Mensaid (NI)

UK scientists identify first testicular cancer risk genes : Cancer Research UK

2012-01-12T07:59:00.000-08:00

UK scientists identify first testicular cancer risk genes : Cancer Research UK

Funding for Male Victims

2011-12-13T09:36:00.000-08:00

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH - December 13, 2011

Support for male abuse victims

A NEW fund to support male victims of sexual and domestic violence is to be launched this week.

Lynne Featherstone, the equalities minister, told MPs £225,000 would be provided over two years to assist services "focusing explicitly" on men.

She said: "The Government recognises that men can be victims of domestic violence and takes this issue very seriously. "[The new fund] is in addition to the Home Office funding provided each year to the men's advice line, which provides support and signposting services for male victims, and Broken Rainbow, which provides support to LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) victims."

Ms Featherstone's comments came as Karl McCartney, the Conservative MP for Lincoln, sought reassurances that all domestic violence awareness campaigns run by the Government would be "clearly aimed" at male both female and male victims.

Ms Featherstone said that was "indeed the case'' and used the example of a recent campaign aimed at both male and female teenagers being abused by their peers.

Mr McCartney said he welcomed the announcement of the new fund, which he said would bring much-needed support for the "victims of this deplorable crime''.

Last year, a report by the campaign group Parity claimed that 40 per cent of all domestic violence victims in the UK were men.

SOCIAL WORKERS 'SEX UP ABUSE CLAIMS TO SNATCH CHILDREN FOR ADOPTION'

2011-12-12T13:02:00.001-08:00

Rffj say: The Sunday Express today prints the latest in a shocking series of media indictments against the so-called Child Protection Services in the UK. We would like to thank the Sunday Express, the reporter Ted Jeory and not least the social worker whistleblower for bringing this to the public's eye. We feel, however, that money rules the adoption game, with at least one adoption agency having been targeted for purchase by a major financial institution. The adoption industry now satisfies both ends of the political spectrum in that ultra left wing and feminist forces can engage in their penchant for destroying families whilst capitalists can rake in millions from desperate adoptive parents and, no doubt, generous bonuses from local authorities. Millions of pounds that could be spent supporting families is being pocketed by social workers, fat cats and legal firms intent on destroying them with fraudulent lies. Judges simply rubber-stamp transparently false allegations in kangaroo-court style 'Fact-Finding Hearings' rather than removing them to be dealt with in criminal courts. In one case we know of, no less than 25 false allegations were made with the children maintained in care whilst the parents were forced through months of proving their innocence.
The question that should be asked is.....who is behind this industry and agencies, who buys the shares, and is anybody doing any insider trading?

The whistleblower said authorities’ worries of another Baby P had created a climate of fear

Sunday December 11,2011
By Ted Jeory Express
SOCIAL workers regularly “sex up” dossiers on problem parents to take children into care and even to put them up for adoption, a whistleblower reveals today.

The experienced social worker told a Sunday Express investigation that council managers frequently put pressure on him and colleagues to rewrite reports considered “too positive”.

They demand “more dirt” on mothers and fathers to increase the chances of securing court orders that place their children into care and which boost councils’ Ofsted ratings.

The whistleblower said authorities’ worries of another Baby P had created a climate of fear destroying innocent families.

The findings were last night called a “national scandal” by Lib Dem MP John Hemming who is demanding a full Parliamentary inquiry into Britain’s child protection system.

The source said social workers’ behaviour dramatically and needlessly changed after full details of the 2007 death of Baby Peter Connelly in Haringey, north London, emerged three years ago.

We’re being pressured to go against what we think is right for families

The whistleblower, a father who works for a large authority in the south of England, said: “We’re being pressured to go against what we think is right for families.

“Personally, I’ve written reports and been told ‘You are too positive with this family. We’ll never get it to court unless you make it more negative’.

“Although it goes against what you feel is right, you feel under an obligation.”

He went on: “In order to get a child through to a child protection conference, we’re told to make the situation look bad, and worse than it actually is.

“We don’t necessarily make things up but we can change the emphasis.”

He said these reports were used to take children out of a family home and in many cases placed for adoption. “It destroys families, but the newer, younger social workers see this as the norm, they just want to toe the line with their bosses and that’s worrying.”

He also raised serious concerns about council-appointed psychologists biased in favour of their paymasters and what he considered nebulous concepts of emotional abuse and “attachment theories”.

He added: “These psychologists create such a high standard of parenting that most of us would fail.”

Mr Hemming said: “I congratulate the Sunday Express in unearthing this national scandal. A number of whistleblowers have come to me to explain how expert evidence is at times sexed up and at other times plainly wrong in the Family Courts.

“Taking the wrong children into care on the basis of sexed-up dossiers and meaningless psychobabble results in other children being left to die such as Baby P.

“Parliament must act to sort out the child protection system.”

11 December 2011: NORGROVE PANEL SPUN A PACK OF LIES TO GOVERNMENT

2011-12-12T13:00:00.001-08:00

From the horse's mouth, report from Australia shows how Norgrove chose to deceive the UK Government, manufacturing false figures from Australia to back up his ideologically driven and pathological lies intended to undermine shared parenting. One can only presume his integrity was affected later in life by the family law professionals whose close company he preferred during the wasteful days of the Family Justice Review. Let's hope, during his career as an accountant, that he did not similarly produce reports to order.

An article by:

Jim Carter
Shared Parenting Council of Australia
Canberra
3 December 2011

Norgrove Committee’s failure to recommend in favour of “meaningful relationships with both parents”
is based on a fundamental misrepresentation of the Australian experience with shared parenting

Norgrove Committee’s misrepresentation of the Australian experience with shared parenting

An article in The Guardian of 3 November 2011 by Owen Boycott on the report of the (UK) “Norgrove” Family Justice Review states that:

“according to (the) long-awaited report on family law… Fathers who have gone through divorce or separation will not be granted a legal right to guarantee that their child has ‘a meaningful relationship with both parents’,

“The Family Justice Review draws back from one of its key interim recommendations that had raised the hopes of groups such as Fathers 4 Justice, which campaigns for improved paternal access rights …

“… it is the review's decision on whether there should be a legal right for the child to continue having a ‘meaningful relationship with both parents’ that appears to have been most problematic.........

“In its introduction, it states: ‘We are aware that some will be disappointed by our decision to recommend against a legal presumption around shared parenting and to step back even from the recommendations we made in this respect in our interim report.

"The evidence we received showed the acute distress experienced by parents who are unable to see their children after separation. This is an issue we know countries around the world try to tackle, and fail.

"Our conclusion was reached reluctantly but clearly. The law cannot state a presumption of any kind without incurring unacceptable risk of damage to children.

“Many fathers and grandfathers who had submitted evidence to review had supported it as an ‘important step’, the report notes, ‘reflecting how society has changed and give hope to the thousands of fathers who wish to have an active and appropriate engagement in their child's upbringing’.

“But countries such as Australia, where a similar right was established in 2006, the report explained, had seen an increase in litigation, creating even more legal confrontations. ‘As a result we withdraw the
recommendation that a statement of 'meaningful relationship' be inserted in the legislation.’"

The Facts

The above claim in the Norgrove report that Australia “had seen an increase in litigation, creating even more legal confrontations” after the 2006 reforms to family law is completely wrong.

In fact, there was a sharp decline in litigation in the Australian family law system over the period. The total number of applications filed in the family court system in Australia between 2003-04 and 2008-09, as published in court annual reports, were as follows.

The number of applications for final orders in children’s matters declined by 22% - from 18,752 in 2005-06 to 14,549 in 2008-09 (Australian Institute of Family Studies, December 2009).

The AIFS report of December 2009 noted that “There is evidence of fewer postseparation disputes being responded to primarily via the use of legal services and more being responded to primarily via the use of family relationship services. This suggests a cultural shift whereby a greater proportion of post-separation disputes over children are being seen and responded to primarily in relationship terms.”

Ex-Secretary of State for Children, Schools, and Families misrepresentation of the Australian experience with shared parenting

In a BBC panel discussion on 3 November 2011, Mr Ed Balls, Children’s Secretary in the previous Labour Government, claimed, in relation to the Australian experience, that:
Youtube link to Question Time (Ed balls from 2m 40s)
“I did commission the (Norgrove) report, precisely because I was worried about
these issues around fathers’ access and grandparents’ access too, and in the
interim report as I understand it Mr Norgrove did say he wanted to look at the
issue of having a legal right of fathers. He then went and studied some of the
international experiences and in particular the Australian experience where this
was done for five or six years and the result was that after establishing the legal
right there was a huge increase in the number of child custody cases which moved
from mediation to long protracted court battles, and, as I understand it, made it
more likely that you would end up with a legal battle that would be very
damaging to children rather than being sorted out through mediation.”

This repeats the seriously incorrect statements made in the Norgrove report.

