The Challenges of Group Working with Young Men who are Fathers.

Working with young men in groups can be a valuable way to create space for young men to focus on their identities as fathers. However, group work can be challenging to initiate and sustain. Community groups for young men who are fathers are quite resource intensive, which may pose challenges to the third-sector groups who run them, particularly as state provision is rolled back and the third sector is being required to enter that space. Skilled workers are integral to group work where positive role models need to be carefully facilitated and toxic aspects of masculinity challenged. This chapter suggests caution over the notion that groups are the solution or an easy means of providing support for young men who are fathers. (Author abstract)