “good father”
even if they felt the odds were stacked against them9
• were quietly resentful about youth in the gang / counter culture They felt
many younger men in the area have adopted an absent father approach;
the mothers of their children living separately, usually with their child’s
grandmother.9
• knew that they too could “play benefits” – but were looking for something
that would give them self respect. 9

For many in the catchment, extreme rightwing politics have become a bulwark
against feelings of anxiety. Despite being in the overwhelming majority, from
our discussions it seems that
working class white men feel
excluded and disenfranchised and
evidence exists of hostility to
groups with agendas such as
SureStart's5. Some local pubs and
gangs – such as the “Kingstanding
Ku Klux Klan” - are networking
opportunities for right wing activists,
and the BNP and NF polled 1633
votes at the 2004 elections – if they
hadn’t have split the vote they
would have won; Labour coming in
at 1625 votes.12 More conventional outreach work needs to be done,
especially targeting disenfranchised young fathers in the local gangs, to get a
better picture of the situation.

Fathers we spoke to felt that greenspace areas such as “The Pimple” are
unsafe, or at least unwholesome,
in the evenings, and traditional
activities such as taking boys for a
football kickabout have been
marginalised.9

Regarding SureStart; working

fathers, like working mothers, are
constrained by employment in their

involvement with their children.

Working fathers told us that they

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and Male Carers via Kingstanding SureStart
are often so exhausted at the end of the day that were just too tired for any
SureStart activity in the evenings.
Frequently they work shifts, often as
many as they can to bring in needed
cash.

Accordingly, after many hours spent

looking after the children, wives or
partners see evenings as "their" time
– usually to go out and reconnect
with female friends.10,9,16

Non-working fathers are of course

able to access the services and activities put on by SureStart during the
school day. They told us the barriers are in terms of perceptions – theirs and
others – of male / female role models, or not feeling welcome. Several fathers
told us that they thought that schools would be a good place to reach fathers,
picking up and dropping off children, but we didn't see any evidence of this in
practice.10

5. What are the highlights so far ?

Nationally, the proportion of parents taking part in SureStart employment and
training activities, even in the most active and encouraging programmes, is
low.6 Those who do take part are almost
exclusively mothers.6 We took six fathers
karting in November 2004. This was as many
as we could fit in the bus, and was a positive
bonding experience. It is these dads who
have remained in touch with us ever since.

The bi–weekly Fathers’ Meeting from early

October at the Ex-Servicemans’ club, while
never a success, did offer us a “beach head”
in the local community, with between four
dads and no dads turning up each time. An
offer to let use the snooker tables when no
one wanted them ended up stalled, but the
leafleting was a success with six “new” dads
contacting Alan.

We have interviewed and made contact with many local stakeholders and in
particular people working on the ground for different agencies. This has been
one of the most successful strands of enquiry, as much has previously been
done in the area via voluntary and ad-hoc programmes which SureStart
Kingstanding could support. It was in this way we found out about the Ikon
Gallery Fathers’ Group at Warren Farm School, which is an exemplary

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Fathers Figure! Work and Play with Fathers
and Male Carers via Kingstanding SureStart
organisation. Listening to the many local fathers and professionals over the
past year and reading and collating a very wide number of texts and reports
both on the area and fathers nationally has helped to synthesize an
understanding of the situation on the ground.

6. What’s Next ?
While much groundwork has been done it must be remembered that, in this
geographical and social context, men form a “hard to reach” group, and
outreach methods must be employed to engage them.7

We found no evidence to suggest a complicated network of “support” services

or “special” classes for men was required. In fact, most men told us that they
wanted exactly the same sorts of events SureStart Kingstanding put on for
women, just targeted at them.

It is this targeting – and also reaching the above mentioned excluded groups
– that we need to approach next.
The most effective way to do this
would be through high profile, one-
off events or series of events,
working with partner organisations
or agencies to meet joint goals,
such as those around smoking
cessation, health checks, G.P.
registration, keep fit,
breastfeeding, childrens’ first aid
and money issues etc. We need to
exploit local avenues for
information, such as the library,
the betting shop (who put up our snooker posters) the video libraries, the pubs
and other friendly and familiar institutions were local fathers feel confident and
“at home”. Not yet having a public building gives SureStart Kingstanding a
chance to permeate the local community and approach and include reluctant
fathers where they least expect it.

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Fathers Figure! Work and Play with Fathers
and Male Carers via Kingstanding SureStart
7. Bibliography
1. "Fathers in SureStart Local Programmes" (NESS, Aug 2003)
2. "Psychological Bulletin" (Bakermans Kraneburg, 2003)
3. "Index of Multiple Deprivation" (ONS/DETR,2000)
4. "Census Area Statistics - CASt", (BCC / ONS 2001)
5. Discussion with BCC officer in Kingstanding (Nov 2004)
6. “Improving the employability of parents in Sure Start local programmes”
(Meadows Garbers NESS 2004)
7. “Involving Fathers” (SureStart 2004)
8. “Engaging Fathers” (SureStart 2004)
9. Discussions with fathers (2003, 2004)
10. Discussions with workers on the ground (2003, 2004)
11. “Community Safety Profile of Kingstanding” (Crime Concern, 1999)
12. Mirror Group News (2004)
13. “Kingstanding Ward Development Plan” (Birmingham City Council)
14. “Youth Works Audit Report – Wyrley Birch” (Crime Concern, 2000)
15. “Public Health Report 2004” (North Birmingham NHS)
16. Discussions with partners of “SureStart Dads” (2003, 2004)

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