Non-resident fathers see their babies and toddlers often and should be included in research on children’s lives

June 04, 2025

Social Inclusion and Equality
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New research, published by the ESRI and produced in partnership with the Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE), uses Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) data to look at the profile of fathers not living full-time with their children (termed non-resident fathers in the report). The GUI study has included both resident and non-resident fathers in almost all waves of the study. While the primary focus of this report is on how best to involve non-resident fathers in future waves of the new GUI birth cohort, the report provides interesting insights on non-resident fathers and their relationships with their children. It also draws on interviews with researchers from international child cohort studies and with separated parents and NGOs working with parents in Ireland.

Key findings:

Profile of families with a non-resident father in Ireland

  • 14 per cent of children between nine months and five years do not live full-time with their fathers, rising to 18 per cent by nine years of age.
  • Families with a non-resident father have much younger mothers, who tend to have lower levels of education and are more likely to live in urban areas.
  • Households that experienced parental separation during the course of the study were more disadvantaged in profile, with this group of fathers having lower educational levels, higher unemployment levels and greater financial difficulties.

Non-resident fathers and their children

  • Half of non-resident fathers see their babies or toddlers several times a week, according to mothers’ reports.
  • Contact is somewhat less frequent as children make the transition to school, though around a third of 5- and 9-year-olds see their fathers at least a few times a week. Just over a quarter of non-resident fathers have little to no contact with their children at each age examined.
  • Although the non-resident fathers surveyed tend to be actively involved in their children’s lives, around half of them would like more frequent contact with their child.
  • Parental accounts of the father’s frequency of contact differ, with mothers reporting lower levels of contact than fathers do.
  • Over a third (38 per cent) of separated mothers receive regular payments from the non-resident father, while 11 per cent receive payments on an ad hoc basis, suggesting the importance of these resources for a significant group of families.
  • From the child’s perspective, just over half (53 per cent) report getting on ‘very well’ with their father at age 9, indicating the importance of their father in their lives.

Involving non-resident fathers in research: the international experience

  • Birth and child cohort studies internationally have varied in the extent to which they include the perspectives of resident fathers, with even greater variation found in the inclusion of non-resident fathers.
  • Studies that do include non-resident fathers have yielded important insights into their influence on child outcomes and the importance of the resources – financial, social and emotional – that fathers provide for their children. However, many studies have experienced challenges in including non-resident fathers.

Involving non-resident fathers in research: experience in Ireland

  • Mothers are asked to help access non-resident fathers by providing contact details or passing on information. Around a third of mothers were willing to give permission for the father to be contacted when the child was nine months and three years old, dropping to just over a quarter when the child was nine.
  • Mothers were more likely to be willing to pass on contact details where fathers were in more frequent contact with the child and where they saw their own relationship with the father as good.
  • Among fathers who were contacted when the child was three, 35 per cent completed the survey. The response rate falls to 14 per cent by the age of nine. Fathers in more frequent contact with their child were more likely to complete the survey.
  • Both NGOs and separated parents strongly emphasised the importance of including non-resident parents in research, with interviewees highlighting the active involvement of fathers in their children’s lives and the consequent impact on child development.

Emer Smyth, co-author of the report, said: ‘Research needs to provide a comprehensive picture of the range of influences on children’s lives, including parents not currently living with them. A significant proportion of children – around one-in-six – do not live with their father full-time, so not including their father gives only an incomplete picture of their lives. Parents can differ in their perceptions of the father-child relationship, so capturing both perspectives is important.’

Merike Darmody, co-author of the report, said: ‘Separated parents said they would be more likely to take part in research if the purpose of the research and how their information would be used was made very clear. They had mixed views on whether it was better to contact fathers directly or through the child’s mother.’