A father has spoken about a struggle he faced after moving to Australia that his wife didn’t – and the simple way he was able to fix it.
When Adrian Engel moved to Perth from South Africa four years he noticed his wife was building a friendship circle – but he was finding it hard to meet other dads.
After a chance meeting with another South African father at a playground they decided to do something about it, starting up their own father’s group at Honeywood Primary School.
“We have no family here in Australia, so forming the Dad’s group helped me expand my friendship circle as well as giving me a trusted place to go when I need the kind of parenting advice that you might normally get from your own parents,” Mr Engel, a father-of-two, said.
He is now the WA Partnerships Manager at the Fathering Project – an organisation which helps establish dad groups to improve parenting, help struggling dads and build better relationships with family and the community.
NCA NewsWire can reveal that the government will commit an additional $4.1m over the next two years to The Fathering Project, which currently has more than 760 dad’s groups across Australia.
The extra funding – on top of $5.4m over three years committed in 2018 – will expand the programs which support more than 320,000 families through face-to-face peer support groups, parenting education and digital tools.
The Fathering Project CEO Káti Gapaillard said the challenges of Covid and shifting societal expectations had exacerbated stress within families.
“This funding has come at a critical time for the Australian community,” Ms Gapaillard said.
“Our experience at the coalface indicates a growing wave of men are struggling with fatherhood, resulting in poor mental health outcomes and contributing to increase rates of domestic violence, suicide child abuse and neglect.”
Michael Baldwin, is a Dad’s group leader with The Fathering Project in Campsie, in Sydney’s southwest, which has been hit hard by Covid and lockdowns.
“When my kids started at Campsie Primary school, I rarely saw other dads in the schoolyard, it was primarily the female carers doing drop off and pick up and fulfilling the various volunteering roles you typically see in the primary school environment,” the father-of-five said.
“I saw that many Campsie locals, particularly the men, were really struggling with work, relationships and family issues.
“A lot were isolated, experiencing mental health issues and lacking the confidence and opportunity to get involved and connect with their community.”
Mr Baldwin has held some events and meetings this year and while Covid has created challenges he’s planning on building the group up in 2022.
Announcing the new funding, Families and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said the government was committed to supporting dads and strengthening their relationships with children.
“This is especially important now, as dads may have felt like they didn’t have a support network of other dads through lockdowns,” she said.
Originally published as Families Minister Anne Ruston commits $4.1m funding to support dads
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