Season 9, Episode 9.12 — Father’s Day: The Contradiction

How do we celebrate Father’s Day while recognising that, for some children, the day represents confusion, grief, fear or loss?

In this episode of Silent Screams, Loud Strength – Unmasking Justice, Samantha Avril-Andreassen explores one of the most sensitive and often overlooked tensions within safeguarding and family justice: the difference between celebrating the idea of parenthood and understanding the diverse realities experienced by children.

For many families, Father’s Day is a joyful opportunity to recognise love, guidance and positive relationships. For others, however, the day may evoke painful memories of domestic abuse, coercive control, estrangement, bereavement, imprisonment, family conflict or the absence of a safe parental relationship. These different experiences can exist side by side, yet public conversations rarely acknowledge their complexity.

This episode considers how institutions, schools, professionals and wider society can approach occasions such as Father’s Day with greater sensitivity, recognising that child-centred practice begins by understanding each child’s individual circumstances rather than assuming a single family experience. It explores how safeguarding requires professionals to balance celebration with inclusion, ensuring that children who have experienced trauma or family disruption are not unintentionally overlooked.

Drawing upon safeguarding principles, child-centred practice and trauma-informed approaches, Samantha examines the importance of listening to children’s voices and avoiding assumptions based solely on traditional family structures. The discussion highlights how meaningful safeguarding is rooted in empathy, participation and recognition of lived experience.

Introducing the SAFECHAIN™ principle of Child-Centred Integrity™, this episode argues that decisions affecting children should always begin with the child’s welfare, emotional wellbeing and individual reality. Child-centred practice is not achieved through universal messages alone; it is achieved by creating environments where every child feels recognised, respected and safe, regardless of their family circumstances.

The episode also reflects on the broader role of institutions in promoting inclusion without diminishing the positive experiences of families who celebrate Father’s Day. Rather than presenting opposing viewpoints, it encourages a more balanced conversation that acknowledges both joy and hardship, recognising that safeguarding is strengthened when all children’s experiences are given space to be heard.

Produced by the SAFECHAIN™ Institute as part of THE DIRECTIVE™, this episode reinforces the principle that effective safeguarding extends beyond legislation and procedures. It requires thoughtful leadership, compassionate practice and the willingness to recognise that public messages can affect children in very different ways.

Because safeguarding begins with seeing the child before the occasion.

And when we listen to children’s experiences with care, dignity and respect, we create systems that truly place their wellbeing at the centre of every decision.