Fathers
to fight removal of children overseas
By Lois Rogers
http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/02/11/ndads11.xml
Sunday Telegraph
- 11th February 2007
Record numbers of
children are being taken to live abroad by their mothers against
the wishes of their fathers as a result of bitter divorce battles.
The number of contested
court applications for "leave to remove" children
has risen to more than 1,200 a year from only a few cases in
the 1990s, says Resolution, a family lawyers' group. Despite
protests from thousands of fathers, not one has won an appeal
against such an order being granted by the courts.
Fathers from the
Poel Group, which is committed to reversing the trend, claim
that some of their members have spent up to £300,000 on
protracted battles to maintain contact with their children.
Members of the group are to meet officials from the Department
of Constitutional Affairs (DCA) to discuss ways of reviewing
the family courts' procedures.
advertisementDavid
Blakeman, a lawyer and the group's spokesman, said: "Britain
has the most generous regime on the planet for women getting
divorced. It is accepted that there is a duty for the non-resident
parent, usually the father, to provide maintenance, but there
is no duty for the mother to maintain contact for the children.
"They have almost
complete freedom to do what they like and the majority of fathers
do not have the money to contest it."
The issue has also
been raised by Steve Davies, the author of The Divorced Dad's
Handbook. The book advises men not to engage solicitors because,
even if they win the right of access to the child, visiting
rights for the estranged father cannot be enforced.
Mr Davies, 42, from
Warrington, said that only one in 20 fathers get custody of
children after a divorce and 40 per cent lose touch with their
families within two years of the marriage breakdown.
"I interviewed
at least 50 divorced men and the interests of the child to maintain
a relationship with its father are never put above the wishes
of the mother," he said.
The problems with
the way the law is enforced have been raised by an appeal court
judge, who asked not to be named. The judge said that the judiciary
should be made aware of the emotional fall-out from such cases.
