Britain's 130,000 estranged fathers - Telegraph Earlier this year a report by the Centre for Social Justice, a think tank set up by Iain Duncan-Smith, estimated that more than a million children are growing up in the UK without a father as a result of a "tsunami of family breakdown." It found some of the poorest neighbourhoods are "men deserts" where children grow up without male role models. The NatCen study, based on survey responses, suggested its figure of 980,000 men who have dependent children with whom they do not live, was likely to be a substantial underestimate. Eloise Poole, of NatCen, said the importance of economic factors in parental contact was a cause for concern. She said: "Some fathers simply don't have the financial resources, or spare bedrooms, to be able to maintain regular contact with their children."