The actual situation is that:
The 2006 Australian reforms (1) incorporated a rebuttable assumption of equal parental responsibility and (2) required courts in appropriate cases (i.e., where safe and reasonably practicable) to consider whether shared parenting time should be ordered;

The percentage of separating couples who (either by consent or court order) adopted equal shared parenting or some closely similar arrangement in Australia increased over the first five years after the 2006 reform from 7% to 16%;

Not only was there a very large reduction in family law litigation following the 2006 Australian reforms, a much higher percentage of the litigation is now handled by the Federal Magistrates Courts, which deal with the less complex cases;

Far from the Australian 2006 reforms being a failure, the AIFS in its 2009 evaluation of the reforms concluded that:

“The philosophy of shared parental responsibility is overwhelmingly supported by parents, legal system professionals and service professionals”,

and that a large majority of parents believe that shared parenting is working well.
Numerous opinion polls in Australia have confirmed those assessments.

The views of the UK Government
In contrast to the remarks of the ex-Children’s Secretary UK, the comments by the current Home Secretary during the BBC discussion about shared parenting were accurate, perceptive, and positive.

It is important that the UK government understands the misleading nature of the anti-shared parenting propaganda to which it is being subjected by radical feminists from Australia and elsewhere.

Applying the Norgrove Committee’s arguments to correct information about trends in litigation in Australia would reasonably lead to the conclusion that (1) a presumption of shared parental responsibility, together with (2) encouragement for “meaningful relationships with both parents” should be an essential part of family law reform in the UK (as elsewhere).

Without that as part of its recommendations, the Norgrove review will almost certainly fail to meet its purported objectives.

As remarked by Amanda Platell in “Mail Online” on 2 December 2011:
“David Norgrove’s Family Justice Review is a misguided piece of outdated, sexist nonsense which enshrines in law a mother’s unassailable right to raise her children -alone.

“Mr Norgrove decrees that fathers should have no legal right to enjoy time with their children when a relationship ends ... He claims his review is all based on what’s ‘best for the child’. Yet he ignores decades of research that shows children from broken homes benefit from maintaining a stable, constant
relationship with their mothers and their fathers, as well as with their extended family.

“Guilty till proved innocent is the dictum for dads in the Family Law Courts.

“David Cameron has long promised his will be the most family-friendly government in history. He can prove it by condemning Mr Norgrove’s unjust Anti-Family Review andenshrining in law the
right of every decent father to a fair share in the raising of his children.”

In view of the significance of the above issues for UK Government policy, it would be useful for the above information about the Australian experience to be passed on to other interested persons and groups.

Regards
Jim Carter
Shared Parenting Council of Australia

LIB DEMS THE CLOSET LAWYERS WHO LEECH OFF MEN USING DV LAWS

2011-12-12T12:57:00.000-08:00

The Lib Dem's show their true colours today with more disgusting Domestic Violence laws aimed at fleecing men and to line the pockets of the lawyers that control the agenda of another nasty party disguised as some sort of good guys.

We are sick and tired of these crooks suggesting they are trying to protect women from all the bad men when it is a means for the higher echelons of the legal system, full of freemasons within the Liberal democrats who use their political position to further impose vile DV laws that manipulate men in divorce leaving them asset stripped, homeless and bankrupt while LAWYERS in the Lib Dem party add more stolen homes to their property portfolio's.

They , like the tory's are the utter scum and dregs of the earth with ulterior financial motives to give ever more powers to dodgy judges and lawyers who continue to misuse the law for their own financial advantage.

Some quotes from their latest legal mafia slant.

"In the profession and the party-campaigning for justice for all"
Unless you're a man with assets and property and who they can target using a dodgy DV agenda.

"Men who are 'too controlling' could face criminal charges as law on domestic violence is tightened up"
In other words 'Shout at your spouse and lose your house'.

"Bullies who use psychological abuse to control their partners could face criminal charges, it emerged today"
It is the Lib Dems and their bully boy lawyers and judges that are the biggest abusers thieving mens assets on a grand scale. We have vast experience of how Lib Dem MP's and councillors use malicious social work and doctors reports to run a legal aid racket making millions from sources they already control.

The legal aid lawyer millionaires behind the Lib Dems are as criminal as any wee ned and thieving far more than the odd video recorder or tv.

Lib Dem show their true colours as lawyers within their ranks using outrageous biased DV laws to control and financially ruin men
Lib dems the party of lawyers: The Liberal Democrat Lawyers Association
--
INTERNATIONAL MENS ORGANISATION
http://www.intmensorg.info
BACK UP WEB ADDRESS
http://www.internationalmensorganisation.info

Woman deceived man into marriage

2011-12-12T12:55:00.000-08:00

A MAN whose bride did not tell him she had AIDS has lost a battle to have his marriage declared void.

The court case is believed to be the first of its kind in Australia.
A court heard that the wife, in her 30s, was diagnosed with AIDS in 2006.
The husband, in his 50s, said that if he had known she had AIDS he never would have married her the following year.
The wife filed for divorce last year but the husband asked the court to dismiss the application and grant a decree of nullity “on the ground of fraud”.
It was revealed he wanted a decree of nullity rather than having the marriage dissolved because he believed it would mean the wife would not be able to pursue him for a property settlement.
The Full Court of the Family Court of Australia last week rejected the man’s bid.
It also said the husband was mistaken in his view there could be no property settlement if the marriage was found to be void.
The husband claimed the case was the first where a court had been asked to consider an application for nullity on the basis that one of the parties had failed to disclose they suffered from a communicable disease that could lead to the death of the other party.
It is not known if the husband contracted the AIDS virus.
Slater & Gordon family law expert Ian Shann told the Herald Sunthe moral of the case was simple: “Check out people’s stories before you marry them.”
Had the man been successful it would have opened Pandora’s Box, Mr Shann said.
“I don’t think there’s much difference between lying about your health or lying about your financial circumstances or lying about your financial intentions,” he said.
A lower court dismissed the husband’s application for a decree of nullity last year and he lodged his appeal in the Full Court of the Family Court.
The Marriage Act says a marriage is void in the event that “the consent of either of the parties is not a real consent because … it was obtained by … fraud”.
The Full Court said the wife’s failure to inform the husband of her condition “did not vitiate the husband’s consent to marriage”.
In the earlier judgment, a judge said there was no question the husband married the woman he thought he was marrying and the parties went through what they knew to be a valid marriage ceremony.
Mr Shann said grounds for getting a decree of nullity included bigamy, being too young to be married, being in a phony marriage, being pressured into a marriage and a case of fraud, such as mistaken identity.
“This particular case did not fall within any of those circumstances, although the wife clearly lied and although the husband was clearly placed in a precarious position because of the lie,” Mr Shann said.
The wife did not participate in the hearing.
Shelley Hadfield | hadfields@heraldsun.com.au

Absent fathers have rights too

2011-08-29T01:21:00.000-07:00

In the aftermath of last week’s riots, there has been a torrent of evidence and opinion about the detrimental affect of absent fathers, followed by outraged indignation at anything that might constitute criticism of single mothers.

It is a fact that one in three children whose parents split up loses contact with their fathers but in many cases, that is because of a family justice system that still favours the mother as the “better” parent. Mum gets to stay in the family home while Dad is forced to move out, maybe staying with friends or renting but invariably unable to afford to create a second home for the children, because he’s having to pay their mother maintenance.

Mum gets a new boyfriend who moves in to the family home, he doesn’t like the contact with the ex and gradually the visits become more difficult and a bargaining tool where the children are the currency. Hardly surprising then that for many men, the gradual disintegration before their eyes of what they once loved becomes too much to bear and they walk away. Yes, of course that is simplistic and many people manage to make sensible shared parenting arrangements that work just as there are many women and children abandoned men. And yes, there have been some long overdue reforms to the Family Justice system but there are still far too many men who are “Mac Dads” , with nowhere else to go on the odd Saturdays they are allowed to see their children apart from a burger bar – hardly conducive to maintaining and nurturing a relationship. Grandparents and other family members have been excluded post separation through an adversarial system that forces families to take sides and children are goods for barter and all reinforced by the lazy journalism in which women “ struggle “ to bring up children and men rarely get any credit.

I am absolutely committed to equality between men and women in every field, be it employment rights, pay, healthcare and access to opportunity but the feminist agenda has inflicted some terrible and pernicious damage on society – and men in particular. Women of my generation campaigned for equality and naively believed we could have it all. We now know that not to be true and have, to a certain extent, allowed what Shaun Bailey called the “nationalisation of child care” to happen right under our noses because it was more acceptable than facing the consequences which in our hearts we know to be true; if your kids are being cared for by someone else for 12 hours a day – who has the most influence on them? And so the compensation of gifts and toys and rubbish food and late nights and no discipline seep in to our homes.

For the father that abandons his partner and children, there will also be mothers who breed from serially dysfunctional relationships with different men but while we may tut in private, rarely does anyone raise the question whether the children would be better with their birth father and he given the social and financial support to make a home for them. We talk about parenting skills but little about how to manage parenting when a relationship breaks down.

The disaster that was the Child Support Agency and cock-up of CAFCASS were ill thought out and extremely damaging, based on a notion of threat and retribution against men – who were in the main those who most affected.

