Agony of the frozen-out fathers

Hat tip to WA DV Press for this post and preview of the upcoming BBC program . . . BBC Documentary – Who Needs Fathers?

Link to UK article . . . http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/7528771/Agony-of-the-frozen-out-fathers.html

some excerpts;

Watching a preview of next week’s BBC series Who Needs Fathers?, "I felt ashamed to be a woman." The men on the programme appeared to be loving, attentive fathers – not extremists in Batman costumes. All they wanted was to play their part in the upbringing of their children. But, at every turn, it seemed, vengeful, short-sighted women were selfishly trying to thwart them.

Not only did these women want total control of the children – believing their love was enough – they also expected their exes to keep them in the style to which they had become accustomed. (I can do it all, but I still need your money)

Looking at the confused faces of children being fought over by parents like favourite toys, it was not difficult to imagine what might happen when they grew into teenagers, unsure about their loyalties and identities.

“The emotionally healthy 18 year-olds,” says Judge Nicholas Crichton, who works in the family courts, “are those who can say, 'Whatever happened between my parents, I knew I was loved and that I was free to love both parents without feeling guilty.’?”

“The courts are still stuck in a 1950s paradigm of mothers doing the caring, and fathers doing the earning,”

When allegations of misconduct are made, contact is rightly refused until they have been investigated. (Wouldn't that be nice! Of course, in Thurston, when the GAL says BS to it, the court throws the GAL out.) But sometimes they are purely vexatious. (ya think?)

Looking at the worried eyes of children caught up in disputes that they don’t understand, change can’t come too soon.