(1888PressRelease)
July 03, 2008 - LONDON - Frustrated by the lack of cohesion in this area of the law and the lack of progress on their behalf, once again fathers’ rights groups have been driven to take on the campaign to obtain justice for fathers.
Last month activists from the civil rights group Fathers4Justice scaled the roof of Government Minister Harriet Harman protesting about the recent vote in the House of Commons in favour of changing the law regarding IVF treatment proposed by the current Human Fertilisation & Embryology Bill whereby fertility clinics will no longer have to consider a child’s need for a father as is currently the case under the 1990 Human Fertilisation & Embryology Act. Brandishing banners with the words “a father is for life and not just conception” the protestors launched their stakeout.
The likelihood of the new legislation making a difference to lesbian couples and single women is negligible and why should it be of any concern to men who donate their sperm through a fertility clinic anyway? After all the 1990 Act already states that when a man consents to his sperm being donated for the purpose of licensed fertility treatment, he will not be treated as the father of the child.
Celia Conrad states that it matters a great deal. “This has implications for fathers generally and not just within the context of IVF treatment. By removing the requirement to even consider a child’s need for a father it undermines the importance of a father and his status in the eyes of the law. It is ironic that back in 1998 the Government produced a consultation paper Supporting Families in which it was stated that fathers do have a crucial role to play in their children’s upbringing and yet over the past decade fatherhood has been consistently eroded.”
Conrad, a former specialist family law solicitor, who is known for her work in promoting rights for loving and devoted fathers struggling to obtain/maintain contact with their children after separation and/or divorce has been campaigning for changes to our family justice system. She points out that even Judges are now breaking their traditional silence and speaking out against the Government’s failings to address problems within the family justice system and criticising the Government for not doing enough to deal with the extent of family breakdown which now affects every level of society. “This is not before time,” she states.
In a speech to Resolution family lawyers at their annual conference in April 2008, Mr Justice Coleridge said, “I am afraid the time has come for family judges to speak out publicly in protest at the way in which the family justice system in this country has been and is being mismanaged and neglected by government.”
Highlighting a need for reform and increased resources, he urged policy makers to, “Stop chipping away at the family justice system and trying to have it on the cheap.” Mr Justice Coleridge accused the government of “doing very little and nothing like enough” to tackle the collapse of family life. “If family breakdown and parental separation cannot be avoided then the better it is managed and handled the less the emotional and psychological fallout on individuals concerned especially the children.”
Conrad agrees. “Changes must be made to improve vastly our current system to end the misery that thousands of parents separated from their children are going through on a daily basis and measures introduced so that post separation and/or divorce the children are able to maintain and/or build relationships with both parents. Children’s needs must come first.”
If you’d like more information on Celia Conrad or the book Fathers Matter please go to http://www.fathersmatter.com
###