Not all men are potential rapists, nor are they potential paedophiles, abusers or violently inclined towards women. But it is hardly surprising that few want to become primary school teachers or social workers when they are treated as pariahs by the women around them. The insidious notion that men are to blame (bankers, politicians, greedy capitalists – mainly men ) more than women for the breakdown in law and order we saw last week is completely wrong and if we have achieved anything out of the past decades of feminism, then we should have the confidence to believe in our own sons, and have the balls to stop demonising men just because we can get away with it in the name of equality.

Article sourced from Iaindale.com …. original article can be found here

Misandry in the Media: RADAR Expands its Focus

2011-08-29T01:17:00.000-07:00

Misandry, simply defined, is the pathological hatred of men and boys. It is the analog to misogyny, but with the bigotry and rage targeted at males.

Paul Nathanson and Katherine K. Young, two scholars in the field of religious studies at McGill University in Montreal, popularized the word "misandry" in a series of books on the topic: Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture (2001); Legalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Discrimination Against Men (2006); Sanctifying Misandry: Goddess Ideology and the Fall of Man (2010).

Nathanson and Young describe misandry as "a form of prejudice and discrimination that has become institutionalized in North American society, 'a collectively shared and culturally propagated worldview, not a personal emotion such as dislike or anger'"1.

As one would expect from the Nathanson and Young definition, misandry is propagated by the media. A vivid example of this occurred late last year on CNN, the self-proclaimed "Worldwide Leader in News." Interviewing the former Lorena Bobbitt (now using the name Lorena Gallo), who in in 1993 cut off her husband John's penis with a kitchen knife, CNN national correspondent Alina Cho displayed both a shocking disregard for John Bobbitt's ordeal and an appalling camaraderie with a woman who justified sexually mutilating her husband by telling the police, "He always have orgasm [sic], and he doesn't wait for me to have orgasm. He's selfish."2

ALINA CHO, national correspondent, CNN:

Her name is Lorena Gallo, but back then on news programs and the subject of late-night comedians, she was Lorena Bobbitt. She's remembered as the wife who employed a – shall we say, dramatic – response to an abusive relationship with her then husband John Wayne-Bobbitt. But in the nearly two decades since then she started a new life. She's been in a long-term relationship, thirteen years strong. She has a five year-old daughter. And while she works as a part-time hairdresser and real estate agent, she says her true passion is counseling domestic violence victims through her organization.

(...)

CHO:

I have to ask you this. As you well know, there was a time when joking about the Bobbitts was a national pastime. I wonder after all of these years – are you finally able to laugh about it?

LORENA BOBBITT (nee GALLO):

I finally am. And it took a lot of time, it took a lot of years, and definitely a lot of – I went to psychologists, and thanks to the doctors, the therapies I'm here, and I'll be able to now basically start all over again and start a new relationship and have a family and basically I can laugh now3.

More recently, early this year, Brad Womack, returning to the reality show The Bachelor for a second season, was slapped by contestant Chantal O'Brian on the season premiere show. Before slapping him, she told him: "I watched your season and I have something for you. It's not from me; it's from every woman in America"4. Remarkably, Mr. Womack later stated that while the slap was "very real and very hard," he "deserved it," presumably for his behavior in the previous season. He explained the slap this way: "I think Chantal was trying to make a statement about my past behavior, and make a strong first impression, which she did."5

In the grand scheme of things, a slap to the face, even a hard one, is fairly trivial, but that the The Bachelor producers, Ms. O'Brian, and even Mr. Womack (male guilt?) believe it is acceptable behavior for a reality show contestant speaks volumes about the pervasive disregard for men's rights that currently exists in modern America.

During Super Bowl XLV, Pepsi Max ran an ad in which a black woman repeatedly abuses her black husband. This is supposed to be funny. In the final scene, the woman throws a can of Pepsi Max at his head but misses, hitting a white woman instead. Amazingly, Eric Deggans, media critic for the St. Petersburg Times, blogged that the ad was a "toxic package" of "sexism, weird racial overtones and violence against women"6 (emphasis added). No mention is made of the ad's depiction of intentional violence against men.

On June 13, 2011, in a segment entitled "Girls Rule, Boys Drool," New York City's popular NPR host Brian Lehrer interviewed Dan Abrams, legal analyst for Good Morning America and ABC News, to discuss his new book, Man Down: Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Women Are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers, and Just About Everything Else7. Only on the KKK News Network could one imagine the reverse thesis being advanced, that men, on the whole, are better than women.

Saving the most appalling example for last, we turn to CBS's The Talk, the poor woman's version of ABC's The View. The Talk features a panel of women who discuss current events, including Sharon Osbourne, wife of ageless rockstar Ozzy Osbourne. In his younger, more intoxicated years, he was known for biting the head off a bat and peeing on a monument at the Alamo. But the offensiveness of his antics pales in comparison to Sharon Osbourne's behavior during a recent episode of The Talk.

Last month, on July 11, 2011, a 48-year old Californian woman, Catherine Kieu Becker, cut off her husband's penis, and, unlike Lorena Bobbitt, who threw her husband's penis into a field, threw it the garbage disposal unit and turned the unit on. Osbourne, and most of her co-hosts, found the story hilarious. Osbourne mimicked with her finger what she envisioned the penis looked like as it went down the garbage disposal, and called Becker's act "quite fabulous," adding: "Just imagine that thing whizzing around the disposal, it's like, hysterical." She also made sure everyone knew that she lights candles by Lorena Bobbitt's picture.

To her credit, co-host Sara Gilbert, the executive producer of The Talk, pointed out the obvious double standard: "Not to be a total buzz kill, but it is a little bit sexist. If somebody cut a woman's breast off, nobody would be sitting laughing." Ms. Obourne's disagreed, however. "It's different," she explained, because one is floppy and the other sticks up. Well, there you have it. Severed penises are comedy gold.

RADAR has had some modest success in reforming America's approach to the problem of domestic violence. In fact, the perceived growing power of RADAR was a partial motivating factor for the 2009 hit piece published in Slate.com's Double X entitled: "Men's Rights Groups Have Become Frighteningly Effective". In the article, the author, Kathryn Joyce, incorrectly labels RADAR as a men's rights group and laments the effectiveness RADAR and other groups have had in advancing their views.

Truth be told, however, RADAR and other groups with similar concerns have, with a few exceptions here and there, actually been quite ineffective in stemming the tide of unjust and harmful domestic violence policies. In reflecting on our efforts to reform the nation's approach to solving domestic violence, RADAR has concluded that one major reason judges, prosecutors, and legislators have been unreceptive to our message is the pervasive effect that misandry in the media has on shaping their fundamental biases.

In support of her view that RADAR is frightening, Joyce simply states, incredulously, that RADAR believes "that false allegations are rampant, that a feminist-run court system fraudulently separates innocent fathers from children, that battered women's shelters are running a racket that funnels federal dollars to feminists, that domestic-violence laws give cover to cagey mail-order brides seeking Green Cards, and finally, that men are victims of an unrecognized epidemic of violence at the hands of abusive wives." Joyce finds it so obvious that no right-thinking person could believe such things that she doesn't even bother to try to refute any of them.

Joyce's faith in the justice of the current system takes on a religious quality. It is this kind of blind faith that RADAR must shatter before any meaningful reform will happen.

Going forward, RADAR will focus less on particular laws and more on the nation's anti-male culture. RADAR plans to focus on the prevalence of misandry and the impact of misandry on the nation's approach to domestic violence. RADAR will highlight the media's role in spreading misandry, with media broadly defined to include not just the print, radio, film and television industries but also the messages disseminated by the nations churches and education, including judicial training that often amounts to nothing more than misandristic indoctrination.

Thank you for your continued support. With your help, we can change the culture. Let's do it.

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathanson_and_Young

2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_Lorena_Bobbitt#Arrest_and_trial

3 http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2010/12/29/cnn-reporter-gushes-lorena-bobbitt-are-you-finally-able-laugh-about-it#ixzz1Bv6duFBd

4 http://thestir.cafemom.com/entertainment/114581/bachelor_slap_condoned_by_gloria

5 http://www.examiner.com/tv-in-cincinnati/bachelor-brad-womack-says-slap-was-not-criminal-battery

6 http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/media/content/super-bowl-fail-halftime-show-and-ads-misfire-big-night-video

7 http://www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/2011/jun/13/girls-rule-boys-drool/

Date of RADAR Release: August 28, 2011

R.A.D.A.R. – Respecting Accuracy in Domestic Abuse Reporting – is a non-profit, non-partisan organization of men and women working to improve the effectiveness of our nation's approach to solving domestic violence. http://mediaradar.org

Labor Greens -Shared Parenting Rollback- creating a fatherless society

2011-08-24T10:29:00.000-07:00

August 24, 2011 | Category: Family Law changes, Family Law Event, Family Law Reform, Insitutional Discrimination against Fathers, Political Parties
Tags: anti-family legislation, Dads4Kids, Fatherhood Foundation, Rachel Siewert, Senate Legal & Constitutional Affairs Committee, Warwick Marsh

Media Release: Labor Greens ‘Shared Parenting Rollback’ creating a fatherless society

Monday 22 August 2011 at 6.30 pm, the Labor Green’s controlled Senate Legal & Constitutional Affairs Committee released their report on the ‘Shared Parenting Rollback’ Bill 2011 www.aph.gov.au/senate . The Green’s member, Rachel Siewert said, “ The Greens have consistently opposed the equal shared parenting responsibility legislation ” brought into law in 2006.

