Lynne's Parliament and Haringey Diary, established 2003
Families Need Fathers
Families Need Fathers meets the Liberal Democrats this afternoon. I am pretty sympathetic to some of the arguments – particularly the issues around engagement of fathers in their children’s schools and the dreadful time the Child Support Agency gives to the ‘good’ dads who try and pay their way only to find that the most incompetent agency in the world lands them with retrospective charges which can be horrendous.
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I hope the meeting with FNF went well. You’re right about the retrospective charges. I briefed David Laws extensively when the last bill went through parliament, only to find that our reshuffle passed the job to Danny Alexander midway. The new Act says that voluntary agreements are best but provides nothing to help people reach them. It also removed judicial oversight from some of the sanctions, which was vital given the incompetence of the CSA. Finally, FNF campaigns for shared parenting : http://www.fnf.org.uk/law-and-policy/shared-residence . Serena Tierney and I tried to amend party policy to support this but the amendment was rejected. It would be great if we could look at it again. The Tories have accepted it and I know people who will vote for them for that reason alone.
I feel that this charity has lost the plot. It aims to help families and not just fathers but I think it has a mindset that fathers must always have contact based on the advice that was given to a female friend.
The adviser – one Alex – seems to have no understanding of court processes, social services and fails to grasp that a court will not issue an unenforceable order with regard to a fifteen-year old.
As a result, I have had to advise my friend to ignore all the FNF advice she has recently received which would have damaged her custody fight against her monster of an ex-husband.
Stephen of Haywards Heath
Sorry to hear about what seems like poor advice. WIll look into it.
Any parent’s involvement has to be conditional on the best interest of the child.
Sadly the court processes have the tendency to create more tension and antagonism.
We are all for avoiding the courts and putting the child first.
I think our track record with around 200,000 people supported a year bears testament to this.
If Steve would like to contact me I would be delighted to look into this.
Jon davies
CEO
Families Need Fathers
jon.davies