NSCFC: Response to police chief's statement.
NSCFC logo for press releases
Welcome to the British Youth Council's site, providing up-to-date information about our policy and campaigning work and access to our key briefings, press releases and policy research. |  |
Find more Opinion Formers in this category:
Children do not feel neglected when their parents go to work and some even feel proud, new research claims. |  |
Wednesday, 15, Aug 2007 12:00
No, the buck stops with your Party Ms Hillier and the Family Courts not the parents.
In a week when Police Chief Peter Fahy called on parents to foster a sense of social responsibility in their children and teach them the difference between right and wrong followed by the MP Meg Hillier’s input pointing the proverbial finger in the same direction. No Mr Fahy and Ms Hillier the buck does not stop with the parents it stops right at the door of Government. Why so? Because, since the Labour party came to office in 1997 some 400,000 children have lost contact with their father and paternal side of the family. Each and every day up and down the country 100 children are treated as mere chattels by in its infinite wisdom a family court system so willfully blind and determined to deny children in their formative years the right to have both parents in their lives after separation or divorce, they will do just about anything to rid a father as role model from his child’s life and if it means behind closed doors then so be it.
That some 40% of all children in our schools are from one parent families is a reality, so its no wonder, devoid of paternal guidance as they are and loss of identity children are apt to embrace the sense of belonging which comes from groups or gangs and so follows the downward spiral into anti social behavior and under achievement, the list can go on! So, for Ms Hillier to say the Government supports families is as good as saying proviso being all fathers excluded, his child support wallet we want but oh no not him! Suffice to say until such time as the Politicians wake up to the reality that they are instrumental in taking away the very parental responsibility they are seeking from society, then its for sure that one parent families will topple over the 50% mark and with it all the ramifications they as the nations leaders have suckered.
Deal with the cause and the effects will begin to subside. Address the following and just maybe we have a chance before society implodes and this means giving decent loving fathers and their children the following RIGHTS in full even after separation or divorce, only then will the correlation between anti social behavior and fatherless children decrease, for where indeed in the Children’s Act 1989 does it say only mothers should be given Parental Responsibility Rights? The NSCFC says emphatically, nowhere.
Parental responsibilities, what are they?
As a parent (with parental responsibility) the Children Act 1989 says your responsibilities are 'all the RIGHTS, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property'.
This includes:
Safeguarding and promoting a child's health, development and welfare;
Financially supporting the child;
Providing direction and guidance to the child;
Maintaining direct and regular contact with the child;
Acting as a legal representative until the child is 16 if required;
Ensuring that the child is suitably educated;
In order to fulfil these responsibilities there are certain RIGHTS that can be used by the parent. These can include:
Having the child living with the person with responsibility or having a say in where the child lives;
Controlling, directing and guiding the child's upbringing;
If the child is not living with you, having a personal relationship and regular contact with the child;
Acting as a legal representative until the child is 16 if required;
Choosing the child's name, but there may be restrictions on changing a child's name;
Choosing the child's education;
Being the person to give consent for medical treatment, issuing passports, adoption and marriage for a child under 18;
Choosing a guardian for the child and so on.
National Society for Children and Family Contact (NSCFC) is a registered charity which believes that continuing contact with a child’s parents or extended family after separation or divorce is vital for the child’s balanced development and it works tirelessly to foster those all-important family contacts. As such we offer free support and advice to all those in need. Helpline at National rate also available 24/7 this to include support and domestic violence helpline for men on 0870 794 0075 or www.nscfc.com not because we are in any way partial but because there is little in the way of backup for male victims in the UK, 500 refuges for women only 2 for men!