Equal Parenting Alliance News – October 2006
© 2006 The Equal Parenting Alliance
Equal Parenting Alliance News
October 2006
Dear Friends.
Autumn bears down on us, and so it would appear our Summer newsletter is kind of late. For that I can only apologise, as putting this together has played second fiddle to getting our Family Law Survey up and running.
Phil Else, Party Leader
Welcome from Party Leader
With the passing of the Summer holiday so too have we seen the back of the proof of one of the Family Court’s wonderful hypocrisies. For many of us, having our children stay with us during a school week has been banned because it will “mess the children about” (insert your own CAFCASS officer’s nonsense here). Yet, despite the abuse that we would cause to our children by regularly swapping them from house to house, they are somehow capable of staying with us more often when there may be the issue of extra childcare costs during the school breaks.
If only these people could see the common sense of such things, and how it is lacking in the original decisions, I doubt we would have all the problems we do today.
Speaking of common sense, I think I may be starting to detect a slight shift in the rhetoric of some politicians. Tory leader David Cameron has recently brought the term “family breakdown
and its associated problems” in to a discussion about the causes of crime. Also, people in the media are now starting to shift the blame for [questionably] worthless contact orders on the parents who initiate a refusal to allow children to see their other parent, rather than bad decision-making.
It may be that we are seeing the first cracks in the iron facade of the politicians, showing the pressure that is being put against the Government and the courts is perhaps beginning to work. I doubt that there will ever be a time when the Government stand up and say, “yes, you are right, we will change”, but one day soon, change will come sneaking in on embarrassed tip toes and apologise for the delay.
The major news today is that our first survey of family law is ready at last! We’re hopeful this survey will mark the start of a greater public awareness of the Equal Parenting Alliance.
We believe this survey is something new that distinguishes us from the other groups.
But before we announce it more widely, we’d like as many of you as possible to complete the survey and give us some feedback on what you think of it. (There’s still time to change it now if we find any major problems, before launching it to the public at large). You can find the survey at www.familylawsurvey.co.uk where you can
News In Brief
EPA at Labour Party Fringe - We were asked to speak at a Labour Party Fringe meeting entitled “Shared Residence”. Steve spoke in a “Question Time” style meeting in the Comedy Club, Manchester on the 25th September. Other speakers were from Families Need Fathers and Real Fathers 4 Justice.
It was disappointing that neither the Labour Party nor CAFCASS were able to provide a speaker due to diary commitments. I suspect this shows what they really think of Shared Residence.
EPA Family Law Survey Launched - We are now launching our major survey of family law contact issues. This we hope will bring us to wider public attention (and possibly into some controversy as the significance of this survey slowly dawns on the establishment). The survey is discussed in full in the rest of this newsletter.
Dept of Constitutional Affairs consultation - on court transparency is open for comments, which have to be in by 30th October, see back page for more details.
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