The Children North East Fathers Plus Service commenced in 1997 and has grown to be of national and international significance.

The project aim is to ensure that men in caring roles are valued, supported and included in all approaches to work with children and families.  Including male carers has been shown to improve outcomes for children and young people and is an important element of the Every Child Matters agenda.

Through infrastructure projects such as the Fatherhood Resource Centre, the North East Father Work Forum and the online knowledge bank at IncludingMen.com Fathers Plus continues to build capacity and support organisations to include men.

The project objectives are:

• To develop, deliver and share with others practical approaches to parent support
   for fathers
• To ensure that the role of the father is considered and included whenever services    for children and families are being planned
•  To co-ordinate the North East Forum (the network of colleagues committed to    working with fathers) as a means of continually improving practice.

Fathers Plus is headed up by Roger Olley who works with a Project Manager and a number of father workers in a variety of projects.

The project team works with many organisations and agencies on an advisory/consultancy basis.  They offer workshops, training and practical advice when requested and contribute to strategic groups and bodies that make decisions which impact on the lives of fathers and their children.  The project has developed training resources that are used in local and national settings.

A number of Sure Start programmes, Children's Centres and schools have Children North East Fathers Plus workers involved and our service also works, on an advisory basis, into many other settings.

Click here to access more information on the work of the Fathers Plus Service.