Hi there,
I’m a reporter at BBC News. I have a favour to ask. As you probably know new rules will come into force on April 5 that are meant to make it easier for new fathers to take leave from work.
We are trying to find a dad who will be starting to look after his young child at home before that date. It could be he has decided to go part time, give up work for a while, take a career break or works for an employer who has already brought in some enhanced or shared parental leave.
We are hoping to give them a small video camera to record short video diary style snippets over the first couple of weeks or month. The idea is to describe what worked, what didn’t, what was difficult, what was easier than expected, how did they feel and so on. This wouldn’t be a load of work – just a couple of short snippets each week either on their phone or on a camera that we provide.
For this to work they would have to be starting this new childcare arrangement anytime between now and the start of March. I’d obviously speak to the parents ahead of time and go and meet them and fully explain everything we had in mind.
We would use the material as part of a short film about parental leave that will run on BBC News and online when the new rules come into force in April.
Is there anyone involved in the group who might be interested and fit the bill? At this stage we could have a short chat on the phone or meet up to discuss what we have in mind. There would obviously be no obligation to take part at all.
This would genuinely be a bit of fun and a strong way of explaining to the general population why shared parental leave is important.
Any help would be really, really appreciated.
Jim
Jim Reed
Reporter, Victoria Derbyshire Programme
+44 7921 64 88 26
Jim.reed@bbc.co.uk
@jim_reed
BBC Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London, W1A 1AA