Caring Dads: Safer Children

The NSPCC Caring Dads: Safer Children programme protects children through working with fathers who are violent to their partners. It helps these fathers stop their abuse, recognise the impact their behaviour has on their children, and improve their parenting.

Why?

Children can be deeply traumatised by witnessing violence between their parents or carers, even if they do not suffer violence directly. Violent dads often spend time with their children, even if they no longer live with them. Serious Case Reviews often highlight the need for a better understanding of the risks angry and violent dads can pose to children, particularly after a parent's break-up.

What happens?

The NSPCC Caring Dads: Safer Children programme helps protect children by working with violent fathers to stop their abuse. The NSPCC works with dads in small groups to improve their parenting skills and to help them understand how their violent behaviour has affected their children. The programme is working with 100 fathers in four locations: Peterborough, Cardiff, Prestatyn and Belfast for a two year period. All the fathers are in contact with their children, even if they are separated from the child's mother. They have all said they want to change their violent behaviour. Convicted men normally must have undertaken a relevant course to address their violence before they join the programme.

How it will make a difference

Caring Dads: Safer Children aims to ensure children feel safe and happy when in contact with previously violent dads. It also aims to get dads to acknowledge how their behaviour affects their children and increase their awareness of how to be a good parent. The NSPCC will work with the Canadian Caring Dads programme (where this work originated) to share results with other organisations and professionals, so they can develop better services for children who have witnessed domestic abuse with an aim to roll out this model to other organisations, such as local authorities and voluntary sector organisations, so more children damaged by domestic abuse can enjoy safer, happier relationships with their fathers.