Equal Parenting Alliance » Opinion

Child abuse linked to parental alienation

ray — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:30:53 +0000

75% of child abusers were alienated from one of their parents.

This disturbing consequence of parental alienation has come to light in recent research by the Australian Institute of Criminology.

The Institute found that “Almost three in every four offenders had either no contact or minimal contact with at least one biological parent” (Australian Institute of Criminology Intrafamilial adolescent Sex Offenders: Psychological Profile and Treatment, Trends and Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, no. 375, June 2009. p.2).

Row about Family Breakdown at Bar Conference

ray — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:16:56 +0000

In a heated exchange at the Bar Conference this week end, the Chairman of the Bar Standards Board, Baroness Ruth Deech, told the Legal Services Commission Chairman, Bill Callaghan, that he totally misunderstood why Legal Aid costs in Family Law had risen. The reason, she said, is quite simply because “there is so much more family breakdown.”

See the article

Ray Barry on Traditional Families

admin — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:13:50 +0000

Ray Barry was interviewed on Premier Christian Radio today about the role of traditional families. The interview was about whether traditional family structures are still the best for bringing up children and for wider society at large. Ray (and the EPA) believes that they are. The interview lasted fifteen minutes but unfortunately we only have a one minute excerpt from it online.

Listen to a summary of the interview (about one minute).

Interview with Erin Pizzey – founder of women’s refuge movement

ray — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:13:26 +0000

This a is a must listen BBC interview. It presents a refreshingly insightful and balanced picture of domestic abuse.

Hear the interview

Women 3 times more likely to be arrested?

ray — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 09:59:55 +0000

There were reports last week that women are three times more likely than men to be arrested for domestic violence.

This headline comes as a surprise to those of us who have personal experience of domestic disputes, and yet the press have simply run with the story without investigating what lies behind it. So, here is what the BBC and the Guardian should have reported, but didn’t:

The author is Marianne Hester. She is professor of Gender, Violence and International Policy at Bristol University. She is co-director of the Violence against Women Research Group and a patron of Women’s Aid. This is hardly the profile of someone who is approaching her work from a gender-neutral stand point, and there are other clues in the report itself, such as the way it contextualises and excuses female violence; e.g. “Women were more likely to use a weapon, although this was often to stop further violence from their partners.”

The sample size of Marianne Hester’s research is less than 100. The much larger samples from the British Crime Survey, together with CPS published data, show the very opposite of what her research reports, that it is men who are disproportionately targetted, not women.

The British Crime Survey shows 39% of victims of domestic violence are men, and 61% women, yet in only 10% of the prosecutions brought by the Crown Prosecution Service is the victim male.

How did Prof Hester reach her contrary conclusions? She worked it out on the basis of arrests-per-incident. One woman reported being a victim in 52 separate incidents. This enabled her to conclude that women were arrested 3 times more frequently than men, even though the report acknowledges that more men than women were actually arrested!

Academic posts in Gender Studies at universities throughout the land are generally occupied by career feminists, who are increasingly using use their positions to promote dogma rather than fact.

Why are the good reputations of our Universities being sacrificed in this way? Why is public money being spent to distort the truth? This is the story which journalists should be investigating and reporting, rather than simply printing whatever these academics feed them.

CAFCASS encourage shared parenting

ray — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 07:38:31 +0000

CAFCASS policy has undergone a shift of late in favour of shared parenting. “Cafcass wishes to help both parents to continue, after separation or divorce, to play an important role in their children’s lives, unless there is a good reason, supported by evidence, not to do so.”
They acknowledge that not all of CAFCASS’ own people have come up to speed with this new approach yet, and so their Guidance for case officers is essential reading for anyone whose children are currently involved with them.

This is welcome news which may have passed un-noticed by those of us with bad personal experiences of their involvement with our children. Here are the key principles from the guidance:
” Shared parenting means, at root, that both parents are actively involved in loving and guiding their child throughout their childhood, following separation or divorce. It means that each child spends a significant amount of time with each parent regularly, and both parents are involved in key decisions concerning their child. What those roles will be will depend on the precise circumstances of each case, but they will usually involve both parents having significant overnight contact, being involved in the child’s schooling, important (though not emergency) health issues, moral and religious education, hobbies and so on.”

“Unless there is good reason, supported by evidence” is especially encouraging to see in this guidance. All too often, bonds between parent and child are destroyed through malicious allegations by the other parent, which by the time they are shown to to be false, have already destroyed the relationship, so rewarding the parent who made the false allegation. Evidence is essential before taking the draconian step of separating a parent from a child, and at last CAFCASS have taken this on board in their policy. It is up to each of us now to be vigilant to ensure this policy is carried out in practice.

Parental Alienation lasts for life.

ray — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 06:09:45 +0000

Thanks to Glenn Sacks for this remarkable story of a father who was wrongly jailed for 20 years for sexually abusing his son. The son, now aged 33, states the alleged abuse never occurred and that he was bullied into making the allegation. The son, however, still sees his mother as the victim, even though she was complicit in wrongly imprisoning his father for 20 years! Such are the lifelong effects of parental alienation.

Read the full article

Study – Controlling Behaviour is not unique to men

ray — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 06:31:16 +0000

Presented at the British Psychological Society Conference on 23rd June 2009:

Dr Nicola Graham-Kevan from the University of Lancaster: “Men and women perpetrators of domestic violence were found to have very similar levels of financial control, sexual control and intimidation in relationships.”

“The results of this study tell us that we need to challenge some of the assumptions around domestic violence..one such assumption is that controlling behaviour in relationships is unique to men.”

View the report

Update on the Runnymede Campaign

ray — Sun, 31 May 2009 13:45:47 +0000

EPA candidate Keith Collett, relishing the campaign outside Runnymede Civic Centre.

It was on Runnymede’s meadow that English democracy began in 1215 with the signing of Magna Carta. What better place to try to restore some decent principles to English politics.

Keith has delivered leaflets to around half the electors now, talking to many people on their doorstep as he does so, asking, among other things, whether local people intend to turn out to vote on 4th June, given the Westminster expenses scandals which form a backdrop to this campaign.

Approx 50% tell him they do intend to vote, which is only a little less than the turn-out at the last election. However, there are pockets where as few as 35% intend to vote!

Elections – 4th June 2009 – Runnymede

ray — Wed, 20 May 2009 08:59:54 +0000

There are only a few local elections in 2009, and we have one candidate, Keith Collett, standing for 2 seats in Runnymede: Addlestone and Woodham. Keith is receiving no expenses, except the price of a pair of boots to deliver 10,000 leaflets personally around the constituencies. We are literally running on a shoe string! Donations to our party funds are very welcome.

Keith is an ex-soldier, and worked as a lorry driver until losing his job recently in the recession.

“This means I will be able to put all my time into local issues, attend all meetings, and serve my time properly as a Councillor. I answer to no one, but the voters of Runnymede. When a resident in my ward is having a meeting with the Council, I am quite willing to be there at the meeting to make sure the problem is sorted out for them in the right manner.”

Keith has been actively involved in local politics for the last 6 years, attending many Council meetings, County & Local, and he has stood in Local, County and General Elections.

“My aim is to make sure that all people in Runnymede whether they are single, married, separated or divorced get treated the same, have the same rights, in housing, schooling and information. In particular why should fathers and grandparents have to go to court just to get permission to see their own children or grandchildren? Everybody thinks this is wrong – even my ex signed the nomination paper for me to stand in this election! It just needs people to make a stand and demand change, and I’m the right man to take the lead, and make things happen.”