‘Fatherhood Under Suspicion’: The Experiences of Fathers of At‐Risk Children From East Jerusalem Following Out‐of‐Home Placement

ABSTRACT Fathers, particularly in conservative patriarchal societies and politically complex contexts, are often underrepresented in research on child protection and out‐of‐home placements. Addressing this significant knowledge gap, this study focuses on Palestinian fathers from East Jerusalem whose young children were removed from their homes by court order. These fathers operate within overlapping layers of marginalization, patriarchal social expectations and mistrust from and toward state welfare services, dynamics that reproduce cycles of marginalization and hinder the potential for restorative engagement with families. Despite exclusion from the social work process and social censure for ‘failing’ in their role, the fathers interviewed did not passively accept their marginalization. Instead, they constructed narratives that justified and sustained their paternal role: some emphasized unwavering emotional presence, others highlighted symbolic gestures such as letters or attending birthdays and still others framed their persistence as acts of resistance against erasure. These stories served both as rationales for their continued fatherhood and as counter‐narratives to the exclusion imposed upon them.