Mentoring Fatherless Boys

Global Insights and Lessons for the UK

In 2025, Lads Need Dads Founder and Managing Director, Sonia Shaljean, was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to explore how different countries understand and respond to the needs of boys growing up without a consistent father figure.

Her Fellowship took her to South Africa, the United States and Australia, alongside research and consultation in the UK. She met with mentoring organisations, practitioners, researchers, policymakers and others working with boys, young men, fathers and families, exploring what works, where the gaps remain, and what the UK can learn.

The resulting report, Mentoring for Fatherless Boys: Global Insights and Lessons for the UK, brings together those international insights with Sonia’s experience of developing and delivering early-intervention work with boys through Lads Need Dads.

At its heart is a simple question: why do we so often fail to recognise boys growing up without a consistent father figure until difficulties have already reached crisis point?

The report sets out key findings and 23 recommendations for the UK, spanning early intervention, education, mentoring, family support, policy, research and greater recognition of father absence as a factor in boys’ lives.

Two versions are available to download:

Executive Summary – a concise overview of the Fellowship, key findings and recommendations.

Full Fellowship Report – the complete research, international learning, evidence, case studies and recommendations.

We hope these reports contribute to a wider national conversation about how we identify and support boys earlier – before crisis.

Please cite Lads Need Dads CIC if referencing or quoting from this publication.

If you would like to discuss the findings, invite us to present the report, or explore opportunities to work together, please get in touch

This report forms part of Lads Need Dads’ growing evidence base, alongside ongoing programme evaluation and founder Sonia Shaljean’s Churchill Fellowship exploring international approaches to supporting boys growing up without a consistent father figure.

Mothers Raising Sons Alone

A report examining what mothers told us about their sons, the concerns they carry and what could help boys sooner.

As part of Sonia Shaljean’s 2025 Churchill Fellowship research into how we better support boys growing up without a consistent father figure, Lads Need Dads heard directly from 69 mothers raising sons without consistent father involvement.

The research explored the realities of raising boys alone, the challenges mothers encounter as their sons grow, the support currently available to them, and what they feel would make the greatest difference.

Many mothers spoke about wanting greater access to positive male role models and mentors for their sons, alongside practical guidance, emotional support and opportunities to connect with other mothers in similar circumstances. Of those surveyed, 58 had never attended a support group specifically for mothers raising sons, while 45 said they would attend one in the future and a further 19 said they might.

Their experiences form an important part of the wider Fellowship research and reinforce a central message: supporting boys growing up without a consistent father figure also means listening to and supporting the mothers raising them.

Please cite Lads Need Dads CIC if referencing or quoting from this publication.

If you would like to discuss the findings, invite us to present the report, or explore opportunities to work together, please get in touch

This report forms part of Lads Need Dads’ growing evidence base, alongside ongoing programme evaluation and founder Sonia Shaljean’s Churchill Fellowship exploring international approaches to supporting boys growing up without a consistent father figure.

Men’s Lived Experiences of Growing Up Without a Consistent Father Figure

This independent survey was commissioned and conducted by Lads Need Dads CIC to capture the voices of adult men who grew up without a consistent father figure.

Whilst there is increasing discussion about the importance of fathers, far less attention is given to the long-term experiences of the boys who become men. This report seeks to help address that gap by sharing the lived experiences of 59 men from seven countries, the majority from the United Kingdom.

Participants spoke openly and honestly about the impact growing up without a consistent father figure had on their childhood, education, relationships, work, mental wellbeing and their own experiences of becoming fathers.

Alongside these lived experiences, the report offers practical recommendations for policymakers, schools, practitioners and communities, highlighting the importance of earlier intervention and long-term support for boys before difficulties become entrenched.

We are incredibly grateful to every man who contributed so honestly to this survey. We hope their voices help inform future policy, practice and public understanding.

Please cite Lads Need Dads CIC if referencing or quoting from this publication.

If you would like to discuss the findings, invite us to present the report, or explore opportunities to work together, please get in touch

This report forms part of Lads Need Dads’ growing evidence base, alongside ongoing programme evaluation and founder Sonia Shaljean’s Churchill Fellowship exploring international approaches to supporting boys growing up without a consistent father figure.

A Developmental Pathway of Early Intervention for Boys

This research poster presents Lads Need Dads’ school-based model of early intervention for boys growing up without a consistent father figure.

Drawing on our work with boys, families and schools, it brings together learning from two school-based interventions: Reading Mentors, delivered in the later primary years, and LadPods®, delivered around the transition to secondary school.

The findings suggest that early, relational and school-based intervention can make a measurable difference to boys’ confidence, self-esteem, emotional literacy, motivation and engagement with learning.

At the heart of the model is a simple principle: we should not have to wait until boys are struggling before support is offered. By identifying need earlier and providing consistent relationships, positive male role models and opportunities to develop emotional and practical skills, schools can play an important part in strengthening the support around boys growing up without a father figure.

The research also explores how Lads Need Dads’ experience of intensive, community-based intervention could inform a structured and scalable school-based pathway, beginning in late primary school and continuing through the transition into secondary education.

This work forms part of our wider commitment to building the evidence base around father absence, early intervention and what helps boys to thrive.