Equal Parenting Alliance News – April 2006
© 2006 The Equal Parenting Alliance
We issued this press release today 13/04/2006.
PRESS RELEASE
From: New UK Political Party "Equal Parenting Alliance"
Date: 13 April 2006
Date: 13 April 2006
Two 'father's rights' protestors from the group Real Fathers For Justice have today climbed up onto Westminster Abbey, carrying a crucifix. They say they want the church to do something to address the issue of equality in parenting.
So why do these protestors constantly do these stunts? Surely everyone has got the message by now?
This, of course, would be true if anything in family law had changed appreciably since the first protests of Spiderman in 2003.
Of course this is a publicity stunt - but these actions have been very effective at getting publicity and raising public awareness about the plight of children at the mercy of a dysfunctional family law system.
When parents have their children taken away - with no appeal, no legal recourse and no real consideration of what is best for the children - it is hardly surprising they adopt desperate measures to draw attention to their plight.
Nothing would give us greater pleasure than to never see another desperate father climbing up a crane, or for all the father's and children's rights groups to be disbanded because they are no longer needed.
Unfortunately, the only prospect we see of this is for all the different campaign groups to continue putting pressure on the Government and Judiciary until they get the message and change the way that family law is implemented to truly put children first.
ENDS
NOTE TO EDITORS
The Equal Parenting Alliance is a new UK political party that started in North West England in February 2006.
We believe our shambolic family law system is failing children, failing families, failing parents and putting at overall risk the future of our society it should be helping to secure.
No child should lose a parent, when parents separate, without very good reason.
We think the system should put the needs of children first and respect their right to normal parenting above the rights or wishes of either of their parents. The current system does not do this. For example, it allows one parent to eliminate the other parent from a child's life, if they wish.
We believe this is fundamentally wrong
It is about time the major political parties stood up and addressed this situation before more children and their families are damaged by current family law practice.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
www.equalparentingalliance.com
Phone Steve Gouldstone
0790 965 6735
Phone Steve Gouldstone
0790 965 6735
BBC Radio 5 Live
Our biggest media coup to-date was when two of our committee appeared (is that the right word for radio?) on Radio 5 Live’s “Worricker on Sunday” on the 26th of March.
This was an hour long feature on where the father’s rights movement was going after the demise of Fathers 4 Justice and included a mixture of interviews and people commenting live in the studio.
Our secretary, Tracey, spoke about the role that father’s rights groups had in setting the agenda for equal parenting groups to follow, and our treasurer, Steve, got in a few sound-bites about our aims in setting up a political party too.
Of course, Matt O’Connor was in the studio doing a live interview, he actually spoke quite well this time and is definitely pushing the equal parenting line far more than he used too.
Kim Beetson from Resolution (formerly the Solicitors Family Law Association) was also in the studio. She had some useful things to say, Resolution effectively supports a presumption of contact being introduced into law.
Unfortunately, she also had to bring out the old chestnut about 90% of parents sorting things out for themselves, and it’s only a small number (10%) of parents who need help from the courts, so it’s not really a big problem.
Only 100,000 children a year then – that’s nowhere near a problem is it?
Sorry Kim, that’s one step forwards and two steps backwards in my book.
MEDIA
Page 2