“He agreed to take in both children and committed to caring for and educating them” social work reports on fathers in Mandatory Palestine

Despite growing interest in father engagement in contemporary social work, historical knowledge about how fathers were represented within early welfare practice remains limited. This article offers an original empirical analysis of 36 archival social work case files produced in the Jewish Yishuv in Mandatory Palestine during the 1930s–1940s, constituting the first systematic study of professional documentation written by early trained social workers in this context. Situating the Yishuv within the broader transnational circulation of social work knowledge between Central Europe and Palestine, the article examines how professional discourses, institutional routines, and socio-political conditions shaped paternal roles.Contrary to widespread assumptions that fathers were largely absent or marginalized in early welfare systems, the findings reveal a more complex reality. Fathers appear frequently in the files and are often described with attentiveness, empathy, and recognition of their involvement in family life. While paternal authority continued to be framed through breadwinning and disciplinary expectations, professional flexibility emerged in situations of poverty, migration, and crisis, where fathers were acknowledged as emotionally vulnerable subjects rather than solely as moral or economic actors.This pattern invites reflection not only on evolving attitudes toward fatherhood, but also on gendered asymmetries embedded in welfare practice. Fathers’ difficulties were often interpreted as circumstantial and structurally conditioned, whereas maternal shortcomings were more readily moralized and individualized. Rather than presenting a linear narrative of professional progress or failure, the analysis highlights the complex ways gendered care roles were negotiated within early social work institutions. By integrating historical insight into contemporary debates on parental engagement, this study deepens understanding of how institutional practices have long shaped notions of family, responsibility, and gender.