Warwick Marsh, Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation, said, “ The Senate report and the Green’s comments show what is driving this shocking new anti-child and anti-father legislation. Never before have major changes to Family Law been enacted on any other than bipartisan agreement between the major parties. This proposed legislation is opposed by the Opposition, and rightly so, because it removes the very wise friendly-parent provision, redefines family violence to mean anything anybody wants it to be, and removes any possible penalties for perjury and false accusation in the Family Law Court.

This new legislation, even with new amendments proposed by the Senate Committee, is nothing more than radical feminist ideologically-based anti-family legislation that will ensure the destruction of more families, the suicide of more separated fathers and an increase in the heartbreak of more fatherless children.

Mr Marsh continued, “ The Labor Greens government has embarked on an outright war against fatherhood and marriage. This Bill will soon be law and on Wednesday 24 August 2011, this same Labor Green’s alliance will be promoting homosexual marriage in the House of Reps: which a notable member of parliament pointed out this week is an oxymoron. Marriage is what it is – the union of a man and a woman. To accept anything less, in law, is to rob children of their biological birthright, exactly what the new ‘Shared Parenting Rollback’ Family Law Amendment Bill 2011 will do for many more Australian children.

A 2009 Galaxy Poll revealed that 86% of Australians, including those in Labor Party heartland, believe that children should be reared by their biological mum and dad wherever possible.”

Dads4Kids calls on all Australian to make a stand and reject the Labor Green’s attack on fatherhood, marriage and children.

We ask Australians everywhere to write to their local Member of Parliament and request them to reject the Family Law Amendment Bill 2011.

For further information:

Warwick Marsh

0418 225 212

Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation

PO Box 542

Unanderra NSW 2526

www.fatherhood.org.au

Solicitor speaks freely

2011-07-31T02:00:00.000-07:00

I would like to help in any way I can. I have something of a reputation as a 'lone wolf' when it comes to representing men in difficult matrimonial cases. I cannot claim to have had great success in many of these cases because as you know the legal system in common with the bulk of the rest of our society is handicapped by prejudice. The stereotypes of the bad man and the angelic woman pervade.

I have to say that I was beginning to give up any hope of things changing during my lifetime. In the legal cases when I have had 'success' the human cost has been enormous. What appears to be required for men to succeed in matrimonial cases involving children, is a form of ruthlessness that very few men possess. In one of my cases the woman has taken her own life. In many, the children no longer have any contact with the mother. The only women capable of being challenged by men in these cases are the women who are openly 'deviant' in a way which is recognised by society as being really bad for the children. A man faced with this needs to immediately attack using social services, police and any other means he can summon, before securing court orders etc. He needs to act without pity and without any thought of ever going back. He needs to close his mind to any possibility that he might be premature or that there might be a recovery. Very few men dare to fight in this arena. Most of us are softer, more rounded, mature individuals, who cannot believe that the system can be so unfair to us and that to win we are being asked to transform into something approaching an 'angel of death'. In cases involving women who are not openly deviant in the required manner, men have no chance of success and are probably better to try to arrange some accomodation with the children's mother, rather than fight a fight they will lose. Many would be well advised to try to 'stay in there' for the time being.

All of this of course needs to change. But how do we go about it?

Do you have meetings, members etc?

Today I spent an hour with a senior police officer trying to argue that the way the PSNI are enforcing the harassment legislation is allowing the harasser to have "two free goes" at their victim before there is a prosecution. Sadly the conversation ended with the officer stating that she felt that if I was correct, a change in the law was necessary. I have asked a councillor on Ards Council to raise the issue at a Policing Board meeting, but I am not sure if he will.

Fwd: [E4F_International nr.11796] Saving the men who live in fear of domestic violence (UK)

2011-03-17T17:27:00.001-07:00

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Greg Andresen <mens.issues@gmail.com>
Date: 18 March 2011 00:01:14 GMT
To: Greg Andresen <mens.issues@gmail.com>
Subject: [E4F_International nr.11796] Saving the men who live in fear of domestic violence (UK)
Reply-To: equality-4-fathers-international@googlegroups.com

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/03/17/saving-the-men-who-live-in-fear-115875-22994518/

Saving the men who live in fear of domestic violence (UK)

by Louise Baty, Daily Mirror 17/03/2011

We're all familiar with the terrifying ordeals of battered wives, beaten, abused and humiliated in their own homes. But what happens when the situation is turned on its head?

More than 40% of domestic violence victims are male, yet they often struggle to find support and feel ashamed to look for help. But there is hope, thanks to the UK's growing number of refuges exclusive to men.

Safe house Kendal Lodge, a terraced house in Powys, Mid Wales, which was the first to open in 2006, has provided a home for more than 50 battered men over the years and children, too.

Men are housed in one of three bedrooms – named Faith, Hope and Charity – and given bedding, clothes and toiletries, while children get toys to help them settle in.

Each resident has his own room while bathrooms, kitchen and living room are shared.

Workers at Montgomery Family Crisis Centre, which has run women's refuges for decades, realised there was a need for men-only centres 10 years ago when a man with head injuries turned up at their office.

"He'd had his teeth knocked out by his wife that morning and didn't know where else to go," recalls operations manager, Jane Stephenson. "There was a child involved but there was nothing that we could do for him at the women's refuge.

"One of the volunteers offered him her spare room until he got back on his feet. But the incident prompted senior workers to take action.

"If a woman and her children needed a place of safety they would be found one. If a man and his kids were in need of a place they would have to go through the homeless system. If a person needs a place of safety, they should have one, regardless of gender," says Jane.

Geoff, 22, has been staying at the refuge since last November. His ex-girlfriend became violent after suffering from depression.

"She'd swear and throw plates at me in front of our young son," he says. "If I argued back, she'd push me and punch me. She was never violent towards our son but it used to terrify him when she attacked me. He'd run into his bedroom to hide."

Geoff struggled to accept the situation.

"I'd grown up seeing my mum in a violent relationship so I knew that what was happening to me was wrong," he says.

"But I felt too embarrassed to tell any of my friends or relatives. I didn't know where to go for advice. "

The violence continued for three years, until Geoff's mum noticed a bruise on his cheek. "At first, I pretended I'd been in a fight with another bloke because I didn't want to admit that my partner had done it. But eventually, I broke down and told my mum everything," he says. With his mum's support, Geoff contacted Montgomery Family Crisis Centre after finding information about Kendal Lodge online. It turned out that some of the workers remembered him as a child when his mum had been helped by the organisation years earlier.

Now Geoff is having counselling at the refuge to help him come to terms with his ordeal. He never brought criminal charges against his ex and has no contact with his son. He says more needs to be done to help men in violent situations.

"It can be a struggle to be taken seriously because so many still believe that women can't abuse men," he says.

Montgomery Family Crisis Centre's managing director Shirley Powell agrees that people find it difficult to accept men as victims. "It's almost as though the men have to prove that they are abuse victims, in a way that we never expect women to have to do," she says.

Steve, 37, from Essex, is another who suffered in silence for four years at the hands of his controlling girlfriend.

"She encouraged me to cut my friends and family out of my life and would moan if I went out," he says.

"She'd disappear off to the pub and come back drunk. That's when she'd cause trouble, calling me names and telling me that I was useless. Then she started hitting me. Once I woke up in bed and she was leaning over me, punching me in the face."

Steve was ready to leave his girlfriend but when she announced she was pregnant, he gave her another chance.

"During her pregnancy, she didn't touch a drop of alcohol," he says. "She was gentle and loving and I believed that we had a future." But within weeks of giving birth, she was drinking again.

"She'd come home and punch and head butt me," he says. "She even threatened me with kitchen knives. I was terrified of her but, by now, she'd spent all my savings and I was living in her house, so I had nowhere to go. I felt totally alone."

Steve never retaliated. "It's not in my nature. Before meeting her, I hadn't had a relationship for seven years. I was vulnerable and lonely and she used it."

Eventually, Steve tried to leave with his baby daughter, but when he went to social services to ask for help he hit a brick wall.

"The social worker looked at me as though I was making it up," he says. "If a woman had walked in there with a black eye, she would have been helped immediately. But they took one look at me – 6ft 4in and 16st – and thought that I was lying. I walked out of those offices feeling like the world was against me."

Steve was forced to return home, but his partner was finally arrested for assault and he seized his chance.

This time, social services referred him to Montgomery Family Crisis Centre, which gave him refuge at Kendal Lodge. They stayed for six months.

"We were sharing the house with a man who had two kids," recalls Steve. "We'd chat in the kitchen once they'd gone to bed. It was reassuring to speak to someone who understood."

Steve received counselling, help finding accommodation and support when it came to fighting for full custody of his daughter.

"I was so grateful to them for being there to fight my corner," he says.

Steve's partner was found guilty of assault and he is now happily settled with his daughter in another area.

