Lurid Headlines Hide The Facts of Fathers4Justice

Fathers’ rights:

Lurid Headlines Hide The Facts

JASON HATCH hit the media headlines last week. Dressed as Batman he
spent five hours perched on a ledge of Buckingham Palace. A member of
Fathers4Justice, he said he was protesting about fathers having restricted
or no contact with their children after separation.

Christine Thomas

Fathers4Justice is just one of a number of organisations fighting for
fathers’ rights. Their aims, methods and supporters vary. Some have
reactionary attitudes towards women, some do not. Supported by Bob Geldof,
Fathers4Justice has been particularly good at getting publicity via
spectacular media stunts. But are their protests justified?

No doubt, the family court system is flawed. It is under-resourced,
resulting in long delays and staff are often inadequately trained. The
system is adversarial, which can exacerbate conflict rather than helping
to resolve differences regarding child contact.

But to read some media coverage you would get the impression that
thousands of manipulative, spiteful and vengeful women are unjustly
denying their ex-partner’s contact with their children. The real facts get
buried beneath lurid headlines.

According to the government’s Green paper on parental separation, in
90% of cases parents agree informal child contact arrangements. More than
80% say they are happy with those arrangements. There are around 60,000
applications to the court a year for contact orders. In 2003 just 2% were
refused.

While a small minority of men feel unjustly frustrated in their desire
to see their children after separation, there are also many women who fear
violence and abuse towards their children or themselves if contact should
take place.

We hear about women ignoring court orders but we don’t hear about the
19 children killed over the last eight years by fathers after being
granted visiting rights. Nor the women who have been murdered during child
contact handovers.

A recent study found that children could be at risk in three out of
five divorce cases coming to family courts. 61% of fathers had allegations
of domestic violence made against them.

These women and children don’t scale buildings in comic strip heroes’
costumes and therefore don’t generate the publicity of groups like
Fathers4Justice.

New Labour are currently consulting on reforms to the family court
system. Any changes have to take the interests of these women and children
into account and not just those of a vocal minority of men whose
activities seize the headlines.