Letter to the Independent on Sunday

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Spidermen don't help

14/04/04 The media is building up a distorted picture of how family courts treat fathers. Neither the law nor judges' interpretation of it are unfairly biased against fathers - recent research by the University of Leeds and others found no evidence of a maternal preference. Mothers are more often awarded care of children because more often they have been the primary carers and judges are concerned to preserve stability for children after a family break- up.

But, of course, fathers should be closely involved in their children's lives.

Many of the single parents calling our helpline want advice about contact. They want involved fathers and often for them the problem is how to protect their children from a father who is unreliable about sticking to contact arrangements. Thirty one per cent of resident parents say they would like the non-resident parent to have more contact, as opposed to only 17% of non-resident parents who wanted more contact.

Most contact/care cases are sorted out by the parents - the Office for National Statistics found that only one in ten parents had used the court to settle contact. Among the minority of cases in which parents cannot agree, fathers are rarely denied contact with their children. In 2002, less than 1% of contact orders applied for were refused by courts.

Spiderman stunts don't help children. But reliable research and a level-headed debate on how we can foster good contact arrangements would.

Andy Keen Downs

Deputy Director

One Parent Families

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