But Steve was one of the lucky ones. While there are more than 7,000 refuge places for women in Britain, there are only around 20 for men with children.

Even then, many male victims choose not to take them up as it would mean moving a long way from their families. Mark Brooks of charity Mankind says the situation for many is still dire.

"There is gradual improvement in services for male victims but progress is far too slow," he says.

"We regularly receive calls from men who are forced to sleep in their cars or suffer in silence at home because they have nowhere to go and they fear no one will believe them."

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Fwd: [E4F_International nr.11793] The Father Factor: Data on the Consequences of Father Absence (USA)

2011-03-15T00:42:00.001-07:00

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Greg Andresen <mens.issues@gmail.com>
Date: 15 March 2011 05:53:44 GMT
To: Greg Andresen <mens.issues@gmail.com>
Subject: [E4F_International nr.11793] The Father Factor: Data on the Consequences of Father Absence (USA)
Reply-To: equality-4-fathers-international@googlegroups.com

http://www.fatherhood.org/Page.aspx?pid=403

The Father Factor: Data on the Consequences of Father Absence

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 24 million children in America -- one out of three -- live in biological father-absent homes.

Consequently, there is a "father factor" in nearly all of the social issues facing America today.

Scroll down to view data on the effects of father absence on: poverty, maternal and child health, incarceration, crime, teen pregnancy, child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, education, and childhood obesity.

Father Factor in Poverty

Children in father-absent homes are five times more likely to be poor. In 2002, 7.8 percent of children in married-couple families were living in poverty, compared to 38.4 percent of children in female-householder families.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Children's Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2002, P200-547, Table C8. Washington D.C.: GPO, 2003.

During the year before their babies were born, 43% of unmarried mothers received welfare or food stamps, 21% received some type of housing subsidy, and 9% received another type of government transfer (unemployment insurance etc.). For women who have another child, the proportion who receive welfare or food stamps rises to 54%.
Source: McLanahan, Sara. The Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study: Baseline National Report. Princeton, NJ: Center for Research on Child Well-being, 2003: 13.

A child with a nonresident father is 54 percent more likely to be poorer than his or her father.
Source: Sorenson, Elaine and Chava Zibman. "Getting to Know Poor Fathers Who Do Not Pay Child Support." Social Service Review 75 (September 2001): 420-434.

When compared by family structure, 45.9% of poor single-parent families reported material hardship compared to 38.6% of poor two parent families. For unpoor families who did not experience material hardship, 23.3% were single-parent families compared to 41.2% of two-parent families.
Source: Beverly, Sondra G., "Material hardship in the United States: Evidence from the Survey of Income and Program Participation." Social Work Research 25 (September 2001): 143-151.3

Father Factor in Maternal and Infant Health

Infant mortality rates are 1.8 times higher for infants of unmarried mothers than for married mothers.
Source: Matthews, T.J., Sally C. Curtin, and Marian F. MacDorman. Infant Mortality Statistics from the 1998 Period Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Set. National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 48, No. 12. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, 2000.

Based on birth and death data for 217,798 children born in Georgia in 1989 and 1990, infants without a father's name on their birth certificate (17.9 percent of the total) were 2.3 times more likely to die in the first year of life compared to infants with a father's name on their birth certificate.
Source: Gaudino, Jr., James A., Bill Jenkins, and Foger W. Rochat. "No Fathers' Names: A Risk Factor for Infant Mortality in the State of Georgia, USA." Social Science and Medicine 48 (1999): 253-265.

Unmarried mothers are less likely to obtain prenatal care and more likely to have a low birth-weight baby. Researchers find that these negative effects persist even when they take into account factors, such as parental education, that often distinguish single-parent from two-parent families.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Public Health Service. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Health Statistics. Report to Congress on Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing. Hyattsville, MD (Sept. 1995): 12.

Expectant fathers can play a powerful role as advocates of breastfeeding to their wives. Three-fourths of women whose partners attended a breastfeeding promotion class initiated breastfeeding.
Source: Wolfberg, Adam J., et al. "Dads as breastfeeding advocates: results from a randomized controlled trial of an educational intervention." American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology 191 (September 2004): 708-712.

Fathers' knowledge about breastfeeding increases the likelihood that a child will be breastfed. Children who fathers knew more had a 1.76 higher chance of being breastfed at the end of the first month and 1.91 higher chance of receiving maternal milk at the end of the third month.
Source: Susin, Lurie R.O. "Does Parental Breastfeeding Knowledge Increase Breastfeeding Rates?" BIRTH 26 (September 1999): 149-155.

Twenty-three percent of unmarried mothers in large U.S. cities reported cigarette use during their pregnancy. Seventy-one percent were on Medicare.
Source: McLanahan, Sara. The Fragile Families and Child Well-being Study: Baseline National Report. Table 7. Princeton, NJ: Center for Research on Child Well-being, 2003: 16.

A study of 2,921 mothers revealed that single mothers were twice as likely as married mothers to experience a bout of depression in the prior year. Single mothers also reported higher levels of stress, fewer contacts with family and friends, less involvement with church or social groups and less overall social support.
Source: Cairney, John and Michael Boyle et al. "Stress, Social Support and Depression in Single and Married Mothers." Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 38 (August 2003): 442-449.

In a longitudinal study of more than 10,000 families, researchers found that toddlers living in stepfamilies and single-parent families were more likely to suffer a burn, have a bad fall, or be scarred from an accident compared to kids living with both of their biological parents.
Source: O'Connor, T., L. Davies, J. Dunn, J. Golding, ALSPAC Study Team. "Differential Distribution of Children's Accidents, Injuries and Illnesses across Family Type." Pediatrics 106 (November 2000): e68.

A study of 3,400 middle schoolers indicated that not living with both biological parents quadruples the risk of having an affective disorder.
Source: Cuffe, Steven P., Robert E. McKeown, Cheryl L. Addy, and Carol Z. Garrison. "Family Psychosocial Risk Factors in a Longitudinal Epidemiological Study of Adolescents." Journal of American Academic Child Adolescent Psychiatry 44 (February 2005): 121-129.

Children who live apart from their fathers are more likely to be diagnosed with asthma and experience an asthma-related emergency even after taking into account demographic and socioeconomic conditions. Unmarried, cohabiting parents and unmarried parents living apart are 1.76 and 2.61 times, respectively, more likely to have their child diagnosed with asthma. Marital disruption after birth is associated with a 6-fold increase in the likelihood a children will require an emergency room visit and 5-fold increase of an asthma-related emergency.
Source: Harknett, Kristin. Children's Elevated Risk of Asthma in Unmarried Families: Underlying Structural and Behavioral Mechanisms. Working Paper #2005-01-FF. Princeton, NJ: Center for Research on Child Well-being, 2005: 19-27.

Father Factor in Incarceration

Even after controlling for income, youths in father-absent households still had significantly higher odds of incarceration than those in mother-father families. Youths who never had a father in the household experienced the highest odds.
Source: Harper, Cynthia C. and Sara S. McLanahan. "Father Absence and Youth Incarceration." Journal of Research on Adolescence 14 (September 2004): 369-397.

A 2002 Department of Justice survey of 7,000 inmates revealed that 39% of jail inmates lived in mother-only households. Approximately forty-six percent of jail inmates in 2002 had a previously incarcerated family member. One-fifth experienced a father in prison or jail.
Source: James, Doris J. Profile of Jail Inmates, 2002. (NCJ 201932). Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report, Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, July 2004.

Father Factor in Crime

A study of 109 juvenile offenders indicated that family structure significantly predicts delinquency.
Source: Bush, Connee, Ronald L. Mullis, and Ann K. Mullis. "Differences in Empathy Between Offender and Nonoffender Youth." Journal of Youth and Adolescence 29 (August 2000): 467-478.

Adolescents, particularly boys, in single-parent families were at higher risk of status, property and person delinquencies. Moreover, students attending schools with a high proportion of children of single parents are also at risk.
Source: Anderson, Amy L. "Individual and contextual influences on delinquency: the role of the single-parent family." Journal of Criminal Justice 30 (November 2002): 575-587.

A study of 13,986 women in prison showed that more than half grew up without their father. Forty-two percent grew up in a single-mother household and sixteen percent lived with neither parent. (Fathers and Daughters)
Source: Snell, Tracy L and Danielle C. Morton. Women in Prison: Survey of Prison Inmates, 1991. Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, 1994: 4.

Even after controlling for community context, there is significantly more drug use among children who do not live with their mother and father.
Source: Hoffmann, John P. "The Community Context of Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use." Journal of Marriage and Family 64 (May 2002): 314-330.

Youths are more at risk of first substance use without a highly involved father. Each unit increase in father involvement is associated with 1% reduction in substance use. Living in an intact family also decreases the risk of first substance use.
Source: Bronte-Tinkew, Jacinta, Kristin A. Moore, Randolph C. Capps, and Jonathan Zaff. "The influence of father involvement on youth risk behaviors among adolescents: A comparison of native-born and immigrant families." Article in Press. Social Science Research December 2004.

