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A successful family support strategy will need to ensure that a range of services is available to meet the differing needs of parents and children at different stages in their lives. However, seemingly appropriate services can fail if they are not presented in an accessible and acceptable way.

A key aspect of a successful family support service is the way that it is managed and organised. For instance, where the expert's knowledge is seen as imposed and the provider does not listen to the client the programme is more likely to fail.

Recent research suggests that the degree to which programmers engage with parents may be the most critical factor in determining successful outcomes.¹ Barriers to involvement with services need to be addressed, such as stigmatisation, listening to parents and children, timing, transport and parents other problems beyond parenting. Evidence also suggests that programmes designed to support parents do not reach people, particularly fathers, from all backgrounds and ethnic groups.

Some of the barriers in delivering services to fathers have been identified:

Parenting groups are often run by women and can be seen as female-oriented. Men respond more positively to groups led by men and there are few male counsellors and leaders.

Groups and activities are often held during working hours.

Research and services are concentrated on mothers' needs. Fathers' coping strategies will not necessarily be the same as their partners'.

Many men have more difficulty in asking for help with health and other problems than women do.

Traditional stereotypes of feckless and irresponsible fathers negatively affect professionals' attitudes.²

Family centres are often seen as "feminised environments" from which men are alienated and excluded. The relative absence of other male users can deter fathers from using them.³

In his book What Works with Fathers? Trefor Lloyd⁴ reviewed previous literature and some successful fathers' projects, including Pen Green Family Centre in Corby, the YMCA Dads and Lads initiative and the Mancroft Advice Project's initiative for young fathers in Norwich. Some common themes in engaging fathers can be drawn out:

Have clarity of purpose about which fathers you are trying to reach and why. A strategy and commitment to involving men is essential.

Engender positive staff attitudes to fathers and provide some male workers if possible.

Proactively contact and engage men, bearing in mind that recruitment is often difficult and that traditional promotional routes used by many agencies, for example leaflets to GPs' surgeries, are less likely to reach fathers.

Provide practical or sports-based activities and in settings where men feel comfortable.

A men's group alone is unlikely to be a successful way to recruit large numbers of fathers, but rather can be seen as an additional activity for already engaged men.

In essence, family support services need a commitment to positively encourage fathers, so that a critical mass of male users can be obtained, making men more comfortable and willing to use services regularly.

Fiona Richardson is a senior consultant at the Institute of Public Care at Oxford Brookes University

¹ J Barnes and A Freude-Lagevardi, From Pregnancy to Early Childhood: Early Interventions to Enhance the Mental Health of Children and Families, The Mental Health Foundation, 2002

² A Richardson, An Audit of Work with Fathers throughout the North East of England, Working with Men, 1998

³ D Ghate, C Shaw & N Hazel, Fathers and Family Centres: Engaging Fathers in Preventative Services, Policy Research Bureau, 2000

⁴ T Lloyd, What Works with Fathers?, Working With Men, 2001