The FQM was launched last week at the Working with Fathers national conference, organised by Fathers Direct, the national information centre, following a two-year consultation by the DfES to define father-friendly practice.
It is open to all early years and children's services, including children's trusts, schools, and maternity and adoption services that meet the requirements of the Children's National Service Framework to include fathers in all aspects of a child's wellbeing.
The NSF specifically requires primary care trusts and local authority children's services to provide targeted information to fathers and to ensure staff have the skills and training to work with them. It states that good parenting by fathers is associated with better mental health in children, less criminality in later life and improved school performance and behaviour.
Duncan Fisher, chief executive of Fathers Direct, said, 'The FQM helps service providers show that they are serious about understanding and strengthening children's relationships with their fathers. Supported by information, mentoring and training, the FQM system validates what you are already doing, and helps you plan and develop more effective strategies for the future, which are then externally assessed.'
Mary MacLeod, chief executive of the National Family and Parenting Institute, said the quality mark was 'an exciting new tool to help services make the most of dads at a time when family life is undergoing fundamental and complex change'.
Jeanette Harris is in the forefront of efforts to involve men as fathers'
development co-ordinator at Ryde Sure Start on the Isle of Wight. The centre runs two parent/toddler groups led by fathers and operates a 'highly successful' Saturday drop-in where a core group of nine fathers organise play, cookery sessions and arts and crafts with their children. She said a survey of fathers in Ryde by Sure Start last year showed they wanted advice lines, useful websites and other information. These are now collated into a booklet distributed by family link workers to new parents.
She added, 'When we talk about dads, we always refer to male carers of children, because they are not always a biological father but could be a role model.'
See www.fathersdirect.com for more information on the FQM.
