Court action puts battle for fathers’ rights centre stage

WHETHER it’s Batman climbing up Buckingham Palace or the British Home Secretary demanding access to a child he claims is his, fathers’ rights have exploded on to the front pages.

A staggering one quarter, or three million, British children have experienced their parents splitting and up to 200,000 parental couples separate each year.

David Blunkett, of course, does not fall in to that category and his ex-lover Kimberly Quinn maintains he is not the father of her two-year-old son.

However, his court action for access has stoked an already raging fire over the burning issue of a dad’s contact with his children.

And with the Fathers 4 Justice “superheroes” staging high-profile demonstrations almost weekly, family law has been called in to question as never before.

Campaigners say the courts are biased towards the mother but experts and politicians say the welfare of the child must take precedence, no matter what.

Lawyer Nigel Shepherd is former chairman of the Solicitors’ Family Law Association (SFLA) and a leading expert.

“If you examine the legislation, the law is biased towards the best interest of the child,” he said.

“Children’s interests are paramount. The application of the Children Act will therefore favour the primary carer and still in society that tends frequently to be the mother and therefore it could be seen that the law favours the mother.

“But if the father is the primary carer then the law is gender neutral. Judges are only people and therefore have views. Sometimes bad decisions are made but they can be appealed against.”

But according to Fathers 4 Justice founder Matt O’Connor such comments are “complete tosh.”

“How can the courts act in the best interests of the children when they have no way of knowing what they are?” he said.

Staff from the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass) help parents identify and resolve their problems without descending in to legal wars.

Delays and bickering parents can be the hardest aspect for a youngster to cope with.

SFLA spokeswoman Louisa Cross said: “Courts just make it worse. It is very, very hard when people become entrenched to come out and cooperate with one another.

“The best outcome for the child is always where the parents cooperate and remain amicable.”

Mr O’Connor agrees that “slugging it out in the courts” is not the answer but he believes existing legislation needs to be ripped up and started again.

“There are enough lawyers who say there are massive problems in family law. The Government is still not taking this matter seriously enough,” he said.