Supporting Young Fathers Network
Welcome to the young fathers network microsite. It has been created to help people working with young fathers. See About this Microsite for more information.
Our latest case study features a project that has been running for a relatively short time and is delivered via Children’s Centres.
Thurrock Young Fathers Project
The Thurrock Young Fathers Project (TYFP) has been running since 2008 and is funded by Thurrock Council. TYFP aims to engage and communicate with young dads aged 25 years and under and is delivered at different Children’s Centres across the borough. The average age of participants is 20 years old and the youngest dad involved so far was 18 years old. The project was piloted in 2008, and Amanda Jerman has managed TYFP since early 2009, running two courses so far. This case study is based on an interview with Amanda in December 2009.
Young dads involved in TYFP are offered a 10 week course that is held one evening each week (7-9 pm). The course explores issues around positive role models, relationships and anger management. It also offers information about sexual health, ante and post natal issues as well how to access employment, training and/or volunteering opportunities. Many of the young dads in the area are not in employment or training and are vulnerable, so sessions need to go beyond just parenting issues. Dads have really appreciated a session around ‘messy play’ where they learn how to do fun activities with their children.
“Like the young mums I work with – because they’ve never had those experiences themselves – they need to be able to have this and learn to play before they can do it with their own babies and children.”
The course also includes visits from other professionals eg Health Visitors and staff from the Sexual Health Team and Citizens Advice Bureau. Some young fathers who have attended previous courses come back and talk to new dads about their experiences. To make sure that young dads don’t only attend the fun activities like go-carting, these are held in the middle and end of the course.
Sessions are co facilitated by up to 4 people including Amanda Jerman, the Tilbury Children’s Centre Manager, a male project worker and an outreach worker. Often fathers attending the sessions need to talk to a worker one-to-one so it is easy for this to happen with more than one member of staff available. If staff can’t help individual young men they can be signposted to other services. Each ten week course is ‘launched’ with an event that aims to get referrals from health visitors and outreach workers. Some young men self refer and Amanda thinks participants are more likely to attend if they know staff involved in the project.
At the beginning of the course, workers explain to dads that if they have any concerns about harm to a child, they have to act on this. Participants are encouraged to develop group rules and examples of these are: no swearing, having cigarette breaks, allowing people to speak, listening to others, keeping issues discussed in the group confidential and not being judgemental. Providing boundaries while also recognising that some young dads are still young and have complex lives is important.
“Dads have different circumstances and different things are going on in their lives so sometimes it’s not always possible for them to commit to every single session.”
Amanda sees lots of different outcomes for young dads who participate in TYFP. They learn about Children’s Centres, other services, as well as activities to do with their children. The course provides a space for them to focus on their own lives as well as getting support and new skills.
“We try and find positive things about everybody and they might have not been an angel, but we try and work on the positives.”
Some of the dads share full time care of their children so they enjoy having some time out from their families. The dads also offer each other support.
“All of them had a lot going on in their personal lives with their partners and even though their situations were different, they only had to share what they wanted to share and it helped that if they had a problem one week that someone else might have a problem another week.”
Getting the young dads to see how significant they are and/or could be in their children’s lives is hugely important within TYFP.
“We want to make them aware that even though they may not be with partners and their children, how influential they can be as part of their children’s lives – to raise their self esteem and confidence.”
Each 10 week course is shaped by feedback received from young dads in previous courses and is collected in an end-of-course celebration event. However, each group of men is diverse (eg resident and non resident fathers) and have different needs and wants around course content. For example, one group suggested an anger management session in their evaluations but the group of dads who did the new session didn’t particularly enjoy it.
Offering food, chocolate and lots of refreshments has gone down well with each group of young fathers. TYFP has been able to pay dads’ travel costs including taxis and this has helped attendance levels. Young dads are given Amanda’s work mobile if they need to contact her and she sends reminder texts each week to the young dads during the course.
Despite funding uncertainties, the TYFP team have lots of plans for the future including developing new sessions on First Aid and Child Safety as well as the emotional side of relationships. They also want to make sure non-resident dads are getting the right support and information during the course. Staff will start work towards the Fatherhood Quality Mark after Xmas. Linking young dads who have completed the TYFP course to an existing group for dads around parenting techniques (at Tilbury Children’s Centre) is also planned. Last on the wish list is setting up a more regular dads and kid’s drop-in, offering messy play activities.
Contact for TYFP:
Amanda Jerman
Parenting Support Co-ordinator,
Tilbury Children's Centre,
London Road,
Tilbury, Essex.
Tel 01375 852991
Email ajerman@thurrock.gov.uk