Establishing acceptable

Abstract

The need to support young fathers is increasingly becoming a key theme in central and local government policy and practice. Research shows that young fathers can often feel unsupported and disengaged by local services and are most likely to access such support as a result of word-of mouth marketing. In the last few years, the introduction and subsequent rapid rise in the number of people who use social networking sites has dramatically changed the marketing and communications landscape leaving little doubt that local authorities will need to adopt these approaches and engage with citizens on their terms. However, given that this is largely uncharted territory, determining acceptable 'rules of engagement' for undertaking such as approach presents questions for a local authority. This study sets out to explore the idea and determine key issues and establish appropriate initial recommendations. The case study approach was adopted focusing upon Liverpool City Council's Sure Start Children's Centres that are now operating across the city. This approach was selected as it provides the opportunity to use existing secondary data sources. A literature review was followed by primary research that consisted of semi-structured interviews with young fathers. The findings were reviewed against the key themes and a series of recommendations were made in response to the conclusions.