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F4J New Campaign
Campaign group Fathers 4 Justice (F4J) said that it has begun consulting with activists about recommencing its campaign of civil disobedience against the Family Courts and the Government if it fails to receive an express commitment to the principle of shared parenting within the next week from Cafcass (the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service). The group will hold last ditch talks later this week with Cafcass in an effort to avoid a resumption of the campaign. The move comes despite the threat posed to peaceful demonstrators from the Met Police's 'shoot to kill' policy. F4J say that they have been told by Scotland Yard that protestors would be shot if they attempted to repeat any of the groups high protests which last year saw members powder bomb the Prime Minister in Parliament and scale Buckingham Palace. Last February protestors occupied a ledge in Downing Street. The decision was taken after recent comments made by Anthony Douglas, the Head of Cafcass, stating that children as young as seven should be able to choose between their parents after separation. Despite the group presenting their Blueprint for Family Law a few weeks earlier to the board of Cafcass, F4J founder Matt O'Connor described Anthony Douglas' comments as a monumental disaster for children and separating parents and a catastrophic set back for family law reform after 6 months of talks between the two groups which saw F4J suspend it's campaign against Cafcass. Said Director of Communications for F4J Glen Poole, 'This ideology promotes the worst part of the current system of family law, the 'winner takes all' scenario, and bundles it and dumps it on the kids. It typifies the 'pass the buck' culture that already poisons most of the family legal system and now Cafcass are saying there is nothing we can do other than to pass the responsibility for which parent children live with onto kids as young as seven.' 'This way not only can the system blame the parents for not agreeing arrangements, they can blame the kids for choosing which parents they wanted to live with in the first place if it all goes wrong, which it inevitably will. Cafcass is still an organisation that is probably failing hundreds of children every week but simply doesn't know it as they keep no records on the outcomes for those children.' F4J Founder Matt O'Connor said, 'If they had grasped any one point we had been making, they would have understood that it is our very belief that neither the legal system nor our children should have to choose which parent they lived with and wouldn't have to, if our culture and legal system embraced shared parenting.' Said O'Connor 'There is no implied or otherwise stated belief in the principles of shared parenting or equality by Cafcass. If this is Cafcass policy, then it is an irresponsible abdication of responsibility.' F4J say senior activists are being mobilised and that a new campaign could start as early as mid August. In an open letter to Anthony Douglas, O'Connor said 'We regret that in light of your comments and without the promised clarification of those comments by your organisation, Fathers 4 Justice are urgently reviewing their position with regard to ongoing negotiations.' In the absence of any written commitment to F4J by Cafcass to the principles of equality and equal parenting and to a presumption that overnight staying contact is to be the recommended amount of minimum contact between children and their fathers, we will be left with no alterative other than to review our current position.' ENDS
For further information contact F4J Head Office on 01787 281922 |
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