Fathers and health
Building better support for fathers, from NHS services
Why change is needed
Expectations for men's involvement as hands-on-fathers have increased dramatically in recent decades. Yet taxpayer-funded services for families, including maternity and health visiting services, remain strongly mother-focused - despite evidence showing the crucial impacts fathers have on mothers and infants.
What needs to happen
We need maternity, health visiting, and other family services to systematically engage with fathers and take them seriously as caregivers.
They should be funded and organised so they:
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Know who the dads are
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Engage routinely and confidently with dads
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Assess and support dads to form close attachments to their babies and become confident hands-on parents
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Identify and address any risks dads might pose
Key actions
We've produced, in collaboration with the Royal College of Midwives, the Engaging Dads toolkit for midwives to help them improve their father-engagement
With support from the Mental Health Foundation, we've created Becoming Dad: a free guide to help men navigate their own transition to fatherhood
Then-chair of the cross-party Health and Social Care Committee Steve Brine cited our evidence about men's health in a letter to the then-Health Secretary Victoria Atkins, after the committee's inquiry was cut short by the May 2024 election​
We've published evidence reviews about fathers in the antenatal and postnatal period (part of the Contemporary Fathers in the UK series); non-accidental injury of infants by male caregivers; and a guide about fathers and breastfeeding
We are members of the First 1001 Days Coalition, working to improve babies' emotional wellbeing and development. Read the Manifesto for Babies here
We're exploring options for how to link fathers' and children's health records, to support systematic father-engagement from birth onwards
We launched our 'looking out for dad' campaign in October 2024, in collaboration with Men's Health Magazine - starting with an open letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting. We submitted evidence to the Men's Health Strategy consultation as well as creating guides for fathers and professionals to help them do the same
How you can help
Commission us to deliver a webinar or training at your workplace
Make a donation to support our ongoing policy work