Divorced parents denied equal access to children

Last updated at 11:49 21 July 2004


Parents who split up would not be guaranteed equal access to their children under plans unveiled by the Government today.

Ministers want to ensure children see both their parents after a separation.

But they said children must not be treated "like a CD collection" with an automatic presumption of a 50/50 split between both parents.

The Government is proposing a shake-up of the law, saying it is not working at the moment.

It wants more help for parents to reach a settlement without recourse to the courts. It also wants cases that do reach the courts to be dealt with more quickly and effectively.

Ministers also want better enforcement of punishments for parents who breach court orders.

Fathers 4 Justice

The issue was highlighted earlier this year when Fathers 4 Justice, a fathers' pressure group which claims the legal system is prejudiced against dads - threw a flour bomb at Prime Minister Tony Blair in the House of Commons.

Today's proposals were expected to set out a programme which will encourage parents to go through a mediation process to find a solution to their problems instead of going to court.

It was also expected to deal with the situation when mothers or fathers who have custody of children fail to abide by a court's ruling on access for the other parent.

Some fathers' pressure groups have staged a range of high profile protests over the existing law, including scaling tall cranes bringing traffic to a standstill in central London on several occasions.

A leading campaigner described the Green Paper on relationship breakdowns as a "cynical exercise in recycling".

Fathers 4 Justice founder Matt O'Connor said the Government was failing to protect the best interests of children by denying fathers equality with mothers.

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