HTGC provides a model for engaging with dads during the period around the birth – when they are most open to information and support and are most likely to be in touch with public services. Independent evaluation shows that HTGC, with the opportunity it provides for dads to learn alongside – and from – other fathers, is effective at giving fathers greater confidence and skills, and encouraging them to be more supportive to mothers.
Recruitment of dads works smoothly because HTGC is presented as an integral part of antenatal services, which men are already well engaged with. And once it’s going, agencies find that HTGC develops a life of its own, quickly becoming a cost-effective and self-sustaining programme in which expectant dads, once they have become fathers, come back and act as mentors for the next intake of dads-to-be…and so on.
The cost of £5,000 to become an HTGC provider includes:
