Call for specialised counselling for separated fathers
Sohail Butt, a member of the Association of Professional Counsellors and spokesman for the group Families, Fathers and Friends, interviewed more than 300 fathers who are or were clients of the organisation.
The study, carried out for a dissertation at the National Counselling and Psychotherapy Institute of Ireland, Limerick, has now been passed on to a number of Dáil deputies.
It shows that men who have availed of counselling often know more about aspects of family law and their rights within the system, than those who have not.
Eight of the 308 men interviewed were in their third family, but the majority, some 253, were in their first family.
Some 112 were unmarried, while 17 were married, with 132 separated and 46 already divorced.
In 115 cases, the reason for the relationship breakdown was given as “mutual”, and was due to extra-marital affairs in 38 cases. The remaining 155 cases were categorised as “other”.
Almost 48% of those surveyed had not experienced Family Law proceedings, but almost 60% said they were unaware of their rights within Family Law, and a staggering 87% said they did not believe they had been treated in a fair manner. In addition, more than 97% said they did not believe that the principle of equality had been applied in their case.
The survey also shows that 89% of fathers interviewed believe that their role and expectations have changed considerably and a slightly lower percentage believe men are resistant to change.
More than 98% said more male-focussed support services were needed, and over 81% said there needed to be more mental health supports, but just 28% had used counselling services.
Last year the Families, Friends and Fathers group launched a charter calling for fathers to have the right to automatic guardianship of their child from birth, the registration of fathers’ names on their child’s birth certificate and for pre-nuptial agreements to be recognised in law. Mr Butt claimed that current laws were “flawed”.
According to Mr Butt’s research, “fathers are conferred with secondary rights in family law” and the Constitution “excludes fathers but gives further protection to the mother as the nucleus of the family”.
* www.fathers.ie.
