12 Feb 2024
Our ‘Dads Matter’ summit was a fantastic way to highlight the important role that dads and male carers play in giving children the best start in life.
The event heard from a range of inspirational guest speakers, as well as fathers and male carers, and aimed to spark conversations around how professionals across education, health and social care can make their services as inclusive as possible.
A main focus was on mental health and wellbeing and ensuring dads and male carers can feel supported in their roles. We have a strong community of dads and male carers actively participating in our family hubs sessions and events which aim to support all parents and carers on their journey through parenthood.
But we want to make sure our services are meeting the needs of as many people as possible and that’s why we’re investing some of our trailblazer funding into specific support for dads and male carers.
As well as the DadPad, which is a parenting resource specially for dads – we've introduced support groups where dads and male carers can just drop in, in-person or online, to talk to others, gain advice and share experiences.
The feedback has been really positive so far – but we want to build on that and to hear from as many families as possible what support they would like to see in the future.
This summit is about celebrating the impact positive male role models have on children and families – and also about sparking conversations as professionals in education, health social care – to see how we can make our services as inclusive as possible.
By doing this we can support families to build healthy and nurturing relationships which will enrich and enhance the lives of our children and young people.