Competencies (Skills, Knowledge & Attitudes) For Including Fathers

Father-inclusive practice demands a mixture of competencies. The ability to work directly with fathers in one-to-one or group settings, for example, is fundamental; however, it is not clear that this involves one central skill or even a single, identifiable set of skills since the nature of the fathers involved and context for the engagement with fathers will vary.

In working with groups of fathers, while there may be some continuity in the skills required to facilitate ‘parenting-focused’ discussion-based groups with self-selected fathers from the community, there will be other settings where these skills do not apply. Groups of fathers of different ages, from different cultural backgrounds or from particular socioeconomic groups may require particular competencies. Fathers meeting in a neonatal intensive care unit, fathers who are offered group counselling or fathers of children with a disability may need facilitators with special knowledge and skills. As well, the gender of the facilitator and their roles will influence the competencies required. The skills of a male solo facilitator may be very different to that of a female co-facilitator.

Discussion with practitioners, trainers and managers from an array of services suggests that for father-inclusive practice to become established in an existing service additional competencies unrelated to direct engagement with fathers is necessary. For example, for family-related services the shift to engage with fathers is a departure from the normal practice of mothers accessing the service. Women will have an understandable expectation of being the main focus of the service and to see initiatives directed at fathers may be unsettling. Whether or not mothers welcome the new initiative (and experience and the limited research available suggest that the overwhelming majority of women support the inclusion of fathers) they may wonder at the apparent sudden enthusiasm for fathers. Advancing the work with fathers while not alienating or marginalizing mothers will be an important skill in many settings. At the same time, the recent emphasis on bringing children’s views into discussion relating to family dissolution has implications for services supporting intact families too. The ability to bring in the views of other family members to support the work with fathers may well be important to the success of father-focused activities.

Organisations have also recognised that the traditional neglect of fathers in family services has led, in many cases, to a lack of knowledge of the needs and preferences of fathers. In line with the well-accepted notion that families should be involved early in the design of services, fathers will need to be involved not just as recipients of services but as collaborators or consultants in their development. The skills needed to facilitate fathers’ involvement in service development are not necessarily those needed for direct service delivery. In the same vein, if fathers are to be involved in deliberations with the service then a single practitioner, however skilled and supportive of the fathers, will not be sufficient. Since the enthusiasm and commitment to including fathers is rarely spread evenly throughout an organization, those who are most keen to engender father-inclusive practice will need to be able to bring colleagues, managers and other staff on board. These abilities demand another set of skills altogether.

Finally, because we are envisaging organizational change in a climate of fiscal restraint and evidence-based practice the ability to document, evaluate and communicate the results of programmes and projects will also be required. The all too common scenario of an excellent initiative involving fathers being lost when the primary staff member moves jobs suggests one last area of competence. The enthusiastic, successful individual practitioner must be able to form and maintain networks of other involved or supportivestaff and perhaps provide mentoring to inexperienced staff while they gain expertise in this area.

Competencies for Working with Fathers

During the Forum process seven practice areas were selected to identify in detail the skills, knowledge and attitudes used by experienced practitioners to directly engage with fathers. For each of the seven practice areas listed see the introduction given below and the link to the list of competencies identified:

1. Group work with fathers
2. Recruiting fathers to early childhood health centres
3. Talking to males about violence
4. Engagement skills for working with antenatal dads
5. Working with Indigenous fathers, uncles, pops, brothers
6. Using play with fathers in a multicultural setting
7. Raising staff awareness and acceptance of fathers

1. Group work with fathers

For many welfare services ‘running a group’ is a fundamental aspect of their work with community members. Parenting educators and facilitators also understand the power of group processes to integrate and translate parenting information for individuals. Until recently the notion of group processes specific to fathers (men) was either ignored or elevated into a male-specific mystery. Female staff would often explain their approach to fathers in parenting groups as "just the same as mothers" which left them to conclude that men were too busy or uninterested when mothers, but not fathers attended. Alternatively father’s activities were deemed to be impossible because "we only have female staff" and "how would we know what fathers think?" Of course, the gender of the facilitator is not irrelevant. But the idea that it is essential to have only fathers presenting to fathers is not borne out by the success of many co-facilitated groups in a variety of settings from antenatal clinics to primary schools.