Of the 228 students studied, those from single-parent families reported higher rates of drinking and smoking as well as higher scores on delinquency and aggression tests when compared to boys from two-parent households.
Source: Griffin, Kenneth W., Gilbert J. Botvin, Lawrence M. Scheier, Tracy Diaz and Nicole L. Miller. "Parenting Practices as Predictors of Substance Use, Delinquency, and Aggression Among Urban Minority Youth: Moderating Effects of Family Structure and Gender." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 14 (June 2000): 174-184.

In a study of INTERPOL crime statistics of 39 countries, it was found that single parenthood ratios were strongly correlated with violent crimes. This was not true 18 years ago.
Source: Barber, Nigel. "Single Parenthood As a Predictor of Cross-National Variation in Violent Crime." Cross-Cultural Research 38 (November 2004): 343-358.

Father Factor in Teen Pregnancy

Being raised by a single mother raises the risk of teen pregnancy, marrying with less than a high school degree, and forming a marriage where both partners have less than a high school degree.
Source: Teachman, Jay D. "The Childhood Living Arrangements of Children and the Characteristics of Their Marriages." Journal of Family Issues 25 (January 2004): 86-111.

Separation or frequent changes increase a woman's risk of early menarche, sexual activity and pregnancy. Women whose parents separated between birth and six years old experienced twice the risk of early menstruation, more than four times the risk of early sexual intercourse, and two and a half times higher risk of early pregnancy when compared to women in intact families. The longer a woman lived with both parents, the lower her risk of early reproductive development. Women who experienced three or more changes in her family environment exhibited similar risks but were five times more likely to have an early pregnancy.
Source: Quinlan, Robert J. "Father absence, parental care, and female reproductive development." Evolution and Human Behavior 24 (November 2003): 376-390.

Researchers using a pool from both the U.S. and New Zealand found strong evidence that father absence has an effect on early sexual activity and teenage pregnancy. Teens without fathers were twice as likely to be involved in early sexual activity and seven times more likely to get pregnant as an adolescent.
Source: Ellis, Bruce J., John E. Bates, Kenneth A. Dodge, David M. Ferguson, L. John Horwood, Gregory S. Pettit, and Lianne Woodward. "Does Father Absence Place Daughters at Special Risk for Early Sexual Activity and Teenage Pregnancy." Child Development 74 (May/June 2003): 801-821.

Father Factor in Child Abuse

Compared to living with both parents, living in a single-parent home doubles the risk that a child will suffer physical, emotional, or educational neglect.
Source: America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being. Table SPECIAL1. Washington, D.C.: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1997.

The overall rate of child abuse and neglect in single-parent households is 27.3 children per 1,000, whereas the rate of overall maltreatment in two-parent households is 15.5 per 1,000.
Source: America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being. Table SPECIAL1. Washington, D.C.: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, 1997.

An analysis of child abuse cases in a nationally representative sample of 42 counties found that children from single-parent families are more likely to be victims of physical and sexual abuse than children who live with both biological parents. Compared to their peers living with both parents, children in single parent homes had:
a 77% greater risk of being physically abused
an 87% greater risk of being harmed by physical neglect
a 165% greater risk of experiencing notable physical neglect
a 74% greater risk of suffering from emotional neglect
an 80% greater risk of suffering serious injury as a result of abuse
overall, a 120% greater risk of being endangered by some type of child abuse.
Source: Sedlak, Andrea J. and Diane D. Broadhurst. The Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect: Final Report. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect. Washington, D.C., September 1996.

Father Factor in Drug and Alcohol Abuse

Researchers at Columbia University found that children living in two-parent household with a poor relationship with their father are 68% more likely to smoke, drink, or use drugs compared to all teens in two-parent households. Teens in single mother households are at a 30% higher risk than those in two-parent households.
Source: "Survey Links Teen Drug Use, Relationship With Father." Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly 6 September 1999: 5.

Even after controlling for community context, there is significantly more drug use among children who do not live with their mother and father.
Source: Hoffmann, John P. "The Community Context of Family Structure and Adolescent Drug Use." Journal of Marriage and Family 64 (May 2002): 314-330.

In a study of 6,500 children from the ADDHEALTH database, father closeness was negatively correlated with the number of a child's friends who smoke, drink, and smoke marijuana. Closeness was also correlated with a child's use of alcohol, cigarettes, and hard drugs and was connected to family structure. Intact families ranked higher on father closeness than single-parent families.
Source: National Fatherhood Initiative. "Family Structure, Father Closeness, & Drug Abuse." Gaithersburg, MD: National Fatherhood Initiative, 2004: 20-22.

Of the 228 students studied, those from single-parent families reported higher rates of drinking and smoking as well as higher scores on delinquency and aggression tests when compared to boys from two-parent households.
Source: Griffin, Kenneth W., Gilbert J. Botvin, Lawrence M. Scheier, Tracy Diaz and Nicole L. Miller. "Parenting Practices as Predictors of Substance Use, Delinquency, and Aggression Among Urban Minority Youth: Moderating Effects of Family Structure and Gender." Psychology of Addictive Behaviors 14 (June 2000): 174-184.

Father Factor in Childhood Obesity

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth found that obese children are more likely to live in father-absent homes than are non-obese children.
Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

Study that looked at family lifestyle and parent's Body Mass Index (BMI) over a nine year period found:
Father's Body Mass Index (BMI) predicts son's and daughter's BMI independent of offspring's alcohol intake, smoking, physical fitness, and father's education
Furthermore, BMI in sons and daughters consistently higher when fathers were overweight or obese
Physical fitness of daughters negatively related to their father's obesity
Obesity of fathers associated with a four-fold increase in the risk of obesity of sons and daughters at age 18
Source: Burke V, Beilin LJ, Dunbar D. "Family lifestyle and parental body mass index as predictors of body mass index in Australian children: a longitudinal study." Department of Medicine, Royal Perth Hospital, University of Western Australia, and the Western Australian Heart Research Institute; Perth, Australia.

A fathers' body mass index (a measurement of the relative composition of fat and muscle mass in the human body) is directly related to a child's activity level. In a study of 259 toddlers, more active children were more likely to have a father with a lower BMI than less active children.
Source: Finn, Kevin, Neil Johannsen, and Bonny Specker. "Factors associated with physical activity in preschool children." The Journal of Pediatrics 140 (January 2002): 81-85.

A study that looked at dietary intake and physical activity of parents and their daughters over a two year period found:
Daughter's BMI predicted by father's diets and father's enjoyment of physical activity
As father's BMI rose, so did their daughter's BMI
Source: Davison KK, Birch LL. "Child and parent characteristics as predictors of change in girls' body mass index." Department of Human Development and Family Studies, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.

Study that looked at the relationship between parent's total and percentage body fat and daughter's total body fat over a two and one-half year period found:
Father's, not mother's, total and percentage body fat the best predictor of changes in daughter's total and percentage body fat.
Source: Figueroa-Colon R, Arani RB, Goran MI, Weinsier RL. "Paternal body fat is a longitudinal predictor of changes in body fat in premenarcheal girls." Department of Pediatrics, General Clinical Research Center, Medical Statistics Unit, Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA.

Two studies that have looked at the determinants of physical activity in obese and non-obese children found:
Obese children less likely to report that their father's were physically active than were the children of non-obese children. This determinant not found for mothers.
Father's inactivity strong predictor of children's inactivity.
Source: Trost SG, Kerr LM, Ward DS, Pate RR. "Physical activity and determinants of physical activity in obese and non-obese children. School of Human Movement Studies, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
Source: Fogelholm M, Nuutinen O, Pasanen M, Myohanen E, Saatela T. "Parent-child relationship of physical activity patterns and obesity." University of Helsinki, Lahti Research and Training Centre, Finland.

Children who lived with single mothers were significantly more likely to become obese by a 6-year follow-up, as were black children, children with nonworking parents, children with nonprofessional parents, and children whose mothers did not complete high school.
Source: Strauss RS, Knight J. "Influence of the home environment on the development of obesity in children." Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903, USA.

Father Factor in Education

Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school.
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Center for Health Statistics. Survey on Child Health. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1993.

Father involvement in schools is associated with the higher likelihood of a student getting mostly A's. This was true for fathers in biological parent families, for stepfathers, and for fathers heading single-parent families.
Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers' and Mothers' Involvement in Their Children's Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001.

Students living in father-absent homes are twice as likely to repeat a grade in school; 10 percent of children living with both parents have ever repeated a grade, compared to 20 percent of children in stepfather families and 18 percent in mother-only families.
Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers' and Mothers' Involvement in Their Children's Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001.

Students in single-parent families or stepfamilies are significantly less likely than students living in intact families to have parents involved in their schools. About half of students living in single-parent families or stepfamilies have parents who are highly involved, while 62 percent of students living with both their parents have parents who are highly involved in their schools.
Source: Nord, Christine Winquist, and Jerry West. Fathers' and Mothers' Involvement in Their Children's Schools by Family Type and Resident Status. (NCES 2001-032). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001.

In 2001, 61 percent of 3- to 5-year olds living with two parents were read aloud to everyday by a family member, compared to 48% of children living in single- or no-parent families.
Source: Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2002. Table ED1. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2003.

