7 July 2011

Joint Press Release

THE DADS FOR LIFE MOVEMENT PARTNERS SOCIAL SERVICE TRAINING INSTITUTE (SSTI) TO RAISE AWARENESS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF INCLUDING FATHERS IN INTERVENTION AND GROWING SOCIAL SECTOR CAPABILITIES IN FATHER ENGAGEMENT

Fathers in Singapore will be the central focus of presentations by social service practitioners at the Inaugural Practitioners Conference on “Working with Fathers: Engagement and Intervention That Works”. The one-day conference will be graced by Major-General (NS) Chan Chun Sing, Acting Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports, and Minister of State for Information, Communications and the Arts. The 350 participants expected at the conference include social service professionals from Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWOs), Community Development Councils, and other government agencies (Schools, Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Singapore Prisons Service) working with children and families.

Jointly organised by the national Dads for Life movement and the Social Service Training Institute (SSTI), the training academy of the National Council of Social Service (NCSS), the conference aims to highlight the importance of including fathers in social service intervention, and promising and good practices in father engagement, both locally and abroad. Organisers of the conference hope that the conference marks the start of a more concerted drive to strengthen knowledge and expertise related to local fatherhood intervention, within the context of a limited but growing base of evidence-based practice in fatherhood intervention.

Mr Richard Seow, Chairman of the Fathers Action Network, driving the Dads for Life movement, shared, “We’ve met so many variations of fathers in the course of our work, all trying to be the best fathers they can be. We’ve also met many fatherhood supporters, including social service practitioners, each with their own stories of father engagement to share. The conference is a small step in supporting these practitioners in their journey, in giving them additional tools that they can use in their work, and in reminding them that there is a larger community that they are a part of, to share and to learn from.”

Dads for Life also revealed early findings from a baseline study on father engagement among social service practitioners that is still ongoing, which suggests that while practitioners recognise the value of father engagement, there is more that can be done to equip them with the necessary skills to do so. Dads for Life intends to engage the social service sector more when the survey is completed, within the two months.

Guest of Honour, MG (NS) Chan Chun Sing, said, “Beyond understanding and recognising the role of fathers’ involvement, what I have heard and witnessed is also a strong commitment and desire on the part of practitioners like yourselves, to learn more and do more to ensure that you practice engagement and intervention that works. This conference, then, is an important step in that direction..... If we can reach more fathers who in turn become positive influencers for their children’s lives, these children will have a better chance of becoming emotionally and socially resilient adults.”

The conference will focus on fathers and parenting interventions that have worked, across a diverse range of client groups – divorced fathers, fathers of special needs children, fathers living apart from their children, incarcerated fathers and fathers involved in child welfare settings, among others. The two keynote speakers, Ms Adrienne Burgess from the Fatherhood Institute in the United Kingdom, and Mr W.C.Hoecke from the National Family Preservation Network in the United States, will outline the vision and opportunities to engage fathers in diverse settings, particularly within the separated fathers and special needs communities, which are their respective areas of expertise.

Participants at the conference will also receive a newly developed handbook for practitioners, developed by the Dads for Life Secretariat, with the contributions of local social service professionals and NCSS, that captures key international literature and local practice insights on engaging fathers, including how to ensure that the physical setting is welcoming to fathers, and how female practitioners can be an invaluable resource in engaging them. The handbook also maps out useful steps for organisations seeking to review their vision and processes to be more father-friendly.

Speaking on SSTI’s collaboration with Dads for Life, Ms Ang Bee Lian, NCSS Chief Executive Officer, said, “Social service professionals can make a marked difference to the families they serve by deepening the engagement of fathers in their work. NCSS is committed to fund and share the findings of good research proposals, such as the project by Dr Katijah Dawood on ‘Helping Children Cope with Divorce’, which will help increase the effectiveness of practitioners working with fathers.”

Four workshops, two each for practitioners and special groups of fathers respectively, will take place in the next two days following the conference. The two workshops for practitioners will cover working with separated fathers and fathers in child welfare settings. The two workshops for fathers will cover parenting in situations of separation and in families with special needs children. All sessions will be led by Ms Adrienne Burgess and Mr W.C. Hoecke, the two keynote speakers at the conference.

For more information, please contact:

About Dads for Life

The “Dads for Life” Movement is an initiative of the National Family Council (NFC), and supported by the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports (MCYS).  Launched in November 2009, the movement seeks to inspire and involve fathers to become good influencers in their children’s lives... for life by getting Fathers to ACT:

A  - Be Aware of the importance of fathers’ roles

C  - Commit to be good fathers and role models to their children

T  - Spend Time, Acquire Tools, bring Transformation to lives.

“Dads for Life” is driven by a community-led Fathers Action Network (FAN), chaired by Mr Richard Seow, who also serves as the Chairman of Singapore Sports Council, Republic Polytechnic and the Anglo-Chinese School Board of Governors and Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) Board of Management. FAN is a consultative network for father-related issues and programmes. MCYS serves as the Secretariat to FAN.

For more information, please visit www.dadsforlife.sg.

Social Service Training Institute

The Social Service Training Institute (SSTI) takes on the strategic and leadership role in driving training and non-profit board governance efforts for the social service sector. We offer a wide spectrum of services geared towards enhancing the capability of voluntary welfare organsiations and non-profit organisations.

Since its inception in June 2003, SSTI has been offering an extensive range of services dedicated to building organisational excellence and developing social service professionals.