Children’s services to be legally required to consider engagement with fathers

Bodies providing children’s services will soon be legally required to think about the way they engage with fathers under a new duty, the children’s minister said today.

Speaking at a Community Care and Fathers Direct conference in London, Beverley Hughes said that from next April all public bodies would have a duty to promote gender equality which meant they would need to actively think how they were working with fathers.

Hughes added the duty would only go so far, and professionals also needed to work hard to change services traditionally targeted at mothers.

“There is a helpful framework in place to encourage better engagement with fathers. But on its own, this will not be enough to change behaviours,” she said.