Skills, Knowledge & Attitudes for Group work with fathers

2. Recruiting fathers to early childhood health centres

Having few fathers attend is a common experience for staff in many children’s services and help in getting fathers ‘in the gate’ is one of the most frequent requests made to the Engaging Fathers Program. Staff commonly have a hunch that they could do better if they knew more about fathers while also believing that many fathers are unmotivated to attend. A second commonly recognised area of need is the ability to engage with fathers once they do attend and knowing how to encourage fathers to become involved in non-traditional areas of child care activity (not just building a retaining wall).

Skills, Knowledge & Attitudes for Recruiting fathers to early childhood health centres

3. Talking to males about violence

The notion that all adult males are naturally dangerous can be an unstated assumption of services for children and families. This leaves early intervention staff in a difficult position when trying to identify positive aspects of the fathers’ relationships while, at the same time, being constantly suspicious of them and expecting to discover the worst. One answer to this dilemma is to leave any discussion of anger or coercive behaviour to the ‘experts’ such as police while focusing on work with the women. The skills of engagement with men should include the ability to address coercion and intimidation but within a framework which maintains respect for the father concerned.

Skills, Knowledge & Attitudes for Talking to males about violence

4. Engagement skills for working with antenatal dads

The evidence of risk factors for family disruption and poor child outcomes is strong enough to warrant early intervention with families. It is generally accepted that supporting parents through the transition of childbirth will be better than attempting to connect with them after the birth. In addition the latest research on attachment points to the importance of father-infant attachment. It suggests that involving fathers before the birth will promote the engagement of fathers in their children’s lives and facilitate the developing father-child relationship.

Skills, Knowledge & Attitudes for Engagement skills for working with antenatal dads

5. Working with Indigenous fathers, uncles pops brothers

When groups of parents within the society are ranked by need those in the Indigenous community are easily recognised as requiring significant support. However the needs of Indigenous fathers have not been easily identified within mainstream services or by Indigenous health and welfare agencies. Consequently staff in mainstream services rarely feel equipped to engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander fathers while those in Indigenous health and welfare agencies are limited in what they can offer fathers due to cultural considerations.

Skills, Knowledge & Attitudes for Working with Indigenous fathers, uncles, pops, brothers

6. Using play with fathers in a multicultural setting

Traditional services for families are often designed around the interaction patterns familiar to women. This is particularly obvious in the tendency to view sitting in a group and talking about feelings as the main avenue for improvement. A second assumption prevalent in mainstream services is that fathers from particular cultures will have little interest or ability in engaging in activities with their children. Using play with fathers from diverse cultural backgrounds can minimize the dependency on language while fostering connection between the service, the children, the community and the fathers.

Skills, Knowledge & Attitudes for Using play with fathers in a multicultural setting

7. Raising staff awareness and acceptance of fathers

The ability to engender enthusiasm for father involvement will be important for staff at any level if they wish to see father-inclusive practice embedded in the activities of their organization. Recognising the skills and knowledge involved is an important step in facilitating the adoption of good practice in this area.

Skills, Knowledge & Attitudes for Raising staff awareness and acceptance of fathers

The development and documentation of competencies will be part of the ongoing work required for Father-inclusive Practice. The future will no doubt see many new areas of work with fathers requiring new skills, knowledge and attitudes. However we also expect to see the development of supporting documentation for existing areas of work providing detailed assessment for practitioners and giving more precise guidelines for the way that the competencies link to the Principles of father-Inclusive Practice. For example, in the area of work with separated fathers, a well developed set of competencies was released shortly after the Father-Inclusive Practice Forum was held. The Working with Separated Fathers competency standards, assessment guides and assessment tools were developed for the Child Support Agency (CSA) by FatherWork and a network of experienced practitioners in 2004-5. The competency standards aim to provide a framework for the training and assessment of group leaders for the Being Connected and Staying Connected psycho-educational, intervention programs for separated fathers. The newly formed ‘National Men and Fathers’ Practitioners Network’ is involved in consultation with CSA and the Australian Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) regarding the ongoing development of the competency standards and assessment materials for use in broader contexts of working with men and fathers. See beingconnected@csa.gov.au for more information.