Kindergarteners who live with single-parents are over-represented in those lagging in health, social and emotional, and cognitive outcomes. Thirty-three percent of children who were behind in all three areas were living with single parents while only 22% were not lagging behind.
Source: Wertheimer, Richard and Tara Croan, et al. Attending Kindergarten and Already Behind: A Statistical Portrait of Vulnerable Young Children. Child Trends Research Brief. Publication #2003-20. Washington, DC: Child Trends, 2003.

In two-parent families, children under the age of 13 spend an average of 1.77 hours engaged in activities with their fathers and 2.35 hours doing so with their mothers on a daily basis in 1997. Children in single parent families spent on .42 hours with their fathers and 1.26 hours with their mothers on daily basis.
Source: Lippman, Laura, et al. Indicators of Child, Family, and Community Connections. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Washington, DC: US Department of Health and Human Services, 2004.

A study of 1330 children from the PSID showed that fathers who are involved on a personal level with their child schooling increases the likelihood of their child's achievement. When fathers assume a positive role in their child's education, students feel a positive impact.
Source: McBride, Brent A., Sarah K. Schoppe-Sullivan, and Moon-Ho Ho. "The mediating role of fathers' school involvement on student achievement." Applied Developmental Psychology 26 (2005): 201-216.

Half of all children with highly involved fathers in two-parent families reported getting mostly A's through 12th grade, compared to 35.2% of children of nonresident father families.
Source: National Center for Education Statistics. The Condition of Education. NCES 1999022. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Education, 1999: 76.

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Just out of a meeting with Justice Minister David Forde

2011-03-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

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Fwd: [E4F_International nr.11789] Model concerned parent letter on PAS in the DSM written by mother Monika Logan to Daniel Pine, chairman of the Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence Work Group of the DSM

2011-03-14T00:26:00.001-07:00

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Begin forwarded message:

From: Vaderkenniscentrum|SKO <vaderkenniscentrum@gmail.com>
Date: 14 March 2011 04:19:02 GMT
To: Familyrights 4 Europe Yahoo <fr4e@yahoogroups.com>, Equality-4-Fathers-International <Equality-4-Fathers-International@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [E4F_International nr.11789] Model concerned parent letter on PAS in the DSM written by mother Monika Logan to Daniel Pine, chairman of the Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence Work Group of the DSM
Reply-To: equality-4-fathers-international@googlegroups.com

Model letter on PAS in the DSM written by parent Monika Littau Logan to Daniel Pine, M.D., chairman of the Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence Work Group of the DSM
-------------------
Parent's Perspective : Proposal that Parental Alienation Disorder be included in the DSM-V. The Extreme End of the Continuum by Monika Logan, LBSW

To: Daniel Pine, M.D.; Chairman of the Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence Work Group, for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition;
National Institute of Mental Health

I have serious concerns regarding the lack of treatment and acknowledgement of Parental Alienation Disorder (PAD). As a parent, I sought counseling for my children after a vitriolic divorce. To my dismay, when I reported the cluster of symptoms, I discovered that counselors could not help. Later, I realized that the symptoms are Gardner's criteria for Parental Alienation Syndrome. In continuing my search, which lasted from 1995 to 2007, my children were constantly and perpetually diagnosed with adjustment disorder. I am also a helping professional and am alarmed at the lack of treatment options. PAS is clearly emotional abuse.

There are apprehensions that categorizing PAD as a mental disorder of a child pathologizes a child's reaction to a bitter divorce. Obviously, it is ideal that parents would not attempt to alienate their child from his or her other parent. The fact is some parents do and will continue to do so. It is also commonsensical that the parent participating in the alienation needs intervention. Yet, this is not practical. Intervention will remain only educational at best. Additionally, the intervention is effective if the parent that is participating realizes and cares that he or she has a problem. I am a trained facilitator for a divorce education program, titled, Children in the Middle, created by the Center for Divorce Education. Courts can continue to order parenting classes, but they cannot enforce that the parent stop badmouthing out of the court room setting. What is possible is that therapists can work with children that are aligned with one parent and work with children who unjustly and continually reject the other parent.

I agree with Bernet's (2008) suggested criteria. As a parent, the disturbance lasted more than two months post divorce. The disturbance, as in many cases, lasted not in months but for years. Some groups propose that awarding joint custody would abolish PAS. Yet, courts today frequently award joint custody. Conversely, awarding joint custody still does not eradicate PAD, "While shared parenting seems like a reasonable and laudable goal for most divorcing families, it is based on the premise that parents will cooperate in parenting their children" (Turkat, 2002). Turkat also points out that "many couples file for divorce because they have an extensive history of being unable to get along with each other—to now expect cooperation merely because they have divorced may be too optimistic." Adding PAD to the DSM is the first step for recognition and future treatment options.

Professionals are concerned regarding treatment because the etiology of PAD is debated and deemed unknown. I agree with Warshak (2002) that, "when there is no brainwashing parent there is no PAS." Nevertheless, to my understanding, not all diagnoses listed by the American Psychiatric Association include definitive statements about causes, prognosis, incidence or treatment. According to Gardner, Sauber, and Lorandos (2006), "The professional community ordinarily regards the presentation of a new diagnostic term based on clinical observations as just the beginning of work in the area" (p.556, ¶ 5).

There are educational benefits to understanding family dynamics as it relates to PAS. However, it is futile to point out that children may become alienated from their parents for reasons other than PAS, such as physical or sexual abuse. It is common knowledge that children whose parents have abused them will reject the parent that abused them, and as consequence, alienation many occur. However, in PAS, physical, verbal, and sexual abuses are absent. In in the case of PAS the child's rejection of his or her parent is not justified. The parent is hated without good cause. I acknowledge that PAS is often associated with negative connotations. Some have used it in court as so-called proof when the parent was actually abusive. Unquestionably, PAS has been exploited by the media, extremist groups, and in the court room. Consequently, PAS has been re-named and reformulated. Kelly and Johnston (2001) provide a reformulation. The continuum concept is that divorcing couples that are at the amicable end of the continuum has a child that shows equal preference for both parents. However, I suspect that most parents writing this committee do not fall into this polarized end of the continuum. Clearly, this end of the continuum is ideal but parents requesting inclusion and seeking therapeutic intervention are not working with an ex-spouse that desires cordial co-parenting. They may instead, be faced with a child that has suddenly turned against them. A child that shows equal preference for both parents does not reflect dysfunction. Kelly & Johnston (2001) pathological alienation is equivalent to Gardner's, PAS.

Obviously, children will show affinity towards one parent. They may do so at different developmental stages or other reasons, such as common interest and will prefer one parent over another. This is normal. However, out right rejection of a parent for frivolous reasons is not. I and many others that are writing the committee are referring to the polarized end, not amicable post divorce relations .Without a doubt realistic estrangement occurs, but the point is it is realistic. A child who rejects his or her parent and does so do to actual abuse has good reason for the rejection. Sure, there are multiple causes for a child to reject contact with a parent; many reasons that are logical reasons. As a caveat, there are also reasons, such as PAS when a child rejects a good loving parent that does not warrant the rejection. A child who rejects his or her parent because of abuse and neglect does belong in requests for inclusion or discussion of PAS. Currently, the DSM-IV-TR recognizes abuse and neglect, which are realistic reasons for alienation, but it does not recognize irrational alienation.

I acknowledge the misuse of PAS. Yet, without a doubt, it is similar to other DSM-IV-TR categories: it has a set of symptoms. The symptoms of PAS should no longer be ignored. I propose that terms such as alienated child are vague; PAD is specific. One study by Gordon, Stoffey and Bottinelli (2008), had results of their study showing strong support for Gardner's definition of PAS. Please help children and families by inclusion. Inclusion would allow clinician's treatment options and provide additional research. "This proposal should not be rejected simply because there is no consensus among mental health professionals as to the pathogenesis of PAD. The history of psychology and psychiatry is full of disagreement over causation" (Bernet, 2008). This is true for most disorders unless they are organic. I also work with individuals living with autism. Not all psychologists agree on the cause or if there is a cause. However, if one is diagnosed with autism, there are treatment options. Sadly, a loving parent that desires optimal mental health for his her child, post divorce will not be offered help. They will call therapist after therapist only to be told that PAS is not real, it is a hypothesis, and PAS does not exist because it is not in the DSM. "Denial of PAS has caused significant psychological suffering to many men, many women, and many children. And its denial has only added to the burden of families in which this disorder has been present" (Gardner, 2002).

References
·         Bernet, W. (2008). Parental Alienation Disorder and DSM-V. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 36:349-366.
·         Bottinelli, J., Gordon, R., J. & Stoffey, R. (2008). MMPI-2 Findings of Primitive Defenses in Alienating Parents. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 36:211-228.
·         Gardner, R., Lorandos, D., & Sauber, R. (2006). The International Handbook of Parental Alienation Syndrome, conceptual, clinical and legal considerations. American Series in Behavioral Science and Law. Thomas Books: United States.
·         Kelly, J.B., & Johnston, J.R. (2001). The alienated child: A reformulation of parental alienation syndrome. Family court Review, 39(3), 249-265.
·         Turkat, I. (2002). Shared Parenting Dysfunction. Journal of Family Therapy, 30: 385-393.
·         Warshak, R.A. (2002). Divorce Poison: Protecting the parent-child bond from a vindictive ex. New York: Regan Books.

