Father’s Day: Families need Fathers Charter

The Families Need Fathers  has updated its Charter before Father’s Day to remind the government and professionals involved in family law of the principles which underpin the charity.

The Charter has five key principles and on which they campaign:

• No child should be denied a full and loving relationship with both their parents unless it has been proven that such a relationship presents a risk to the child;
• The family justice system should promote collaboration and shared parenting between parents following separation;
• Family courts need to respond swiftly to breaches of Child Arrangement Orders, to ensure that relationships between children and the parent they do not live with day-to-day are not compromised;
• Information and support services should be easily accessible for separated parents throughout the different pathways of the family justice system;
• The important contribution of fathers, mothers, grandparents and the wider family should be promoted wherever possible, in both family policy and wider society.

Jerry Karlin, Chair of Families Need Fathers, said:

“Our updated Charter details the key areas of improvement that we would like to see both within family law and wider society. This, we believe would greatly benefit separating families. The more detailed proposals set out within the Charter will provide the focus of our work. Looking forward, we will seek to achieve progress on these principles for both our members and for the thousands of families who rely on the support of the family justice system each year.”

The full details of the Charter, including specific details for each principle outlined above, can be seen here and where the ‘Families Need Fathers Charter 2015’ document, can be downloaded from.