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
.gif){kind=logo}
