Fathers as ‘core business’ in child welfare practice and research: An interdisciplinary review
Introduction
In the last decade, many western countries have initiated public policies to raise awareness of the importance of father involvement in the lives of their children (e.g. The National Fatherhood Initiative in the US, The Father Involvement Research Alliance in Canada, The Fatherhood Institute in the UK, and the 2006 Family Law reforms in Australia). These initiatives are, at least in part, a response to the overwhelming research evidence that has accumulated over the past 30 years demonstrating that fathers play a vital role in the lives of their children (Lero, Ashbourne, & Whitehead, 2006). However, child welfare services appear to be quite resistant to father-inclusive practice. The lack of attention to fathers in child welfare services has been well-documented in general social work literature internationally and, according to some, ignoring fathers is deeply embedded in child welfare practice (Brown et al., 2009a, Dominelli et al., 2011, Strega et al., 2008). Scourfield (2006) posits that there is an assumption that men are not the ‘core business’ of child protection workers since women are considered the main client base. Others claim there is a pervasive negative stereotype of fathers and father figures in child welfare families and that, as a result, they are treated with suspicion and assumed to be absent, unimportant, dangerous and generally ‘bad’ (Bellamy, 2009, O'Donnell et al., 2005). These negative perceptions may lead to a lack of engagement by workers and a tendency to exclude fathers from at-risk children's lives. Therefore, despite the fact that in the wider public arena father involvement is being encouraged, child welfare policies and practices tend to promote uninvolved, rather than involved, fathering (Brown et al., 2009).
There are, however, valid reasons, from both theory and practice, why child welfare services and research have focused on mothers and not fathers for decades. From a theoretical perspective, Western society has embraced the traditional hierarchical model of attachment theory which postulates that attachment to the mother is most important for children's socio-emotional well-being (Lewis & Lamb, 2007). In practice, including fathers can be very challenging due to factors such as the complexities of modern family composition, mothers not wanting fathers involved, avoidance and resistance from fathers themselves, and the fear of violent men. Therefore, since there are significant reasons to avoid fathers in child welfare families, a very convincing argument is required to justify altering current practice and expending scarce resources to engage and study fathers.
It will be argued that there are persuasive theoretical reasons, as well as compelling research evidence, that do justify engaging and studying fathers from child welfare families. Attachment theory is being revised in the light of a solid body of research evidence demonstrating that fathers have an equally important and independent influence on children's well-being (Newland & Coyl, 2010). In addition, ecological theories of child maltreatment also highlight the need to include all significant adults in a child's life when addressing child-focused problems. Hence, by failing to routinely and comprehensively include fathers, child welfare services can profoundly fail children, since fathers can be just as much a protective factor or risk factor in the life of a child as the mother (Brown et al., 2009a, Strega et al., 2008). In essence, when fathers are overlooked, children may suffer the consequences.
This literature review addresses a gap in the child welfare literature by integrating research from a variety of different fields, including social work, child welfare, fathering and developmental psychology, to examine the problem of poor father engagement in child welfare practice, as well as the causes, importance to child outcomes, and possible solutions (see Fig. 1). By adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this problem can be analyzed holistically by drawing from a comprehensive body of literature. In particular, this review utilizes recent fathering and developmental research to challenge existing mother-focused theory, practice and research. It also aims to increase awareness of the research evidence demonstrating that fathers, just like mothers, play a vital role in their children's lives, since it is this research that provides the compelling argument for including fathers in all aspects of practice and research (Fleming, 2007). This review also augments the fathering literature as there is a dearth of research on fathers in child welfare families as a sub-group.
Section snippets
From studies of practitioners
Recent studies of child welfare practitioners in various Western countries have found a general lack of inclusion of fathers in practice. For example, in Canada, a study of 116 randomly selected child protection files showed that social workers rarely asked about, or involved, fathers in their casework (Strega et al., 2008). In these files, social workers described the fathers as irrelevant in 50% of cases, a risk to their children in 20% and an asset in 20% of cases. Even when fathers were
Research has also overlooked fathers in child welfare families
Mirroring this lack of attention to fathers in child welfare practice, little research has been conducted on the role of fathers in families with child protection issues (Lamb, 2001, Lee et al., 2009, Strega et al., 2008). There is need for more research examining the influence of fathers in cases of physical child abuse and neglect as little is known about their role, responsibilities, problems, needs and strengths (Daniel and Taylor, 2006, Lee et al., 2009, Risley-Curtiss and Heffernan, 2003
Reasons why fathers have been overlooked in practice and research
Why have fathers been relatively overlooked, compared to mothers, in child welfare practice and research across the Western world? There are a number of valid reasons, both from theory and practice, why services and research have focused predominantly on mothers.
Why it is necessary to include fathers in practice and research
If mothers are children's primary attachment figure and the main influence in their life, as purported by traditional attachment theory, and it is time consuming and difficult to engage fathers in child welfare families, then the most pertinent question remains, is the effort required to engage fathers truly warranted?
Implications for practice
Having now reviewed research showing that fathers are relatively overlooked in child welfare practice and research compared to mothers and the reasons why, and having also reviewed theories and research evidence demonstrating the equally important influence of fathers, both as potential risks and resources for vulnerable children, what are the implications for practice? The first and most obvious implication is that fathers should be included as ‘core business’ in all child welfare services and
Conclusion
Although there have been some indications of improvements in engaging fathers in child welfare practice in recent years, especially by individual workers (e.g. Berlyn et al., 2008, Coady et al., 2012, Saleh, 2012), there remains a long way to go before all fathers are consistently considered ‘core business’ within child welfare, and are treated with equal inclusion and value as mothers. For extensive and enduring change to occur, the reasons why fathers in child welfare families have been
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