Author: Matt Price
Author title: Director of Research & Grants, 1001 Critical Days Foundation
Description: Matt Price introduces the 1001 Critical Days Foundation, established in the UK by the The Rt Hon Dame Andrea Leadsom in March 2025. He also thanks outgoing Journal Founders Professor Mary Nolan and Shona Gore and introduces the new Editor Emeritus Professor Eunice Lumsden.

Author: Professor Marissa L. Diener and Professor Sarah J. Schoppe-Sullivan
Author title: Professor Marissa L. Diener of the Department of Family & Consumer Studies at the University of Utah, USA, Professor Sarah J. Schoppe-Sullivan of The Ohio State University, USA, outline the importance of including fathers in family services from Wpregnancy through to the postpartum period and beyond.
Description: Professor Marissa L. Diener and Professor Sarah J. Schoppe-Sullivan outline the importance of including fathers in family services from pregnancy through to the postpartum period and beyond.

Author: Kieran Anders
Author title: Dad Matters Lead, Home-Start UK
Description: Fathers matter - not only as partners and co-parents, but as vital attachment figures in a baby’s life. Yet fathers are often overlooked in perinatal care and support systems. Dad Matters, a national project originally developed by Home-Start HOST in Greater Manchester, has now engaged over 40,800 dads through universal outreach, delivered one-to-one peer support to nearly 2,000 fathers, and trained or engaged more than 15,000 professionals across the Home-Start network. This three-strand model of universal outreach, targeted one-to-one support, and professional engagement has been independently evaluated and shown to deliver meaningful impact.

This article explores the rationale for supporting dads from pregnancy onward, outlines common paternal needs, highlights how fathers prefer to receive support, and shares innovative approaches being piloted across the UK. We argue that supporting dads isn’t a ‘nice to have’ - it’s essential for family wellbeing, early child development, and breaking cycles of disadvantage.

The Independent Evaluation of the Dad Matters project with the data referred to in the article can be found at: https://tinyurl.com/5e5pdh9w

Author: David K. Evans and Pamela Jakiela
Author title: David K. Evans, Center for Global Development, Washington DC, USA
Pamela Jakiela, Williams College, Williamstown MA, USA, and Center for Global Development, Washington DC, USA
Description: Many programs seek to increase parent engagement with their children, but most of those programs target mothers. There have been fewer efforts to engage fathers and those efforts have shown mixed results. Understanding what current evidence tells us both about how fathers currently engage with their children, as well as the successes and failures of father-engagement programs, can help program implementers to design and carry out parenting programs in ways that are more likely to help fathers support their children’s development effectively.

Author: Kate Ellis-Davies, Kim Dienes, Ann John, Matthew Price
Author title:
Kate Ellis-Davies, The Interdisciplinary Perinatal Mental Health Group; School of Psychology, Swansea University, Wales
Kim Dienes, School of Psychology, Swansea University, Wales
Ann John, National Centre for Suicide Prevention and Self-Harm Research Matthew Price, 1001 Critical Days Foundation
Description: Paternal mental health following the birth of a child is increasingly recognised as a significant public health issue. However, the needs of new fathers remain overlooked in clinical practice, policy and research. The majority of deaths by suicide are in males, with the lifespan risk of suicide peaking during middle age, with increasing numbers of fathers transitioning to fatherhood during this period. Despite the impact paternal suicide may have on children and their families, these potentially preventable deaths are under-recognised due to fathers’ exclusion from perinatal suicide statistics and national guidelines. This article reviews what is known about paternal mental health and suicide in the first 1001 days (pregnancy to two years postpartum) and introduces conceptual frameworks from life transition theory and family systems theory to better understand risk and impact across the family system. We highlight urgent policy, practice and training needs, including systematic recording of fatherhood status in men’s health records and mortality data, national screening for paternal mental health, and training on paternal suicide risk and intervention for healthcare professionals.

Author: Stéfanie André
Author title:  Associate Professor of Public Administration specialising in Policy Inclusivity, Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Description: Paternity leave is becoming a vital part of family policy across Europe. Traditionally, fathers were seen mainly as breadwinners, but modern policies aim to support their role as caregivers. Research shows that when fathers take paternity leave, they become more involved in childcare and develop a stronger sense of identity as parents. This involvement benefits not only the child but also strengthens relationships within the family. Longer and better-paid leave increases the likelihood that fathers will use it. Paternity leave can therefore be part of inclusive family policy, recognizing the diverse needs of families. By supporting fathers through paternity leave, societies can foster more equal partnerships, healthier family dynamics, and better outcomes for children. These policies reflect a broader shift toward recognizing caregiving as a shared responsibility and valuing the role of all parents in early childhood development.

Note: Although EU legislation talks about the second recognised parent who can be of any gender, in line with the focus of this issue, the author talks about fathers in her article.

Author: Theo Clarke
Author title: Author, Podcaster, former Chair of the UK’s Birth Trauma Inquiry
Description: Having a child is one of the most momentous occasions in any parent’s life. When something unexpected happens during pregnancy or birth, the consequences can be devastating, leading to lifelong physical and psychological consequences that often remain unknown and unspoken about. Birth trauma has historically been understood as a maternal experience, but the Birth Trauma Inquiry, the first parliamentary inquiry of its kind in the United Kingdom, also revealed the profound and lasting effects on fathers and partners. Drawing on oral testimony and written submissions from fathers, this article explores their experiences of traumatic births, the impact on family life in the first 1000 days, and the lessons for practice and policy. For international readers, the UK Inquiry provides a case study of how parliamentary processes can expose systemic failures in maternity care while also amplifying the often-silenced voices of fathers.

Author: Daniela Aldoney, Jessica Jacoby and Sanndy Infante
Author title: Universidad del Desarrollo, Facultad de Psicología; Instituto de Bienestar Socioemocional (IBEM), Chile
Description: Fathering has shifted from the view of fathers as peripheral caregivers to their recognition as active and essential contributors to children’s development. Evidence shows that fathers are as capable as mothers of sensitive caregiving and of nurturing secure attachment, while also offering distinctive contributions through play, exploration, and language that stimulate children’s cognitive, language, and socioemotional growth.

This article reviews similarities and differences between mothers and fathers, highlights cultural variation in fathering practices, and notes gaps in the evidence due to reliance on Western, middle-class samples. We propose that practice and policy can benefit from more intentional inclusion of fathers, the design of father-friendly and culturally sensitive services, and research that values diversity to better support families and promote equity.

Author: Bithia O’Brien, Elizabeth Rigg, Karen McLaughlin
Author title:
Bithia O’Brien, Clinical Midwife Consultant & Educator, New South Wales Health, Australia
Elizabeth Rigg, President of Childbirth and Parenting Educators of Australia (CAPEA)
Karen McLaughlin, Post Doctoral Research FellowWestern Sydney University, Australia
Description: Fathers want to participate in antenatal education, yet many feel sidelined or invisible in maternity settings (The Fathering Project, 2023). This paper outlines teaching strategies to promote inclusiveness for fathers in childbirth education, explores barriers, and offers practical activities to create father- friendly classes. Strategies include using inclusive language and resources, recognising fathers as parents with needs rather than merely as ‘support people’, and activities about relationships and parenting expectations that reflect contemporary family life and gender equity, improving outcomes for families and their children (Smith et al., 2024).