‘How’s Your Father?’ is grounded in real-life stories of men who took part in two major research studies conducted by Dr Georgia Philip and teams from The University of East Anglia, and Lancaster University.
‘How’s Your Father?’ is grounded in real-life stories of men who took part in two major research studies conducted by Dr Georgia Philip and teams from The University of East Anglia, and Lancaster University.
Counting Fathers In
2017
Understanding Men’s Experiences of the Child Protection System.
This study combined quantitative statistical data with in-depth interviews. It involved three local authorities in the East of England. To collect the quantitative data, we looked at 150 electronic case files for children with a child protection plan starting in January 2014 and tracked these for 12 months. We gathered demographic and background information about fathers, and their relationships and contact with children and their mothers. Men’s participation in child protection conferences or other meetings was also tracked.
The qualitative data was collected through a 12-month interview study (2015-2016) with 35 fathers whose children had a current child protection plan. This involved two in-depth interviews at the start and end of the 12 months with monthly phone calls in between, to talk to men about their experiences. This included their own life histories, their family, personal, and parenting relationships, their experiences of the child protection process and social workers. The study allowed us to ‘walk alongside’ fathers involved in the child protection process in real time.
Up Against It
2021
Understanding Fathers’ Repeat Appearance in Local Authority Care Proceedings.
This study also combined quantitative and qualitative data. It was a larger study and involved 20 local authorities across England. We collected data in three ways. We captured an overall picture of the scale and pattern of fathers’ involvement in local authority care proceedings by analysing the administrative data held by Cafcass, about all formal care proceedings cases in England during the period 2010/11 to 2017/18. We looked at the numbers of fathers involved, how many were involved in repeat/multiple cases, and whether fathers appeared in cases as part of a couple, alone, or with a new partner. We also conducted an anonymous survey of 127 fathers involved in care proceedings to gain a picture of fathers’ circumstances and characteristics
The qualitative data was gathered through another in-depth, 12-month study of 26 fathers who had experienced repeat local authority care proceedings, child removal, child protection and so on. Again, this involved two in-depth interviews at the start and end of the 12 months with monthly phone calls in between, and we talked to men about their full life histories, their relationships, their health, and their experiences with the local authority and the family court.