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PurposeThis paper explores service provision for young fathers through analysis of data from the three-year ESRC funded project Following Young Fathers. The purpose of this paper is to explore the idea that young fathers are a "hard to reach" group. It begins with a discussion of literature and research evidence on this theme. The empirical discussion draws on data collected in interviews and focus groups with practitioners, service managers and those working to develop and deliver family support services.Design/methodology/approachThe ESRC Following Young Fathers study used qualitative longitudinal methods to research the perspectives of fathers under the age of 25, mapping the availability of services to support them and investigating professional and policy responses to their needs. The strand reported on here focussed on the perspectives of a range of practitioners, service managers and those involved in developing and commissioning services.FindingsThe research findings, and those of other projects discussed in the paper, challenge the idea that young fathers are "hard to reach", suggesting that we should, conversely, consider that many services are actually hard to access. Thus, increasing young fathers' engagement requires better understanding of their often complex needs and a reshaping of service design and delivery to account for them. The paper highlights how the configuration, funding and delivery of services can inhibit young fathers' use of them, and identifies ways in which they could be made more accessible.Originality/valueThe ESRC Following Young Fathers Study filled an important gap in knowledge about the lives of young fathers, developing understandings of their experiences and support needs. The strand reported on here draws on research with practitioners to provide an in-depth discussion of how services currently support young fathers, and how they could be better configured to address their often complex and diverse needs.

Qualitative research into the lives and experiences of young fathers has seen some increased interest in recent years, yet comprehensive understandings of the 'doing' of such research remain absent from the literature. The small existing literature positions young men who are fathers as potentially difficult to research, in terms of access and encounters. This article draws on experiences and reflections from two UK-based research projects with young men who are fathers to explore the practice of qualitative work with this particular group of participants. Beyond the choice of methodology, there appear to be several elements pertaining to the practice of researching the lives of young men who are fathers that may require consideration. Through discussion of gender, class, context, authenticity and rapport, the article argues that researching young men is not inherently problematic but is a practice which requires consideration and substantial reflexion in order to produce fruitful research encounters for both parties. This article therefore seeks to add nuance and insight into the experience of researching with young men who are fathers, and in doing so, adds sophistication to our limited understandings of qualitative encounters with this group.

The entry into fatherhood is a major life course transition involving the acquisition of new adult roles and responsibilities. This transition is rarely planned for young fathers, and may involve a range of challenges, not least their capacity to provide materially and financially for their child. Drawing on a Qualitative Longitudinal study of young fathers in the UK, this article charts their very different pathways through education, training and employment, showing how these are shaped by a constellation of life circumstances. The implications for policy are considered in the light of a shifting landscape of welfare reform and 'austerity' measures.

This article provides a case study of the challenges faced by one local authority in supporting young fathers, in a context of changing models of service provision, resource constraints and professional training needs. Developments in service provision are tracked over a decade, starting with a mentoring service set up under New Labour's 10-year Teenage Pregnancy Strategy, and considering how this has been refashioned under new models of service provision. The article was developed in close consultation with local authority service providers and draws on both professional accounts and the perspectives of young fathers as clients of the service. Overall, the article contributes to debates around the relative strengths of mainstream and specialist support for young fathers, and suggests the value of specialist support within mainstream provision.

We have provided here an annotated list of resources, key organisations and programmes that support young fathers and details of data sources for secondary use. The information complements the citations within the individual articles in this themed section.

On‐site outsourcing can be an effective strategy for organizations but operational performance may be temporarily hindered and recovery from this can take many months.

On‐site outsourcing can be an effective strategy for organizations but operational performance may be temporarily hindered and recovery from this can take many months.This study explores an instance of outsourcing in an aerospace maintenance and repair operation (MRO) in South Wales, where the inbound materials handling and warehousing (IMHW) function has been wholly outsourced to a third‐party organization. In this respect the study is novel and sheds new light on the operational performance benefits of outsourcing.The host organization, located in South Wales, employs over 1000 staff and its annual turnover is in excess of £1 billion. The outsourcing organization is a provider of workforce solutions to organizations in aviation, defense, government, and technology sectors. After outsourcing the IMHW function, the host organization's staff were retained and re‐employed in other areas of the facility.Specifically, this study provides a quantitative analysis of the IMHW function, comparing the throughput and accuracy of the function before and after outsourcing. The analysis is made based on data extracted from the host organization's management information system (MIS), spanning the 13 months prior to, and 16 months post, the function being outsourced.Using trend analysis, correlation, and linear regression analysis it finds that on‐site outsourcing can deliver comparable operational performance, in terms of IMHW functional throughput and accuracy, to the host organization, and therefore be an effective strategy for organizations wishing to focus upon core competencies.It also highlights that operational performance can be severely hindered following functional outsourcing and that recovery from this can take many months. It postulates that preparation for functional handover, especially in the form of training and tacit knowledge exchange between host and outsourcing employees, requires careful planning to minimize disruptions and maximize operational benefits.The literature section begins by exploring the ...

Children's reports about their play in middle childhood and the emotions they associate with play have received limited research attention. Using focus groups, this study asked 38 children in the UK about what, where and with whom they played. They were also asked how play made them feel. Children reported a wide range of play behaviours, with outdoor and traditional games being just as prominently mentioned as play with electronic devices. The emotional importance of play in middle childhood was apparent, with children associating play with strong positive emotions, and not being able to play with negative emotions and anxiety.

Drawing on a wide array of policy domains and events, this book provides an innovative account of social control and behaviourism within welfare systems and social policies, and the implications for disadvantaged groups. This accessible collection reviews the controls, assumptions and persuasions applied to individuals and households and explores broader themes, including how 'new behaviourism' was consolidated during the New Labour and Cameron periods. Social policy and social control offers timely engagements with key issues for researchers and policy makers, and is relevant for students in social policy, sociology, socio-legal studies, social work and social care, disability studies, human geography, politics and public policy, and gender, family and life course studies