THE RECOMMENDATIONS of the Law Reform Commission on legal aspects of family relationships should be implemented immediately, according to a charity set up to assist separated and unmarried fathers.
“Families, Fathers and Friends”, which offers counselling and support to fathers who have difficulty in maintaining contact with their children following separation, was set up by counsellor and psychotherapist Sam Butt and is based in Galway.
Its charter for family law was officially launched by Minister of State for Equality and Human Rights Mary White in Dublin yesterday.
She pledged to work with the Minister for Justice to ensure there was change in the law when the final report from the Law Reform Commission on the legal aspects of family relationships was published. Both as a TD and a Minister she had heard numerous accounts of the pain of fathers who did not have access to their children. However, she said she found the slow pace of legislative change “depressing”.
Mr Butt said men were programmed for flight or fight. They often go to court looking for a fight. “We have to change our behaviour and present our cases properly.” He found the term “deadbeat dads” very offensive. He wanted to speak for the “decent fathers” and to speak in a professional way about the problems in the family law system, including the problem of the non-enforcement of court orders. He stressed that he worked for the charity in a voluntary capacity.
Solicitor Ann Heneghan said it was very helpful for clients who went to her to be able to access the counselling offered by Mr Butt. Asked about the use of mediation in such disputes, she said some couples could not face mediation, and compulsory mediation was not the answer.