Fathers, Child Abuse and Child Protection

Abstract

When I was studying to become a social worker at the University of Bradford in the mid-1980s, a buzz went around the department one day because one of the lecturers, Jeff Hearn, gave a public seminar on men in which fatherhood was a key theme (Hearn, 1983). The excitement reflected not only the novelty of the topic, but how unusual it was for masculinity and fatherhood to be openly talked about by a man – who was also a father. In the 25 years or so that have passed since, we have witnessed a huge growth of interest in fatherhood and in men and masculinities more generally among social scientists, the media, advertising and in social policy and practice (Kimmel et al., 2005). The aim of this special issue is to contribute to further advancing knowledge in relation to fathers, child abuse and child protection. That university seminar in 1983 and the ‘discovery’ of fatherhood would not have been possible were it not for feminism and the women’s movement from the 1970s challenging assumptions about power in families, intimate violence, motherhood and women’s and children’s lives. Much of the research into child protection and welfare practice over the past two decades has shown that ‘parenting’ has been regarded as synonymous with mothering, and it has been with women, and to a lesser extent children and young people, that professional relationships have been formed (Milner, 1996; Peckover, 2002). A decade ago, Jonathan Scourfield (2003) showed in his pioneering study of gender and child protection that fathers were too often ignored by social workers, even when it was men who were the cause of the risk and harm to children and women. For organisations, systems and professionals involved in protecting children and working with families to change this orientation, will require a sea change in attitude, culture and approach. The term ‘father’ must be understood in its broadest sense to include all men – ‘father figures’ – who live with or have significant contact with children and their mothers. At least two key reasons can be given for focusing on ‘fathers’ in child protection. First, our understanding of the risks to children of fathers not being worked with has increased. Studies of serious case reviews where children have died or been seriously harmed have consistently highlighted a lack of attention to abusive men among the most common practice shortcomings (Brandon et al., 2008; Sinclair and Bullock, 2002). Safeguarding work involves violence and risk from some fathers, who professionals avoid due to fears for their own safety and a lack of confidence and skills in working with them. Men are also ignored due to perceptions of their dangerousness based on their ‘hard’ appearance or assumptions of fecklessness due to perceptions