I have started this campaign on behalf of my friend who has not been able to see his five-year-old daughter for over a year now. This subject is close to my heart because it is one someone close to me has experienced too.
Break ups are hard right, and sometimes a lot of blame and hate is thrown at each other. Then kids get in the mix. Most families navigate this well for the sake of the child or children. In other families this is where it goes wrong. Children are used as tools. Let us change this and let a small girl see her dad again.
I am a woman; I do not have kids. But I came from a broken home and my mother never ever said a bad word against my dad, until I was old enough to ask what happened. Even now she fully encourages me to have a relationship with him, and I do. But I have seen far too often, a woman scorned use their child as a pawn. I believe this is setting a dangerous precedent, that all fathers are bad people, just because they choose to split with the mother. In my eyes that is the best thing to do sometimes if you are unhappy.
The primary caregiver, (which is often the mother) is usually where the child resides. I have seen family and friends time and time again lose access to their children because financially or mentally the court process is so tough, they could not continue. Whether, you see your own child should not come down to if you can afford the legal fees or it gets to the stage you are extremely worried about the impact all the nastiness and your child having to give evidence in court will have on them.
My friend has had it really tough this year with access pulled completely with no contact allowed whatsoever from him or any of his family.
He has now been in the legal process for over a year, fending off allegation after allegation. Not only have we had a year of Covid to deal with, but he is also dealing with this added extra stress and extra expense. He has amassed over £40k in legal fees of which, £20k is still outstanding and he knows that he has another £15-20k of bills to come in the next few months. He is self-employed ,Covid and the mental stress of this case has hit him hard so he is struggling to clear the debt let alone pay for the next crucial hearings.
Because the family court is a closed court, he is unable to be identified but I wanted to see if I could help in some way by starting this fundraiser. I would like to raise money for my friend with any surplus going to Fathers4Justice to help other fathers who find themselves in a similar situation. If you could donate anything to help, I would be extremely grateful Thank you.