29 June 2022 • Update
Today we launch a report capturing learning about the first two years of establishing the Grimsby Dads Collective
Since January 2020, we have been working in close partnership with young fathers in Grimsby, national childcare charity Coram Family and Childcare, and Grimsby based charities Together for Childhood (NSPCC) and YMCA Humber, to cocreate and establish the Grimsby Dads Collective. Cocreation is a participatory method that involves the promotion and use of creative, inclusive and democratic approaches to collaboration, with the aim of empowering communities by valuing lived experience, challenging power dynamics, and addressing social injustices. Premised on a successful participatory and evidence-based model called the Young Dads Collective (established by Coram Family and Childcare), the aim of our work is to train select young fathers as ‘experts by experience’ who advocate on behalf of themselves and others. Professionals from mainstream and specialist services are the main audience and are encouraged to reflect on, and make positive changes to their practices, influenced by the voices and experiences of dads.
The implementation of a new Young Dads Collective in Grimsby is a brand-new and exploratory endeavor, and we are capturing whether the model has positive impacts for young men and professionals in Grimsby. The need for the model in Grimsby was initially identified by Together for Childhood, whose research indicated that there was a need for more support for dads.
Our report on the first two years of learning from this project is now available , and highlights key milestones and insights; including strategies for cross-partnership working, how professionals and practitioners have responded to GDC workshops, and learning for developing this work outside of Grimsby.
Further information about the Grimsby Dads Collective can be found on the YMCA Humber webpage for the project, and the Following Young Fathers Further page.
From our partners and young dads
“[Speaking about support of young fathers] We’ve done a lot of kind of advocation and representing them, a lot of the time there’s involvement with statutory services. They don’t have the care of the young person, the care’s provided by the state or the mother, so we’ve attended lots of meetings with the young person to offer additional support and facilitated contact where necessary and offered just general emotional wellbeing, support, improving robustness and resilience, encouraging them to have as amicable relationship as possible.”
“And I suppose it goes back to what we were saying before about behaviours, maybe the education side of stuff and the fact that men aren’t involved in those early conversations, you know, whether it is, I know they’re invited to come along to bumps to babies but I don’t know whether we go into the detail around some of that brain development side of stuff and things like that. Maybe that is the thing that really would change things. You know, if you were given all of that information about what happens to a child as they grow, in a scientific way, as easy to understand as possible, could be the thing that impacted on behaviour in the home.”
“I think both a mother and father combined, it’s communicating and both being on the same page of what’s best for your child or children, and for both, it’s just being there 100% for them and not, like, putting yourself first, it’s, you know, putting the child’s interests first... ”
“We need to be including, we need to not [just] be focusing on mum and child […] That’s a great focus but dad … dad’s not invisible, dad needs to be in the picture as well because there’s research that shows you the effect it has on children and families as a whole when dad isn’t in the picture, so services need to be changing the way in which they work so it’s more inclusive.”
“Cause I think a lot of the time, some of young people who end up having children have been through the care system or support systems and they can feel quite judged or labelled by organisations and it’s breaking the cycle and breaking them out of that to feel empowered to be able to take stuff back, that’s the real interest to me. So, it’s about getting support right, as in being there and giving advice and guidance and all them things that we can do, but also making sure that we are doing with people as opposed to people.”
“One of the most successful projects we ever did was an informal dads’ group, and it used to be on Saturdays […] they did what they wanted, they used to do things like breakfast, and they would have breakfast together and talk about dad stuff and where they were taking their kids. And that group was always really well attended because there was never an agenda. They were never judged. They were just there together.”
“...the whole stay at home dad thing is not something to be ashamed of, you know, if you’re a dad and you wanna take your daughter out for the day, or you wanna take your kid out for the day on your own, well why is that frowned upon, why can’t you take your child out for the day ”
“Oh…patience…compassion…tolerance, a whole boatload a’ that! Honestly, I like a whole lot of life. Sacrifice…compromise, yeah I think, yeah I think they, they would be the, the big, the five, I feel, I think that was five, they would be the main. ”
“We’re currently in touch with social services for two [dads] because they don’t understand why they can’t see their children because they haven’t been informed by social services, their partner. So there’s a massive communication breakdown with those young men, so that’s the main focus of what we’re dealing with at the minute.”
Partners
