|PIC1|Dads got together at the Houses of Parliament on Tuesday to launch DadTalk.co.uk, a new web resource to strengthen and support fathers in their role as a parent and change perceptions of fatherhood in society.

The website, supported by the Family Matters Institute, features articles, videos and podcasts exploring some of the 'nitty gritty' aspects of being a dad, as well as a forum that will allow dads to chat to one another about their experiences or challenges.

It is about "increasing the confidence of fathers" and "getting dads talking to other dads about the most important job in their lives - being dad", said Matt Buttery, chief executive of the Family Matters Institute.

"Mums equally matter but I think that we dads have lost our own self-esteem, our own self-worth and some of our own importance in the life of the children we are involved with," he said.

Speaking as the host of yesterday's launch, Conservative MP and Evangelical Alliance council member Alistair Burt said that the resource would help counter the trend of broken relationships in society.

"We are worried about the national pattern of changing relationships in marriage and between adults, and the damage that's being done principally to young people," he said. "We could not be launching this website at a more appropriate time."

DadTalk would, he added, present fatherhood in a fresh, modern way and "make the concept of fatherhood meaningful to generations to come".

The website is dedicated particularly to supporting fathers in the African and Caribbean community, and fathers needing advice in raising teenage children.

Shaun Bailey, Conservative candidate for Hammersmith and co-founder of support charity My Generation, acknowledged that the African and Caribbean community was "notorious" for its lack of fatherhood but added that it was beginning to "re-find" the importance of fathers.

He said that the likes of MTV and Nuts and Zoo magazines were becoming replacement dads for fatherless boys.

"I grew up in a place where if you never had your father you had MTV and you had the road," he said. "I challenge anybody to watch half an hour of MTV and see if you would like that to raise your children. It is utterly, utterly disgusting.

"I challenge you to read Nuts magazine, Zoo, watch Eastenders for a while, and then talk to some young people and see what they think is the norm."

He added, "There are entire industries dedicated to removing our youth. And one of the most powerful tools to [counter] that industry is a father."

Bailey went on to highlight the link between fatherlessness and some of the problem social behaviour affecting youth in Britain, particularly the direct correlation between the sexual behaviour of teenage girls and their relationships with their fathers. Crime and anti-social behaviour among boys, meanwhile, is rooted in a "misconception of what it is to be a man", he said.

"There is a role that a father and only a father can play. No amount of psychiatry or support officers in schools, no amount of mentoring is going to make up for a good father," he said. "A half decent father would beat any mentor hands down because of the emotional link."

Fathers at the launch voiced concern at the recent vote in Parliament to remove the clause in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill referring to the need for IVF children to have a father.

Bailey called for changes in the law to protect their status: "The more irresponsible the law makes fathers, the less responsible they will be."

Conservative MP Iain Duncan Smith, who joined the launch, said he had found the legislation "horrific" and denounced it as "another process of consigning fatherhood to a sort of marginal position in society".

He praised DadTalk for its efforts to elevate the status of fathers. "We have a huge battle on our hands to restore fathers back in society in their rightful place ... [DadTalk] is all part of the process, I take my hat off to you for it."

The Rev Nims Obunge of the Peace Alliance also welcomed the launch of the website, saying that it would help re-establish fathers as "heroes" in the eyes of their children.

"This is an opportunity for fathers irrespective of colour or denominations because we are able to share together the things that we are learning as fathers," he said. "And ultimately by learning from the greatest father of all, our Father in Heaven, we can raise children who are beacons of hope in communities that presuppose there are massive problems with fathers and with children."

He added. "This has to be about the good news. This has to be the hopeful side that says we are making a difference."

One 13-year-old boy from the Luton Young Leaders Academy summed up the potential of the website: "If DadTalk gets it right...there won't be absent fathers."



For more, go to www.dadtalk.co.uk