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Journal Article This article reconsiders the development of fathers' rights politics within the legal arena in recent years, seeking to trace a way through the often highly polarised debates in this area. The paper argues that studies of fatherhood and law reform have much to gain from incorporating a more complex and multi-layered account of the interconnected nature of the personal lives of women, children and men. In the context of significant shifts in the messages law sends about the 'good father', as well as within parenting cultures, the paper tracks changes within fathers' rights activism to shifting…
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Journal Article We investigated children and families who were participating in a mentoring program targeting children with incarcerated parents. Using multiple methods and informants, we explored the development of the mentoring relationship, challenges and benefits of mentoring children with incarcerated parents, and match termination in 57 mentor-child dyads. More than one-third of matches terminated during the first 6 months of participation. For those matches that continued to meet, however, children who saw their mentors more frequently exhibited fewer internalizing and externalizing symptoms. In…
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Journal Article Fathers exist in the lives of women and children involved with child welfare authorities, and yet, they are rarely seen by child welfare. This invisibility exists whether or not fathers are deemed as risks or as assets to their families. Using an analysis of fundamental child welfare policies and practices and relevant literature, the paper examines how 'ghost' fathers are manufactured, and how this phenomenon affects families and professionals in child welfare. An analysis of gender, class, race and culture of child welfare discourses shows how these fathers are seen as deviant, dangerous,…
