About the Dad Test

The Dad Test is a key element of the Think Fathers campaign. Agency Champions of all shapes, sizes and levels of father-friendliness, will find that to really engage successfully with fathers, it’s important to take a systematic approach to understanding their needs, and assessing how well your service meets them. There are many simple things that can be done immediately to reach out to fathers, such as making small changes to your environment and holding a staff focus group to share experiences of engaging with fathers.

The Dad Test is a great stepping stone towards ‘thinking fathers’ in a strategic way. It is designed to help you assess how your service currently interacts with fathers and supports father-child relationships, and to help you identify what changes you can make to ensure you provide the best possible services to children and families.

The six elements of the Dad Test

Leadership
Strong leadership and a clear strategy are essential in ensuring that everyone in your organisation is committed to engaging with fathers and strengthening father-child relationships. Senior managers must feel confident in their knowledge about why positive father-child relationships are so important to children, and how to support them.

Team
How well you and your colleagues interact with fathers is a crucial factor in how they engage with your services. Take a step back and think about whether dads would feel comfortable dealing with your team. Remember, mothers and fathers have distinct needs and can require different approaches. Many practitioners feel they can relate easily to most mothers, but don’t always consider how well they engage with fathers, and whether or not their actions may unwittingly exclude men.

Environment
First impressions count, and your service’s physical environment can be a major factor in how comfortable a father will feel getting involved. Think about your décor, displays and promotional material and whether they create the kind of environment that would make fathers feel welcome.

Marketing and communication
Communicating proactively with fathers will help show them that mainstream services are for them, as well as for mums. They will be made to feel they are important to your service and will want to become involved. Remember, this is not just about marketing campaigns; all communications, including letters, can unintentionally exclude fathers if not planned carefully.

Recruiting fathers
Making your services readily available and accessible to local fathers can be easier than you think. To help as many families as possible, it is best to recruit fathers proactively and routinely rather than as an exception, such as when dads get into difficulty.

Monitoring and evaluation
Ongoing monitoring and evaluation of your work with fathers is vital to assess what works and what doesn’t.

Download the Dad Test guide.

Download a Dad Test Self-Assessment Form.

For support in doing the Dad Test

As an Agency Champion you will receive email newsletters and have access to web resources, at www.fatherhoodinstitute.org, that should help you work your way through the Dad Test. You will also have access, free of charge, to support from the Institute’s new team of Regional Development Officers (click here for details).

The Fatherhood Institute also has a range of training courses and consultancy that can set you on the right track (click here for details).

The Fatherhood Institute’s Dad Test Logbook, available as part of the Champions Plus package, enables you to conduct a thorough assessment of your services under the headings set out in the Dad Test.

Find out more about the Think Fathers campaign...

Click here to find a series of articles that describe the campaign, and how you can contribute to it.

Date: Thursday, November 26, 2009