Ex uses
daughter to blackmail me - HUNDREDS of
fathers desperate to see their children have joined The Suns Justice For
Dads campaign.
They back the
demands of Sir Bob Geldof for a change in the law to give equal access to
children for BOTH parents.
More than a
million kids in Britain will not be with their fathers this Christmas and
every year thousands of men are finding they have no rights to see their
children after a family break-up.
Below are a
few of the many hundreds of moving messages we have received. Names have
been changed.
MARK:
Thank you for
your support of fathers who are left in the wilderness, abused by a biased
and unjust system.
I separated
from my ex-partner shortly after my daughter's birth in 1991 and the mother
quickly relocated to her home town 400 miles away. She left while I was
working offshore.
Subsequent
attempts to obtain contact with my daughter were tentatively successful
until my ex-partner started a new relationship. It quickly became apparent I
was to be removed from the picture.
My daughter,
now aged 12, has been used as a tool for blackmail and punishment.
ARNOLD:
The lack of
respect the law gives to a dad's relationship with his children is a
disgrace.
The behaviour
of some mothers who use the system to isolate the father from his children
is also despicable.
Even when my
marriage fell apart, I did not conceive that my ex-wife would also want me
so removed from the children's lives.
The law
should treat dads as equal parents and tackle those mothers who do not.
BEN:
My wife and I
separated and shared the care of our three-year-old daughter for nine
months.
My daughter
was with me three days a week, every week. It worked fine until my ex's
solicitors told her that these arrangements would affect her financial claim
against our joint assets.
So in March
this year she reduced my contact to every other weekend - four days a month!
Meanwhile,
she and her lover have set up home together and he enjoys seeing my child
any time he wants.
This is the
reality of British justice.
WILLIAM:
Thank you for
your Justice for Dads campaign. After two years, I now have access to my
five-year-old daughter but it hasn't been easy. It has cost me my home and
all of my savings to get this far.
But I still
live in fear of my access being taken away at any time on my ex-wife's
impulse.
JAMES:
I am a father
of one fighting an unfair court system for contact with my daughter.
None of my
family has been allowed to see her since December 2002. I am constantly
accused falsely of harassment with no evidence being put forward, yet it is
me and my daughter who are being punished.
RUSSELL:
I will not
see my daughter on Christmas Day. The last time I saw my ten-year-old was
just before Christmas Day two years ago.
Her last
words to me were "I'll miss you Dad."
Since then my
ex-wife has done everything in her power to stop contact, including telling
my daughter that I no longer wish to see her.
Earlier this
year my ex-wife moved and has not informed me of the new address. I have
applied to the court for the address, to be told that giving me my
daughter's address would breach my ex-wife's human rights.
Hundreds of
moving messages we have received!
The lack of respect the law gives to a dad's relationship with his children
is a disgrace
NOW tell us your stories. E-mail featurea@the-sun.co.uk or fax 020 7782 4063
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