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The Leeds Health Initiatives & Well-being Team Revisited
First interviewed in June 2006 for Supporting Young Fathers: Examples of Promising Practice (Sherriff, 2007, p.21), this month’s case study revisits the team to see what has changed (or not) since the initial research was conducted. In doing so, Jenny Midwinter (Education Leeds) responds to a series of questions with Nigel Sherriff about the progress they have made.
So what would you say is the most pressing issue at the moment for your work with young fathers?
Jenny:
'I would like to answer this at three levels. Firstly, the most pressing issue for our Specialist Learning Mentor for Teenage Fatherhood (John May) is working with school-age fathers where the mother of the child is post-school age. The mother is less likely to have a support worker so there is less opportunity to work with both parents to resolve any issues. At a city level, the most pressing issue is the failure to identify 16-19 year old fathers and a lack of intensive support available to them if identified. Nationally, an underlying issue is a failure of significant numbers of boys to achieve in school, who are then put into some sort of ‘alternative education’. Such programmes are often part-time and attendance is not always monitored as it should be. In short, there is a failure to meet the needs of these young men.'
What has changed since we last spoke?
Jenny:
'Where as we used to work with both school-age fathers and the (often) older teenage partners of school-age mothers, we have now refocused our core role due to our capacity becoming strained. We now only work with school-age fathers due to a significant increase in the number of referrals of this age group due to better identification by schools and agencies. To give you an idea of how our numbers have changed, in 2003/4 we engaged 14 young fathers/partners 5 of whom were school-age; in 2005/6, we engaged with 24 young fathers/partners (13 school-age), and in 2007/8 we have so far engaged with 20 young fathers, all of whom are school-age.'
'We also now get more referrals of school-age fathers where the mother of the child is post-school age (i.e. identified and referred in their own right, rather than due to being a partner of a school girl that has been referred).'
'Other changes include the FACT group (Fathers and Children Together) which is now run by the Specialist Learning Mentor (John May) and one childcare worker (rather than two). This reflects the fact that we now have one of our childcare staff (Susan Butler) specialising in work with young fathers as part of her role i.e. in her revised job description as a Childcare and Parenting Officer.'
'We have also increased our levels of dissemination to local professionals in terms of the lessons we have learnt from our work. Previously the work was recognised more nationally (for example, through Sherriff, 2007, and the Fatherhood Institute) than locally and whilst this does still remain the case, it is changing.'
'Finally, our monitoring and evaluation of our work has improved and we now produce quarterly reports to the local Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood Partnership commissioning body reflecting our progress.'
What has stayed the same since we last spoke?
Jenny:
'A number of things have stayed the same since June 2006. For example, we have the same staff in place who have been able to develop further their skills and experience in working with young fathers. The way young fathers are referred to our Specialist Learning Mentors has also stayed the same as well as the types of sessions we deliver to young fathers, and the mentoring process they go through. In addition, over two years on we still find that most young men we come into contact with are usually not in full-time school-based provision when they become fathers-to-be. Finally, and of great concern to us, is that although specialist teenage pregnancy professionals (e.g. midwife, childcare coordinator) remain tuned in to the needs of young teenage fathers, the wider workforce remain, on the whole, either oblivious or guided by their own prejudices. This is a situation that must change if young men are to be supported appropriately.'
How do you reach young fathers from black and minority ethnic groups?
Jenny:
'For under 16s this is easier, as with school age fathers being of compulsory school age they are therefore pretty much a captive audience in many ways, due to the legal requirement to be in full-time education i.e. they are monitored via registers, GCSE results etc. and this monitoring applies all ethnicities equally due to their age. If they aren`t identified by schools then the Teenage Pregnancy Midwife provides another identification route.'
What are your plans for the next year in relation to young fathers work? What are you hoping to achieve?
Jenny:
'We have a number of activities and changes we are planning to implement over the next year. Amongst other things these will include:
- Further expanding the local dissemination of our work to other professionals.
- Moving the physical location of the Specialist Learning Mentors for Teenage Fatherhood (John May) and the specialist Teenage Parents Childcare and Parenting Officer (Susan Butler) to East Leeds Children`s Centre as part of a multi-agency pilot to improve services for teenage parents - the idea is to work with Children`s Centre staff to develop new approaches and activities for working with young fathers in general, whilst still retaining our responsibility for the school age dads.
- Piloting locally based young father activities in the East of the city whilst still maintaining our citywide role. As part of this work, our Childcare & Parenting Officer has increased working hours available to work with young fathers in the East of the city.
- The parents of school-age fathers will have the opportunity to join our new pilot peer support group for the parents of school-age parents.
- FACT (Fathers and Children Together) has moved to a daytime educational slot to try to increase access by those who don`t want to come after school. In this way, it can be included into school timetables/education packages brokered by our Specialist Learning Mentors. However, it of course remains to be seen whether this increases access or whether being identified as part of the school day actually reduces engagement. For instance, it may be that the young men value the session more if it is after school and clearly entirely voluntary.
- The local Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood Strategy has been re-launched after a visit from the TPU`s National Support Team (conception rates have gone back up again in Leeds). As part of the new action plan there will be a review of support for young fathers and Education Leeds will be the agency leading this review.'
What is the one piece of advice you would offer to practitioners who want to start trying to engage with young fathers?
Jenny:
'Remember that young fathers are not problem teenagers but potentially vulnerable young people, and be prepared to challenge professionals who think otherwise!'
Contact:
John May (Specialist Learning Mentor: Teenage Fathers, Education Leeds)
Email:john.may@educationleeds.co.uk
Jenny Midwinter (Locality Commissioner: Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood, Leeds Teenage Pregnancy and Parenthood Partnership)
Email:jenny.midwinter@educationleeds.co.uk