Articles
Educational and Social Marketing Tools
By: John Hoffman
Looking for educational or social marketing tools for working with fathers or promoting father involvement? This listing provides information about father-oriented brochures, booklets, posters, DVDs, parenting courses, websites, public service announcements and resources for professionals. All resources in this list were either developed in Canada or are currently in use by Canadian organizations working with fathers, and all are available to other organzations either through purchase of materials or training opportunities.This list is continually growing, so check back often for updates.
Brochures
The BC Council for Families, British Columbia's hub for information and resources for and about families, offers the Fatherhood Pamphlet Series: six different titles for fathers.
Dads
and Babies: Connecting with your infant
Dads
and Toddlers: Connecting with your toddler
Dads
and Teens: Connecting with your teenager.
Dads
Away from Home. Keeping the connection when work takes dad away.
Rookie
Dad. Ten things every new mom should know.
Rookie
Moms. Ten things every new dad should know.
Brochure for young fathers:
Teen Dads. Your baby needs you.
Booklets
Father Involvement Initiative - Ontario Network (FII-ON) Booklets : Six 40-page booklets, which provide helpful and accessible information on various aspects of fathering.
Involved
Fathers. A Guide for Today's Dad.
Full-time
Dad. Part-time Kids. A guide for recently divorced and separated fathers.
Daddy
Come Play With Me. A father's guide to play with young children.
Kids
We Can Count On. A father's guide to building character in children.
One
Step at a Time. A guide for fathers living in blended families.
Daddy I Need You. A father's guide to early childhood brain development.
More Booklets
Hands-On Dad - 40-page booklet for new fathers was written for the Psychology Foundation of Canada's Parenting For Life series. Hands-On Dad was originally written in the late 1990s and was out of print for several years, however it was updated in 2008 and is availabe for order or download from the website of the Psychology Foundation. For more information click here.
Dads Make a Difference: 30- page booklet and poster from Saskatchewan Prevention Institute. Click here for more information
Posters
Celebrating All Fabulous Fathers This poster depicts photos of
gay, bisexual, queer and trans dads, granddads and their children and
grandchildren along with text celebrating the variety of families with
GBQT fathers and the word father translated into 40 different
languages. To download a copy of the English language poster click here.
To download the French language version of the poster, click here.
Celebrating All Fabulous Fathers is available for distribution across Canada. To order copies contact Mariko Tamaki mtamaki@sherbourne.on.ca
Five colour posters promoting father involvement.
Similar
poster series adapted for Aboriginal families.
All
FII-ON materials are available in English and French language versions.
Black Fathers and Positive Parenting Posters
A set of five posters celebrating Black Fathers, developed by the Macaulay Centre for Child Development, which operates the More Than a Haircut programs for fathers in Toronto's Afro-Caribbean community.
Canadian Website for New Fathers
A website for new dads which uses car maintenance analogies to offer practical information for new dads on topics like newborn care, new mother care, breastfeeding and the adaptation to fatherhood. The website, inspired by the 24 Hr Cribside Assistance booklet, was developed by the Father Involvement Initiative - Ontario Network (FII-ON).
DVD and Video
Believe in me!/Je suis là!
Believe in me!/Je suis là! is the first Canadian film to provide a
window into the minds of teenaged and youthful fathers. The 26-minute
documentary presents interviews with some of the young fathers and
community professionals who were partners in FIRA's Young Fathers
Cluster, led by Annie Devault, professor of social work at the
Université du Québec en Outaouais. Click here to read a detailed review of the video. Produced by Artesian Films and the Young Fathers Cluster of the Father Involvement Research Alliance.
Limited single copies are available from the Father Involvement Initiative - Ontario Network. Click here for ordering information.
Fatherhood: Indigenous Men's Journeys
This DVD is part of a resource package developed by the community and
university partners in working on FIRA’s Indigenous Fathers Cluster.
The Indigenous Fathers Resource Package, which also includes two
booklets and other materials, is available through the website of Early
Childhood Development Intercultural Partnerships, a multi-site research
project led by Jessica Ball at the University of Victoria. Click here to read a more detailed article about the DVD and resource package.
The full resource package (available for $90.00 plus shipping and taxes ) includes:
• Fatherhood: Indigenous Men's Journeys. 40 minute DVD telling the
stories of six Aboriginal fathers (for more information about the DVD,
click here)
• Aboriginal Fathers. A Guide for Community Programs (60 page, full colour booklet)
• Beginning the Journey of Fatherhood. A Guide for Aboriginal Men. (60 page full colour booklet)
• 17” X 23” poster
• Summary of the Indigenous Fathers Research Project
• Information sheets
• Worksheet for program workshops.
