Features

In My View - Mum's not the word

Service providers, including childcare settings, that don't ask directly for fathers' details are communicating to the family that 'dads don't matter'.

Knowing the fathers helps you do better by children. Fathers are routinely overlooked as both risk and resource, with failure to identify and engage with them contributing substantially to child abuse and even deaths.

You are legally permitted to record information that the mother (or anyone else) provides about the father - and any father figure - even when he is not present, has not given permission, lives separately, isn't married to the mother and has no Parental Responsibility.This is covered by the same data protection law as covers credit cards.

In our opinion, the best way to obtain the father's details is to:

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