Kids Without Dads programme

ITV's Tonight programme on Thursday 28th August looked at fatherlessness, following the recent Centre for Social Justice report on fractured families.

Recent research has shown that the number of lone parent families is on the rise in UK with over 1 million children living without any formal contact with their father. In certain areas of the country, young people are more likely to have a mobile phone in their pocket than a dad.

Fiona Foster travels up and down the country to find out about the impact of family breakdown and father absence. The UK rates as one of the top three countries in Europe with the highest number of single mums. Figures show that 2.8 million children live with their mother as the sole parent.

The programme explores the issues and prejudices li both mothers and fathers, highlighting the problems that are caused by the lack of male involvement in many children's lives. 

Maybe no surprises in this programme, but it did manage to convey some strong messages about the importance of fathers and the barriers that many face to stay involved.