The DVD can also be ordered separately.
Full ordering and pricing information can be found at:
www.ecdip.org/order
More Than a Haircut DVD
A 30 minute documentary featuring voices from participants in Toronto's More than a Haircut, a program for fathers in Toronto's African Canadian community. To watch a trailer click here. For ordering information, clck here.
Fatherhood-oriented Parenting Courses
The Parenting Partnership. A prenatal and parenting program, developed by Invest In Kids specifically for expectant, first-time parent couples who have access to the internet. Course material covers pregnancy, birth, supporting healthy child development and working out an effective parenting partnership. The program will be offered in a combination of weekly web-based sessions and flexibly scheduled face-to-face sessions. The Parenting Partnership was piloted with 250 parents in several Ontario centres and is now available to organizations in all part of Canada. For more information click here.
Be a Great Dad: A five-week general fathering course developed by counsellor/life coach Warren Redman, for Families Matter, a Calgary organization that offers a wide range of services for parents. Redman has written a 107-page manual that gives the background on how the course was developed and provides step-by-step instructions to enable other facilitators to train themselves in how to set up and deliver the course. The manual is available by mail order for $100 plus shipping. Click here for more information about Be A Great Dad. To order the manual click here.
FII-BOCC- The FI-BOCC Program (Father Involvement - Building our Children's Character), is a 16-hour curriculum designed to teach fathers about the importance of being involved with their children and how to support their children's development of positive character traits. The program content was by members of The FI-BOCC Program Action Group based on general research findings about father involvement, as well as the material developed by The Virtues Project. For more information click here.
Caring Dads : is a 17-week intervention program designed for fathers who have highly problematic relationships with their children due to child abuse or family violence. The program was developed by a multi-disciplinary team led by psychologist Katreena Scott, of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, and piloted over a five year period. Subsequently, Caring Dads has been offered in Thunder Bay, Brantford, and Toronto. Program and training materials are now available to organizations interested in starting a Caring Dads program. For more information click here.
It's My Child
Too. A curriculum designed specifically for young
non-custodial fathers who may be having difficulty moving into the parenting
role. Developed by Purdue University's Centre for Families. Currently used by Ottawa's Young Fathers
Program and Family Services Saint John. For more information click here.
24/7
Dad. Developed
by the US-based, National Fatherhood Initiative, 24/7 Dad ncludes a basic fathering
program (24/7 Dad A.M.) and a more in-depth program (24/7 Dad P.M.), each
consisting of 12 two-hour sessions. Each program can be implemented in a group
setting or in a one-on-one home-based setting. Currently in use at the Brant Pregnancy and Resource Centre in Brantford, Ontario For more information about 24/7 Dad click here.
Public Service Announcements
Fatherhood. It's the best job on the planet This series of public service announcements was developed by a fatherhood project funded by Health Canada's National Project Fund from 2002 to 2004. Three print ads, four 30-second television spots (two French, two English) and four radio spots (two French, two English) are available for downloading free of charge for use by non-profit groups wishing to promote father involvement.
Resources for Professionals
The Effects of Father Involvement: An updated research summary of the evidence. Authored by Sarah Allen and Kerry Daly, This paper provides an overview of the way that men approach parenting and the effects that their involvement has on their children’s development. The report includes research on child development outcomes; father absence; men’s development; co-parental relationships; non-residential fathers; fathers, work, and family; and measures of father involvement.
Father Factors. What social science research tells us abouit fathers and how to work with them. This research report will help professionals who work with families gain a deeper, research-informed understanding of the fatherhood role and how it develops. Written by FIRA communications coordinator, John Hoffman, with the help of a financial contribution from the Public Health Agency of Canada, Father Factors cites some 125 journal articles, half of which are Canadian. To download the report, click on the above link. For further information, click here.
The Father Toolkit This document, a product of My Daddy Matters Because…, a Health-Canada funded project which ran from 2002 to 2004, contains a wealth of information on best practices, outreach strategies and other programming tools for programs interested in working more effectively with fathers.
Supporting Immigrant and Refugee Fathers. A Training Manual for Human Service Workers by Dawne Clark, Ph.D. and Rena Shimoni, Ph.D., Mount Royal College and David Este, Ph.D., University of Calgary. This manual was prepared by Calgary Immigrant Aid Society With funding by Health Canada Community Action Program for Children and the Canada Prenatal Nutrition Program, National Projects Fund
