Fatherhood, the Church and the First Thousand Days

In May Sikunye launched their ‘Fatherhood, The Church & the First Thousand Days’ webinar series – with two installments complete and one still to come in June. These unique online events connect the dots between government, faith communities and society, with perspectives from local government representatives, researchers, and both church and NGO leaders. Sikunye is calling South Africa to embrace a Whole of Society Approach (WoSA) and to join the conversation on this crucial subject.

• 31.7% of black children in SA live with their biological fathers, compared with 80.2% of white children, and 86.1% of Indian & Asian children – stats released in a StatsSA report in Feb 2021.
• Currently, 50% of children in South Africa do not receive the responsive care they need in their First Thousand Days (FTD) of life.
• A face-value interpretation of these stats could create the misconception that fatherhood in South Africa is racially determined - but the picture is far more complex and income is in fact the most influencial factor.
• The barriers that impede positive fatherhood engagement are structural, institutional, interpersonal and perceptual, where the latter encompasses both how women think of men, and what men think of themselves.
• Fathers, and father figures, play an essential role in changing this story – from their positive impact on children’s academic success and confidence, to the ability to influence maternal mental health.
• Natural communities, like the church, have assets that can be used to create communities of support, around fathers and families, that can change the trajectory of a child’s life.
• We need to work together, with complementary visions and a Whole of Society perspective, for our initiatives in the FTD to succeed. The future of South Africa quite literally depends on it.

When StatsSA released the ‘Children’s Education and Well-Being in South Africa’ report this year, the results were shocking; 31.7% of black children in SA live with their biological fathers, compared with 80.2% of white children, and 86.1% of Indian & Asian children. Dr Tawanda Makusha of the Human Science Research council, however, challenged the face-value assumption that fatherhood in SA is racially determined in the first webinar of Sikunye’s series, showing how income, rather than race was the most pivotal factor. Another view on those same stats shows that only 21% of children in the poorest quintile live in a household with both parents, compared to 75% of children from the wealthiest quintile. Income, rather than race is the biggest determinant of fatherhood residency.

In the second webinar of the series, Dr Linda Richter, distinguished professor at the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development, uncovered the entrenched barriers to fatherhood engagement. Structural barriers are rife, including poverty, unemployment, migrant labour and a shortage of housing. In South Africa 74% of young people (15-24) are unemployed. Of those who are employed, 30% earn less than minimum age. When this is combined with the average age of first childbirth in South Africa – 21 years of age for the mother – it becomes apparent that most parents do not have enough money to support themselves and their child. This is a social justice issue with implication on societal development.

Institutional barriers – how we organise our society socially in terms of schools, health services and religious institutions – also play a pivotal role, as do interpersonal barriers. Most pregnancies in SA are unplanned and only 26% of babies are born to couples who are married. What this means is that parents are relationally insecure, unsure of how they should relate to each other, which can lead to paternal denialism, a mother barring the father from visiting, or a baby used as manipulation tool between the parents. Inhlawulo and lobola also create barriers at an interpersonal level, where poor fathers are shut out - to the detriment of their children.

Finally, perceptual barriers are also at play, where society tells us that men should be providers and disciplinarians, where women believe that men are not capable as caregivers, or men believe that they will be thought of as ‘less manly’ in a caregiving role.

Yet the need for engaged and positive fathering is both important and urgent – particularly in the First Thousand Days (FTD) of a child’s life, from conception to their second birthday. Dr Hilary Goeiman, of the Western Cape Department of Health, unpacked the biology and neuroscience at work in this period, particularly focused on rapid brain development and the impact of toxic stress – the effect of
which can be felt up to the 3rd generation. According to Professor Mark Tomlinson, fatherhood engagement in this early period can impact maternal mental health and indeed the entire life trajectory of the child. His call to action reaffirmed Dr Makusha’s, and later Terence Mentor’s (aka Afrodaddy), that fathers need to do more than show up. The gift fathers bring is not only their role as
provider or disciplinarian, but their presence, courage, love and connection to the emotional wellbeing of both child and mother.

As Dr Makusha explained, an expanded understanding of what positive fathering both is and is not, can help create a map for how we could better care for this nation’s children. Non-residency does not equate to absence, and co-residency does not equate to positive fatherhood. In fact - an engaged but physically distant father can be better than a present father, if that presence is not positive. We
need a more comprehensive definition of fatherhood than co-residency – and in fact one that encompasses social fathering. In South Africa, many children live with relatives who can more easily provide for their food and education needs, and 70% of households are extended family households. While the biological father may not be physically present, there are other forms of fathering that provide an opportunity to change the trajectory of young lives in this country.

So, what can be done to change the story of fatherhood in South Africa? As Dr Goeiman encouraged, “building children’s brains is everyone’s responsibility”. All webinar speakers highlighted the need to work as a collective to transform the environment that children live in, and to find complementary visions of fatherhood that will ensure our interventions in the FTD succeed. Within a Whole of Society
Approach (WoSa), partnerships are pivotal, and one of the most potentially transformative actors is the local church. As Dr Deborah Hancox of Micah Global explained, church and religion is pervasive in South Africa, with 79.8% of the population aligned to the Christian faith and 40 000 Christian faith communities reaching every corner of the country. There is much that the church, as an important stakeholder in society, can do. This will be the focus of the third and final webinar in the series, ‘What churches can do’, on June 10th. Sikunye would like to invite interested parties from all sectors to attend.
Participants can register, or find out more, here.

If you want to hear more from these first two sessions, the 13th May recording is here and 27th May recording here. To explore further the research informing Sikunye’s work, you can read our published research project: The Church’s role in supporting human development in the First Thousand Days.

For More Information
Please contact: Richard Lundie |Sikunye Programme Director
+2784 704 8073 | richard.lundie@commongood.org.za