Duncan Fisher

In an earlier blog, Fathers are a resource in the fight to end child poverty, I wrote an open letter to the Minister for Children.  I made three points:

• how fathers work is important to children in poverty; employment offices should engage with men with caring responsibilities as they do with women; at present only women are assumed to have caring responsibilities

• the so-called “non-resident” or “absent” parent (who is often neither) needs support both in delivering a caring role and a financial role; at present he is not designated at all as a parent, except when it comes to enforcing his financial contribution

• I proposed a new way of considering child poverty, looking at the earning and caring role of both parents (whether living together or not)

This week I got a reply from the Minister for Children – here is a copy.

It describes the work to promote engagement with fathers by Local Authority services and Continue reading Fathers are a resource in the fight to end child poverty (again)

A father's place is in the home - at least some of the time?

So, it’s official.  The extension of paternity leave has been ditched.  The official reason is the recession, but the decision to delay an increase in paternity leave until after the next general election had been taken well before any recession was in sight.

There are two key points about the current situation that no commentators have pointed out.

First, dumping the change to paternity leave is not going to make much difference to families and children because the system was not going to work anyway.  Continue reading It is time for the interests of children to balance the interests of business

10 minutes before sitting down to write this week’s blog, Jeremy from the Fatherhood Institute sent me this link to the latest Dad Labs video on paternity leave.  I just have to pass it on!    I think Dad Labs is one of the best websites in the world on fatherhood – it is . . . → Read More: US fathers call for paternity leave campaign

From the EHRC's report – but what could you actually achieve with a laptop in such circumstances?!

Three cheers for the Equality and Human Rights Commission.  The Report, Working Better, published today, is the best ever contribution to the debate about how parents share work and care and, in particular, the need . . . → Read More: UK’s equality body says UK’s leave system “works against gender equality”

Two politicians, Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats and Andrew Lansley of the Conservatives have commented that the recession might result in some fathers having more time for their children.  Both have been roundly condemned for their comments. I was struck by an interesting comment piece in The Guardian in response to the . . . → Read More: Should we support fatherhood in the recession?

Parents and work

The Good Childhood Report, as presented in The Sunday Times last weekend by its authors, points out that mothers work more than they used to and juxtaposes this with the statement that children are increasingly cared for by someone else other than their parents.

This wording was unfortunate.  We know . . . → Read More: The Good Childhood Report: should fathers work less?

Nick Clegg is about to have another child and has used the occasion to criticise the amount of leave that fathers are entitled to when a baby is born – two weeks compared to 52 weeks for mothers, the biggest difference parents anywhere in the world.  It is magnificent to see male politicians . . . → Read More: Nick Clegg stands up for better leave entitlements for fathers