Mainstreaming dads' support

Shouldn’t this all just be standard stuff?

Throughout this course we have looked specifically at acknowledging dads, providing them with the information that they need in the ways that work best for them and then designing spaces and services to meet their needs as well as those of their families. If we’re trying to support children and families to have the best possible experiences and outcomes, then this should be standard.

So, if we’re going to design services well, in ways that include fathers, do we need ‘dad specific’ services and sessions? The short answer is no. The Fatherhood Institute recommends ‘mainstreaming’ support for dads. They say that well designed, implemented and evaluated inclusion of fathers within mainstream services can be more successful than the creation of dad-specific interventions (Fatherhood Institute 2022).

This level of service maturity requires a long-term focus and mindset shift. The Fatherhood Institute and others suggests changes such as dads being viewed and treated as equal co-parents, a wide-ranging effort to include fathers in service delivery by ensuring that it meets their needs, leadership-led reflection and self-evaluation on the efficacy of father-involvement and the employment of a father-involvement coordinator (see for example (Fatherhood Institute 2022; Raikes, Summers, and Roggman 2005). 

These changes are long-term goals, that require significant shifts within the existing system, mindsets and societal values to occur. For those who are ready to take on the much-needed task of mainstreaming father-inclusive practice, we provide some suggestions for getting started, using tools taken from systems thinking, in the next Lesson of this course.