Superhero Dad March – Bristol 7th of June 2014

BRISTOL!!! Fathers, mothers, grandparents, friends & family!

We dads of Bristol would like to organise a peaceful New Fathers 4 Justice march on Saturday the 7th of June 2014

The idea is we’ll meet at M Shed at 10.30am for an 11am start in our superhero costumes and march down the SS Great Britain with purple flags banners, posters and whatever else we can find to draw attention to the cause and end up by the council buildings on College Green.

We’d love it if as many of you as possible attends this march, for yourselves, for your kids and for all those dads out there unable to spend time with their own children for whatever reason. It’s time to take a stand.

This will be a child-friendly event as well, so please feel free to bring family and friends along to support us and see us being the superheroes our children need us to be!

If you would like to take part, please RSVP so we have an idea of numbers.

This event is in collaboration with http://newfathers4justice.co.uk/

Ray Barry on the CMS’s new anti-male child support payment fees – BBC Radio WM

Well done Ray.

Under the new rules if an amicable arrangement cannot be reached the paying parent – usually the father – will have a 20% fee added to the maintenance payment, while the receiving parent will only pay 4% to get the money.

A father who wishes to have a private arrangement can be forced to pay five time as much to the CMS if a vindictive mother refuses to agree to a private arrangement. How can this be right?

This is blatant discrimination against non resident parents. If there is to be a fee it should the same for both parents.

Once again this government are treating non residents parents mainly fathers like cashpoints.

Nigel Ace

Police prevent dad from entering Hertford court

A dad protesting outside of Hertford court  to mark 3 years  since he last had normal contact with  son was refused access to the court by the police yesterday.

A court is a public building. What have they got to hide?

Police refusing me entrance to a public building and can’t tell me what law. Hertford 23/05/14

We want nothing less than a legal presumption of 50/50 contact for a child with their parents if they split up, and the abolition of the deeply controversial, undemocratic secret court system that still exists within the ‘family’ division despite forty years of inequality and protest.

London Irish and former Wales rugby union star Ian Gough shows support for New Fathers 4 Justice during match against Sale Sharks

It was my sons 2nd birthday a couple of weeks ago and I haven’t even been able to speak to him. I was supposed to have him on the Friday and after driving 2 hours to get to the handover point near Croydon she wouldn’t bring him to me and kept me waiting in a car park for 2 hours, I gave up and drove 4 hours back to Wales to his grandparents house where his birthday presents remain untouched.

LONDON Irish star and former Welsh international Ian Gough has thrown his weight behind a campaign for equal rights for fathers to see their children.

Ian Gough wore the branded scrum cap against Sale Sharks last Saturday

The veteran forward sported a scrum cap with the slogan NF4J – which stands for New Fathers 4 Justice – when he took to the field against Sale last Saturday for the Exiles’ final game of the season.

The 37-year-old second row said he pulled the stunt in support of the campaign group to highlight the plight of fathers who are refused access to their children by the courts.

After the match he said: “I did this for all the fathers and grandparents who get little or no access to see their children. In my experience over the last year fathers have no rights regarding contact with their children. It is not wrong for fathers to campaign for equality and more rights. Those that do should be supported.

“Good loving fathers should have an automatic right to see their children and not have to go through a protracted court battle. When parents split up they should put aside their differences and share their children.”

Gough, who joined London Irish in 2013 and won 64 caps for his country between 1998 and 2009, was part of a team which battled to a hard fought 22-20 win over the Sharks.

He added: “It was a nice end to a tough season, players and fans of London Irish have been brilliant!”

http://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/roundup/articles/2014/05/19/100394-london-irish-and-former-wales-rugby-union-star-ian-gough-shows-support-for-new-fathers-4-justice-during-match-against-sale-sharks-/

Knockout support for fathers rights campaigners

Last night campaigners in Leeds who were ringside at the MaxiNutrition Knockout gained support from former WBC world light-welterweight champion Junior Witter and former British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

Both boxers commented on the importance of their own fathers in their lives.

 

Dad in High Wycombe town hall protest

 A fathers rights protester climbed up on the town hall roof of High Wycombe at approximately 7pm yesterday closing the road outside for the evening.

