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The UK's leading Shared Parenting charity

FNF is the leading UK charity supporting dads, mums and grandparents to have personal contact and meaningful relationships with their children following parental separation.

We offer information, advice and support services helping parents to achieve a positive outcome for their children.

Our online Forum and our network of over 50 UK Branches also offer pro-bono guidance of solicitors and others familiar with the operation of the family courts.

Join FNF or register for free to receive our newsletters, surveys, research and more.  As a member, you can also access our Forum in which experienced volunteers, including solicitors and McKenzie Friends can answer your questions. 

Visit your nearest FNF Branch where meetings are run by experienced and knowledgeable Volunteers who want to help you.  Some of the more established branches run solicitors' clinics for the benefit of our members. 

We  have a telephone Helpline (0300 0300 363) which provides first-line support.

FNF membership costs less than a few minutes of a typical solicitor's time - and could save you a fortune by being better prepared for the choices ahead!  Find out more about free registration and joining or simply donate.  Your support is crucial in enabling us to sustain our mission working for parents and children who are being denied a loving relationship.

This is a testimonial email we received recently from a service user:

“I have a solicitor who charges ￡285 + VAT per hour. She's good but she is very expensive. FNF with its ￡39 membership fee has given me more practical advice and provided me with company of fellow fathers who are striving to achieve contact with their children against all odds. Something my solicitor can never offer. I have had 3-4 sittings and have had more practical advice than I have had from my solicitor (who is process driven and has no emotional connect) for last 6-8 months and I don't even want to mention how much I have paid her in this time. FNF has been amazing for me. I would recommend it to all fathers going through a divorce and wanting contact with their child/children. We are all in this together.”

 

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  1. Press Release - Draft Government Domestic Abuse Bill
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  • Families Need Fathers welcome the Centre for Social Justice’s report - ‘The Hidden Parent Poverty Trap: Child Maintenance and Universal Credit’, published today. It’s findings are that hundreds of thousands of parents are pushed into a poverty trap caused by an out-of-date Child Maintenance formula. It shows that CMS assessments are often unaffordable as they don’t take into account the essential cost of living of the paying parent and state benefits don’t take their Child Maintenance into account. The fact that paying parents on state benefits who struggle with these payments are then surcharged by 20%, have deductions made from their pay and risk having their passports taken away from them is simply unforgivable. It creates a hostile environment that fuels family conflict and undermines the welfare of children. Please contact your MP and share this report with them, especially if you are one of those affected by this. Please ask your MP to contact relevant ministers and urge them to take urgent action: 1.Immediately stop surcharging by 20% parents on state benefits who are struggling with CM payments. 2.Ask for an immediate inflationary adjustment of thresholds before payments start, to reflect increases in the cost of living since 1998 (they have remained unchanged since then). 3. Ask for Universal Credit to take into account Child Maintenance payments. 4. Call for a complete review of Child Maintenance to ensure it is: a. Affordable b. supports shared parenting and c. reduces, rather than increases, family conflict. You may also with to encourage your MP to get in touch with us so we can provide them with further information. We’d be delighted if you shared with us any responses you receive. If you need further information yourself, please get in touch. https://www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/library/the-hidden-parent-poverty-trap-child-maintenance-and-universal-credit Please support us by liking this, sharing it, following us, registering with us for free, becoming a member or making a donation to support our work.

  • Alex Skeel's story of being a victim of domestic abuse is truly horrendous. Speaking of his children he is reported in The Times as saying: “I stayed because I know what family courts are like. If I were to leave, how would I know I’d ever get to see them again?” Alex Skeel has helped to expose the lack of support for men who are far less likely to be believed. Fear of loss of access to their much loved children is one of the greatest reasons why men don't report abuse. The family courts do not treat them in the same way. The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) have domestic violence perpetrator programmes for men, but not even one for women, even though MoJ say that 37% of victims are men. 'Abused by My Girlfriend' - BBC One at 22.45, today 19 February. Please support Families Need Fathers - because both parents matter. You can do this by liking this story, sharing it, following us, registering for free, becoming a member or making a donation. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8450760/moment-starved-boyfriend-22-found-10-days-from-death-in-pool-of-blood-after-abusive-girlfriend-slashed-him-with-bread-knife/

