Fathers Support Groups

As the divorce rate goes up in the western world, many fathers feel that they need fathers support groups to help them. Many of these groups exist to give emotional support and practical advice. Fathers find themselves in situations where there is conflict over custody and visitation rights. They may be widowed or a lone parent or have sole custody. Many fathers feel isolated and a group of men in a similar situation can offer shared experiences. In divorce, custody is usually given to the mother and some fathers feel short changed with the arrangements for visiting the child.

In the UK, the charity Families Need Fathers is a respected organization that helps parents of either gender. Members are mostly fathers and the central concern of the group is to promote the children's well being at times of family break up. They are working with the courts to persuade divorcing parents to put the interests of the child above their own. Custody battles are especially stressful for the children caught in the middle and the group hopes to encourage mediation rather than adversarial action.

One of the more controversial groups to emerge from the rights for father's movement is Fathers 4 Justice. Another of the fathers support groups to start in Britain, it now has branches in the USA, Canada, Holland and Italy. The members feel very strongly that fathers are treated unfairly with regard to contact with children after divorce. There has been a series of publicity stunts in the UK to promote their cause. Protesters have dressed up as comic book superheroes on occasion, as when Batman and Robin scaled Buckingham Palace and Spider-Man stood on top of a crane. Members dressed as Santa Claus invaded the Royal Courts of Justice. The most publicity was gained when some men threw flour bombs at Tony Blair as he spoke in the House of Commons.

A number of organizations with their origins in the United States also strive for equal rights for fathers. These fathers support groups include the Million Dads March Network, Parents Without Rights and The American Coalition of Fathers and Children. All these groups believe in the importance of the father child bond. So often, fathers and children have minimal contact or no contact at all. The movement campaigns for shared parenting, whereby joint custody arrangements can become the norm instead of the exception. This would mean that both parents have equal responsibility for the child and equal access and the need for fathers support groups will decrease.

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