The Annual Mayor Maker takes place in Frogmoor today and will see the outgoing and incoming mayor, the charter trustees and councillors weighed in and out of office. There is always jeering and cheering as the town crier shouts “no more” or “some more.”

We say “More, more, more” rights for fathers to see their children!

 

Have Fathers 4 Justice and similar fathers rights groups actually achieved anything?

On Wednesday there was a question on Fathers 4 Justice in the AQA  GCSE Citizenship Studies Unit 1 exam. When people ask what fathers have achieved by dressing up as Batman and climbing on a roof there is your answer.

As the late great Nelson Mandela said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

Here are some recent examples from AQA GCSE Citizenship Studies course work and exam questions:

• 13. Scenario 2 Fathers for Justice believes that when couples with children split up, fathers often do not have enough rights to see their children. Since 2000, the group has carried out a range of stunts to highlight its cause. These have included: throwing a purple flour bomb at the Prime Minister in the House of Commons; climbing on Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman; and forcing their way onto the live National Lottery show.

GCSE Citizenship Studies Mark scheme Unit 01 … – AQA

3.2.3
Family Law Divorce
Outline information on maintenance, child maintenance,
mediation and its benefits, and the role of the courts

Student work:
• Role-play a mediation based upon the existing pairings
• Research and discussion of campaign groups such as Fathers
4 Justice and the rights of parents in divorce, compared with
their responsibilities with regards to maintenance

 

Why do some pressure groups use publicity stunts?
(1 mark)

The use of publicity stunts often enables groups to attract public attention due to media coverage. The response may be linked to an example like Fathers for Justice

 

Fathers complete London to Canterbury Pilgrimage to present petition to Dean | Canterbury Times

Fathers complete London to Canterbury Pilgrimage to present petition to Dean | Canterbury Times.

Two of the ‘Pilgrim Fathers’ with the Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, Reverend Robert Willis

A group of fathers calling themselves ‘victims of the family court system’ have completed a week-long pilgrimage to Canterbury Cathedral to hand their petition to the Dean.

Thomas Judge, who’s from York, and Matt Thompson, who’s from Brentwood, are calling for changes to the family courts to make sure that parents with contact orders can see their children.

For Matt Thompson, walking up to 20 miles a day wasn’t easy, but it was worth it for this cause:

“On Wednesday, I was walking on my own. I’d been going for so long, my legs felt numb, but that was fine, because it reminded me of how I had felt during the court process myself.

“I really felt like my children were walking with me, then.”

The Family Court, which deals with cases of family disputes and childcare, is exempt from many of the regulations imposed on criminal courts. But, according to the Pilgrim Fathers, this lack of regulation and monitoring has led to some families being torn apart, and parents being denied the right to see their children, despite possessing valid court orders to that effect.

The fathers’ petition is demanding two changes be made to the Family Court system: that they enforce Court Orders for Contact, and that they keep records of the children whose cases they address. Currently, once a contact order has been made, the family court does not monitor the situation, to make sure the rules are being adhered to.

All of this means that some parents are being kept away from seeing or contacting their children, on the basis of unproven allegations.

The walk, which started at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, lasted all week, with three of the five core ‘pilgrims’ having to pull out due to other commitments, blisters, or even just exhaustion.

“One of our guys had to pull out early because he’s on probation, for sending a birthday card to his children.” Thomas Judge told the Times. “That’s how ridiculous this has become. It’s child abuse.

“We do think there is some sexism in the family courts, but that doesn’t mean this is just fathers: we’ve seen mothers treated this way as well.”

“I think this is a timely issue:” Mr Thompson told the Times: “In an age where people are bemoaning the lack of male role models in this country… for me, those were my father, and my grandfather. Now, that’s something that my children, and thousands of others across the country, are being kept from.”

The Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, the Very Reverend Robert Willis, took the petition from the two men on the grounds of the Cathedral on behalf of the Archbishop, who was in Lambeth Palace at the time.

“We are always happy to welcome Pilgrims to this Cathedral. We have a lot of people around at the minute, but not many who’ve come as far as you have!

This is a fantastic place to come to talk about family. I will make sure this petition gets into the Archbishop’s hands.”

The Pilgrim Fathers have vowed to repeat their march, on an even bigger scale, next year.