Fathers welcomed with nursery advice

Involving Fathers in Child and Family Services offers practical suggestions on how to develop father-friendly services. Produced by Strathclyde University's childhood and families research and development centre, the pack contains an audit that practitioners can use to assess how welcoming nurseries and family centres are to fathers.

Jacque Fee, co-author of the pack and network co-ordinator at the centre, said the project grew out of research carried out two years ago. It found that nurseries had policies to include parents, but that these were rarely put into practice. 'Nursery staff were aware of the benefits of including greater numbers of men in their services. However, they were often unsure of where to begin and what sources of support they could hope to secure,'

said Ms Fee.

The pack contains practical tips on including fathers. These range from encouraging those with skills such as guitar-playing to go into settings to engage with children, to creating a family wall of photographs brought in by the children.

Roger Olley, manager of the Children North East Fathers Plus Project, which promotes the consideration and inclusion of fathers, was involved in the production of the pack. He said it was important for practitioners to be aware of the benefits of including fathers and pointed to evidence that their early involvement in children's lives reduced the incidence of juvenile crime and anti-social behaviour.

'The number of men in childcare is woefully small,' he said. 'It's a hostile territory. Predominantly, the providers of childcare are women, and men know that childcare providers have their suspicions about them. Men will go in if you give them the right approach, right setting, right encouragement.'

Paul Kyle, a project social worker with Family Matters, a family support project in Paisley, said, 'The kit is very good. The audit allows the opportunity to explore developing new ways of working with fathers. It's very readable, with manageable tasks.'

A limited number of packs have been produced with financial support from the Bernard van Leer Foundation. They will be distributed free to government departments, local authorities and other organisations, and to individuals with an interest in early years education. Contact Jacque Fee on 0141 950 3591.