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On All Things Considered this week (Sunday 15 June at 08.30am, repeated Wednesday 18 June at 6.30pm) we ask: what are fathers for?

Increasing numbers of children grow up in single-parent families; and parliament recently decreed that IVF treatment will not be limited to women who have a man around.

So how important is it to have two parents active in bringing up a child? Can the skills of being a good father be taught? And what are the implications of the changing perceptions of fatherhood for the Christian church, which encourages everyone to see God as Father.

Joining Roy Jenkins to discuss these issues are: Julia Houlston Clark, a chaplain at Cardiff prison, Dai Hankey a pastor in Pontypool who has spent the last 10 years as a youth worker, and Methodist peer the Rev Dr Leslie Griffiths.