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The UK's leading Shared Parenting charity

FNF is the leading UK charity supporting all parents - 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.

If you want detailed information or individual support for your case then you should join FNF - where as a member, you will gain access to 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 also have a telephone Helpline (0300 0300 363) which provides first-line support.

FNF membership costs £39 (less if you are renewing).  This is less than a few minutes of a typical solicitor's time - and could save you a fortune!  Find out more about joining or simply donate.  Your support allows us to continue our fight for parents and children denied a loving relationship.

 

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  • A moving tale, shared with us by Suzy Miller of www.startingovershow.com Tears are falling onto my fingers as I type. I hope they don’t drown my keyboard. She’s moving away. Just saying it again out loud brings on another bout of sobs. I don’t usually cry much over my children. But today is different. When she moved up the road - 10 mins by car without traffic - that was a relief. She needed her space with her boyfriend, and I was happy for her and for me. And that short distance became filled with joint trips to the gym and to Aldi - a regular pilgrimage. And distance did indeed make the heart grow fonder. But now she is moving to the West Country and it’s more than a day trip away. Which shouldn’t seem so far away. Yet I can’t stop crying whenever I think about how she will no longer be just ten minutes up the road. My glasses have steamed up, my nose is running, and it seems so silly. But I feel like the umbilical cord will suddenly be stretched so far that it will finally snap, flying back, smashing it’s entrails into my sodden face. You’d think by aged 20, that profound connection would be withered and weakened. But apparently not. A part of me is going with her, but it doesn’t want to leave it’s purchase in my heart. It’s clawing at me and trying very hard to stay in place, and doesn’t want to let go and fly with my little girl to new horizons. There is no logical explanation. We have phone and Skype and probably won’t always have much to say. It’s the proximity that is wailing for the boundaries to remain at 10 minutes away by car. And I can’t help but feel a deep compassion for those parents - usually the dads - who have to move away when the family splits. To have to be a drive away, an organise-your-time-to-be-able-to-see-them distance away. A wrenching of the heart away. I wonder if her dad felt the same suffering. I’m sure he did. I’m on my 7th tissue and my eyes will be swollen tomorrow no doubt. I’m glad it’s Sunday and I can stay hidden at home. And this is just part of the normal sway of life. I can get in the car and drive those 3 hours whenever I choose. I don’t have to ask the permission of another parent. I don’t have to stay within the boundaries of a court order. I’m lucky. Tears are falling onto my fingers as I type. I hope they don’t drown my keyboard.

  • Have you ever wondered about this apparent and very worrying taboo? I have. Are we different in the UK? It's not just children - According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), reported male victims of domestic violence at the hand of their partners make up more than a third of the total. Check out some stats in the chart http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/why-arent-we-talking-about-abusive-mums/news-story/629b48b93abd22be2b63f1344c0c5de6

  • Whilst we support the principle that both parents should contribute towards their children (in many different ways), the very polarised view that's so often in the media is about arrears in child maintenance apparently owed to mothers. This recurring theme rarely seems to consider the many dads who are driven into poverty and suffering by absurd assessments of what they should pay, despite having little or no money - and who are often also (to add insult to injury - or is it the other way round?) being denied access to their children at the very same time. Furthermore, some of these mothers also earn far more than their exes due to benefits, tax credits and/or salaries, and the assessments do not take any of this into account. This side of the story must be heard too - children deserve more! So here's a piece based on an article written by one of our Trustees which is also published by Marilyn Stowe, in response to a recent very one-sided Times article: https://fnf.org.uk/news-events-2/press-releases/150-press-releases-2017-archive And here is a link to the Stowe Blog - it's similar but you can add your comments too. Please do! http://www.marilynstowe.co.uk/2017/06/30/does-gingerbread-have-a-monopoly-on-the-argument/

  • Very sad story... What is it that drives a parent to take the ultimate step to punish a dad or to exclude him from their child's life? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-wales-40443444/father-s-battle-over-death-review-after-ex-killed-their-son

  • Yes! Magistrates take the law into their own hands on breached order contempt of court! https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/publications/committal-for-contempt-of-court-in-open-court-at-the-family-court-sitting-at-nottingham-allsop/

  • Families Need Fathers updated their cover photo.


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

22/07/2017 Sat: Harrow Branch Meetings
24/07/2017 Mon: London Central Meeting
25/07/2017 Tue: Harrow Branch Meetings
27/07/2017 Thu: London East (Tower Hamlets)
27/07/2017 Thu: Exeter Meeting
31/07/2017 Mon: Reading Meeting
1/08/2017 Tue: Newcastle Meeting
1/08/2017 Tue: Leeds Central Meeting
1/08/2017 Tue: Oxford Meeting (check day with branch)
1/08/2017 Tue: Northampton Meeting
2/08/2017 Wed: Manchester Meeting
2/08/2017 Wed: Northern Ireland Meeting
2/08/2017 Wed: London West Meeting & Solicitor Clinic
2/08/2017 Wed: Epsom Meeting
3/08/2017 Thu: Solent Meeting
3/08/2017 Thu: Liverpool-Wirral Meeting
3/08/2017 Thu: Nottingham Meeting
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