  • People on Universal Credit and other benefits, who do not live with their children, don't just struggle with rent but also with making Child Maintenance (CM) payments. When that happens the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) puts them into their 'Collect and Pay' service for which they are then surcharged by 20% by the government. A kind of 'pay-day loan' surcharge that mostly affects the poorest parents. Not surprisingly they then find it even more difficult to pay their CM and develop arrears. CM payments are not even taken into account in calculations of UC, hence ensuring that many remain below the poverty line and that increased income does not increase their take-home pay - precisely what UC was supposed to put an end to. It also makes their ex-partners angry that they are not receiving the CM that they have been told by CMS is their entitlement adding to their already stressed lives. UC and the benefits system need to look at the specific issues of separated parents to help solve the problems of families on low incomes rathe than compound them. Do tell your MP about this and ask him/her to seek a government response. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/06/call-for-universal-credit-overhaul-amid-fears-of-looming-evictions-crisis Please support us by sharing this, liking it, following us on Facebook, registering with us for free on our website, making a donation or becoming a member.

  • The Guardian/Observer are seeking views on issues men face today, on masculinity, etc in the context of #MeToo. We thought you might wish to share your views with them and the stories you would like to see them cover. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/31/tell-us-about-the-issues-men-face-today To support FNF please like our posts, follow us, register on our website for free, make a donation or join and become a member.

  • Tracey Crouch MP for Chatham and Aylesford leads a Westminster debate today on supporting fathers in early years. We welcome this. Countries that support fathers, not least through much better paternity leave policies, also have greater involvement of dads with their children whether together or apart. Their society as a whole values them more. Fewer need to go to court. Children grow up healthier... and so do the adults. We will attend the debate this morning. https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/social-affairs/children-and-young-people/house/house-magazine/101416/tracey-crouch-we-need Please support FNF by liking this, sharing it, following us, registering for free, making a donation or becoming a member.

  • Good to see Esther Rantzen redressing the balance. We should not be tarring all men with the same brush or assuming that all or even most women are relative angels. Power can be abused. In family courts it often is. Stereotyping is unhelpful to finding solutions for separated parents - it creates the conditions of such abuse to the detriment of the children, their dads and, in the final analysis, mums too. https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/esther-rantzen-hits-out-at-the-gillette-metoo-ad-saying-it-tars-all-men-with-same-brush-a4041186.html To support FNF please like this, share it, follow us, register for free, make a donation or become a member.


FNF HSSF Kite Mark Award

Families Need Fathers has been awarded the Help and Support for Separated Families Kite Mark which is a new UK government accreditation scheme for organisations offering help to separated families.

Families Need Fathers work with a range of family law professionals, including Family Law Panel

 

Upcoming Events

25/03/2019 Mon: London Central Meeting
26/03/2019 Tue: Harrow Branch Meetings
27/03/2019 Wed: Cambridge Meeting
28/03/2019 Thu: London East (Tower Hamlets)
28/03/2019 Thu: Southport Meeting
28/03/2019 Thu: Exeter Meeting
30/03/2019 Sat: Harrow Branch Meetings
1/04/2019 Mon: London Central Solicitor's Clinic
1/04/2019 Mon: Edinburgh Meeting
1/04/2019 Mon: Northern Ireland Meeting
1/04/2019 Mon: Nottingham Meeting
1/04/2019 Mon: Reading Meeting
2/04/2019 Tue: Leeds Central Meeting
2/04/2019 Tue: Newcastle Meeting
2/04/2019 Tue: Northampton Meeting
2/04/2019 Tue: Oxford Meeting (check day with branch)
3/04/2019 Wed: Manchester Meeting
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