Policy Press

Sharing Care

Equal and Primary Carer Fathers and Early Years Parenting

By Rachel Brooks and Paul Hodkinson

This timely study explores the experiences of fathers who take on equal or primary care responsibilities for young children. Offering academic insight and practical recommendations, this will be key reading for researchers, policymakers, practitioners and students interested in contemporary families.

Drawing on detailed qualitative research, this timely study explores the experiences of fathers who take on equal or primary care responsibilities for young children.

The authors examine what prompts these arrangements, how fathers adjust to their caregiving roles over time, and what challenges they face along the way.

The book asks what would encourage more fathers to become primary or equal caregivers, and how we can make things easier for those who do. Offering new academic insight and practical recommendations, this will be key reading for those interested in parenting, families and gender, including researchers, policymakers, practitioners and students.

"This engaging book provides a nuanced understanding of sharing care. It is a must read for all those seeking to contribute to change." Tina Miller, Oxford Brookes University

“This is a timely intervention in debates about contemporary fatherhoods and care sharing in the UK, offering clear implications for policy.” Anna Tarrant, University of Lincoln

"Extensively researched and clearly written, this book makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of fathers’ caregiving, and the ways it can – and should – be supported, in policy and public life." Gillian Ranson, University of Calgary

"Brooks and Hodkinson’s research solidly and beautifully makes the case that fathers’ caregiving has huge benefits - for men, women, families, children, and societies. It’s an argument that the world needs now - more than ever." Andrea Doucet, Brock University

"a worthy resource." Children & Society

Rachel Brooks is Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey.

Paul Hodkinson is Reader in Sociology at the University of Surrey.

Sharing Care: An Introduction

Extended Fatherly Involvement: Developments and Understandings

Developing Policy Support for Care Sharing: And Its Limitations

Shifting Care Horizons: Care- sharing Arrangements, Motivations and Transitions

Developing Fatherly Roles and Identities: Towards Parental Equivalence?

Daytime Social Isolation from Other Parents

Care- sharing Futures