In this blog, Senior Evidence Officer, Dr Ian Moore, & Evidence & Evaluation Officer, Dr Daryl Sweet, reflect on their experiences as fathers, the vital importance of father-inclusive practice, and how our new funding call takes us a step closer to better support for fathers.

This week, we are launching a new funding call for a systematic review on interventions for fathers and male carers. This work will help strengthen our understanding of how services can better identify, engage and support fathers, and will lead to an evidence-informed Practice Guide, commissioned by the Department for Education to support the Children’s Social Care National Framework.

As fathers ourselves, each with daughters, we recognise becoming a parent as a profound life event; one often shaped by joy, relief and anxiety. Pregnancy, birth and early parenthood can bring a significant shift in identity, responsibility and relationships. These experiences can be deeply rewarding, but they can also bring uncertainty and pressure, particularly as fathers adjust to a new role while supporting their partners and families.

Yet asking for help can feel difficult. Restrictive ideas about masculinity can reinforce the idea that seeking help is a sign of failure, or the expectation that fathers should cope alone and avoid showing vulnerability. They should not have to.

As our children grow, we become increasingly aware of the important and positive role fathers can play in children’s lives. But we are also aware that fathers may not always feel that parenting support is designed with them in mind.

Too often, family support services are designed primarily around mothers, either explicitly or by default. Fathers may assume that support is not for them, while practitioners may feel less confident engaging fathers or lack clear routes to involve them. This matters, because fathers are sometimes only brought into contact with services once difficulties have escalated. At that point, relationships with services may already feel focused on risk or scrutiny, rather than support, trust, and shared problem-solving. Fathers must be involved from the start.

What our evidence tells us about father-inclusive practice

At Foundations, we build and use evidence on the support that improves outcomes for children and families. This means recognising fathers and male carers as key figures in family life, children’s wellbeing and safeguarding practice.

Father-inclusive practice requires us to understand and appreciate the diverse realities of fatherhood. Many fathers are sources of love, care, stability and positive identity for their children. Some fathers, as with some mothers, may also need support to address harmful behaviour, manage conflict or reduce risk. In these cases, effective practice must combine compassion, safety and accountability. Several strands of our current work are helping us understand what father-inclusive practice can look like.

Our evaluation of ISAFE told us that this kind of father-engagement training could lead to small, but significant improvements in practitioners’ confidence and competence, and in practitioner’s perceptions of organisational support for father engagement. However, the findings also showed us that more research is needed to understand whether improvements in confidence translate into sustained practice change and better outcomes for children and families.

Our Southwark Fathers Group feasibility study told us more about fathers’ experiences of group-based parenting programmes where there is children’s social care involvement. Fathers valued the group, reporting greater parenting confidence, stronger relationships with their children and reduced isolation.

Our two Parenting Through Adversity Practice Guides (on support for the parents of children aged 0-10 and 11-18) also highlight the importance of father-inclusive practice. The evidence suggests that fathers often value parenting support and can be motivated to engage, particularly where programmes help them reflect on fatherhood and develop the behaviours they associate with being a “good father”, such as being attentive, warm and sensitive.

However, fathers may assume that parenting interventions are mainly for mothers, while practitioners may lack confidence, experience or referral pathways for working with fathers. This can mean fathers are treated as peripheral, rather than as active parents or important figures in children’s lives. We learnt from this that sustained uptake of support may be greater when services take a whole-family approach, involve fathers where safe and appropriate, and support co-parenting, rather than placing responsibility primarily on mothers.

Promoting system change

Across our work, the evidence points in a similar direction: fathers and male carers need to be considered from the start in the design, delivery, and evaluation of family support.

This means doing more than simply inviting fathers to take part. Services need to understand how fathers experience support, what helps them engage, and what barriers prevent them from doing so. It also means recognising that fathers are not a homogenous group. Non-resident fathers, stepfathers, young fathers, fathers from minoritised ethnic communities, and fathers with their own histories of trauma or adversity may face different barriers to being seen, heard and supported.

There is also an opportunity to talk more confidently about positive fatherhood and positive masculinity. This does not mean ignoring risk. Where fathers’ behaviour harms children or partners, services must respond decisively and safely. But it does mean recognising that many fathers are deeply motivated to care for their children, build stronger relationships, and develop their parenting skills.

Our new funding call

Our new call is an important step towards understanding how services can provide more consistent and effective support to fathers. We want to hear from organisations who can deliver a systematic review on this topic, to underpin a new Practice Guide that will help local authorities improve their offer in this area. Fathers and male carers should be seen, heard, supported and, where necessary, challenged and held accountable as part of a shared commitment to improving outcomes for children and families – this work will help us understand how to do this, and how to do this well.

Applications close at midday on Friday 26 June 2026. You can apply, and find out more about the call, here.