Although I reckon I’ve attended close to 200 branch support meetings as service user and then advisor (and of course some reading this will have attended many more!), some things this month really struck home about the reality separated dads face when fighting and struggling to see your children. Following an approach for a possible BBC documentary on the negative health effects for dads separated from your child, I put out an email for people willing to be interviewed about their case. Over a hundred of you responded, sharing often heartrending stories of the personal toll suffered from contact denial, false allegations and parental alienation in particular – “negative health effects” doesn’t begin to describe it. I would like to thank everyone who responded. As is often the case with the media, the documentary got pulled, at least for now, due to journalists getting pulled at the last minute to work on events in Israel; however, we are hopeful, knowing we have the case studies to show, that either the BBC or another media outlet will follow up with us on this serious public health issue.
Professor Ben Hine presented his Lost Dads report (the prompt for the documentary), for which it was my honour to be part of the Q&A panel, along with some of the dads taking in part in the research - New UWL research reveals hidden public health crisis affecting separated fathers - London Post (london-post.co.uk) LINK. As mentioned above, Ben will be presenting his report at our annual conference and I urge everyone to take the opportunity to hear it, whether in person or online.
In a similar vein, we responded to the Family Justice Council’s consultation on the draft guidance for the courts on dealing with allegations of alienating behaviour, drawing on the vast experience we now have of the issues faced and the damage caused by such behaviours. We welcome the not inconsiderable task of trying to clarify the process for investigating parental alienation in the courts, with some reservations on the draft guidance, but the main thrust of our response is that delay must be avoided at all costs, with robust case management and interim contact the default position, as delay provides the opportunity for alienating behaviours to take root and make contact and reconciliation between alienated parent and child harder to achieve. We continue to work with our partners knowing there are other bodies campaigning to deny its existence.
Sam
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