"At the extreme end of the continuum are children who are fully alienated from a parent after separation and divorce, who express their rejection of that parent stridently, without apparent ambivalence or guilt and strongly resist or completely refuse any contact with that rejected parent. For the most part, these rejected parents fall within the broad range of marginal to good enough to sometimes better parents, who do not have a history of physical or emotional abuse of the child. Although there many be some kernel of truth to the child's complains and allegations about the rejected parent, the child's grossly negative views and feelings are significantly distorted and exaggerated reactions. Thus, this unusual development is a pathological response. It is a severe distortion on the child's parent of the previous parent-child relationship. These youngsters go far beyond an alignment in the intensity, breadth, and ferocity of their behaviors toward the parent they are rejecting." ( Johnston, 2001)
--
Drs. Peter Tromp
voorzitter

Vaderkenniscentrum|SKO
Jacob Cabeliaustraat 17
3554 VH Utrecht
t. 030.2383636
e. vaderkenniscentrum@gmail.com
i. www.vaderkenniscentrum.nl
i. www.vaderdagtrofee.nl
---
Symposium Vaderschap en uitreiking Vaderdagtrofee m/v 2011:
Op vrijdag 17 juni 2011 zal op het jaarlijkse Symposium Vaderschap van Vaderkenniscentrum.nl in samenwerking met de Universiteit van Amsterdam en IkVader weer de winnaar van de Vaderdagtrofee m/v 2011 bekend worden gemaakt. In 2010 werd de trofee gezamenlijk gewonnen door Orville Breeveld en Glenn Helberg voor hun initiatieven voor Surinaamse en Antilliaanse vaders (Vitamine Vader, Voorstel Vaderschapswet). Symposium en uitreiking waren een groot succes. Zie verder ook http://www.vaderdagtrofee.nl.

Meer inlichtingen over de Vaderdagtrofee m/v en het Symposium Vaderschap bij Peter Tromp (t. 030.2383636, Email).

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Fwd: [E4F_International nr.11790] Washington Post - PAS and DSM - Psychiatric experts assess parental alienation

2011-03-14T00:25:00.001-07:00

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Begin forwarded message:

From: Vaderkenniscentrum|SKO <vaderkenniscentrum@gmail.com>
Date: 14 March 2011 04:43:18 GMT
To: Familyrights 4 Europe Yahoo <fr4e@yahoogroups.com>, Equality-4-Fathers-International <Equality-4-Fathers-International@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [E4F_International nr.11790] Washington Post - PAS and DSM - Psychiatric experts assess parental alienation
Reply-To: equality-4-fathers-international@googlegroups.com

Psychiatric experts assess parental alienation
Washington Times - Associated Press - By DAVID CRARY - 6 Comments and 0 Reactions - 12:55 p.m., Friday, October 1, 2010
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/oct/1/psychiatric-experts-assess-parental-alienation/

NEW YORK (AP) - The American Psychiatric Association has a hot potato on its hands as it updates its catalog of mental disorders _ whether to include parental alienation, a disputed term conveying how a child's relationship with one estranged parent can be poisoned by the other.

There's broad agreement that this sometimes occurs, usually triggered by a divorce and child-custody dispute. But there's bitter debate over whether the phenomenon should be formally classified as a mental health syndrome _ a question now before the psychiatric association as it prepares the first complete revision since 1994 of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.

"We're gotten an enormous amount of mail _ more than any other issue," said Dr. Darrel Regier, vice chair of the task force drafting the manual. "The passions on both sides of this are exceptional."

On one side of the debate, which has raged since the 1980s, are feminists, advocates for battered women and others who consider "parental alienation syndrome" to be an unproven and potentially dangerous concept useful to men trying to deflect attention from their abusive behavior.

"This is a fabricated notion _ there's no science to support it," said Joan Meier, a professor at the George Washington University Law School who has written extensively on domestic violence and child custody.

On the other side are legions of firm believers in the existence of a syndrome, including hundreds gathering for a conference on the topic this weekend in New York. They say that recognition of parental alienation in the psychiatrists' manual would lead to fairer outcomes in family courts and enable more children of divorce to get treatment so they could reconcile with an estranged parent.

"This is a problem that causes horrible outcomes for children. … All the arguments I've heard against it are trivial," said Dr. William Bernet, a psychiatry professor at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Bernet is among the speakers at this weekend's conference, which organizers bill as the largest ever on parental alienation. He will be describing his efforts as lead author of the proposal submitted to the psychiatric association to recognize parental alienation either as a "mental disorder" or a "relational problem."

The psychiatric association first published its manual of diagnostic disorders, known as the DSM, in 1952. The last major revision was published in 1994 and updated in 2000, and the fifth edition _ DSM-5 _ is due for publication in May 2013.

Work groups in various fields have been reviewing numerous proposals for additions to the 283 disorders in the current edition. Parental alienation remains on a list of proposals that are subject to further review, though it did not pass muster with the work group dealing with childhood and adolescent disorders.

"There is not sufficient scientific evidence to warrant its inclusion in the DSM," Regier said in a statement.

In an interview, Regier _ who directs the APA's research division _ said the proposal technically remains alive pending final presentations by the end of 2011. But he described chances for inclusion of parental alienation as "slim" _ given that it has not been selected for field trials that normally would be a prerequisite for official recognition.

Bernet said it was "flatly ridiculous" for the APA to contend there is not enough information available to warrant including parental alienation in the DSM. He cited legal developments and new research in numerous foreign countries.

His proposal defines parental alienation disorder as "a mental condition in which a child, usually one whose parents are engaged in a high conflict divorce, allies himself or herself strongly with one parent, and rejects a relationship with the other parent, without legitimate justification."

The weekend conference at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine is the brainchild of Joseph Goldberg, who is based near Toronto and in 2008 founded an organization called the Canadian Symposium for Parental Alienation Syndrome.

Goldberg runs a consulting service for lawyers and parents litigating issues related to parental alienation. In his online biography, he says he "fought one of the most brutal case of parental alienation in Palm Beach County history" during a child-custody dispute with his ex-wife in Florida that extended from 2003 to 2006.

"This touches lives of more people than anyone imagines," Goldberg said by telephone from Canada. "It's not just about a child turned against a parent, through hatred. This affects grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends _ all of them thrown out when a child rejects a parent."

Some of Goldberg's allies doubt the psychiatric association is ready to include parental alienation in its manual. New York-based psychologist Amy Baker, who has written a book about parental alienation, suggested the association might "play it safe" and decline to recognize it for fear of provoking feminist groups.

However, Goldberg is hopeful.

"There's a long way to go over the next few years before they make a final decision," he said. "There will be enormous pressure. …I think it will be difficult for the APA not to include it."

Parental alienation surged onto the pop-culture radar screen a few years ago as a consequence of the bitter divorce and child custody battle involving actors Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger. Baldwin was harshly criticized by some feminist groups for citing parental alienation syndrome as a source of his estrangement with his daughter.

The concept is a source of confusion and division in the legal profession, as some lawyers try to evoke parental alienation and others challenge that tactic.

Texas Supreme Court Justice Debra Lerhmann, chair of the American Bar Association's family law section, said the issue of possible alienation can be raised in child custody proceedings whether or not any such phenomenon is classified as a disorder by health professionals.

"Anyone who's in this business knows there are situations where that in fact is happening _ and sometimes it's alleged but is not happening," she said. "Even if it's not in the manual, relevant evidence can still be brought in."

Meier, the George Washington law professor, has urged judges to be cautious in how they allow the topic to be raised in cases where one estranged parent is accused by the other of abuse.

"You've got to assess the abuse first, without poisoning it with a claim of alienation," Meier said. "Only after abuse is ruled out do you then move on to the question of alienation."

Elizabeth Kates, a Pompano Beach, Fla., lawyer who deals often with child custody cases, is skeptical of the role parental alienation can play in such disputes: "It's a very easy claim to make … but the problem arises when it's used in court to obscure the investigation of whether there's been abuse."

She said the initial impetus for recognition of parental alienation syndrome came in large part from the fathers' rights movement, but suggested much of the momentum now comes from psychologists, consultants and others who could profit if the concept had a more formal status in family court disputes.

"It's monetary," Kates said. "These psychologists and therapists make huge money doing the evaluations and therapies."

Online:
·         Symposium on Parental Alienation Syndrome: http://www.cspas.ca/
·         Critique of PAS: http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/pas/faq.htm
·         American Psychiatric Assn.: http://www.psych.org/MainMenu/Research/DSMIV.aspx

6 comments

Anonymous
My family has watched while our two grandchildren have been abused by an alienating mother for over 10 years. You do not know what the hell you are talking about when you say that Parental Alienation is not a reality. You should be imprisoned for condoning a horrific form of emotional and psychological child abuse. The doctor that " grew" the idea of Parental Alienation was only one person. You find child sexual abuse to be horrible but to abuse a child by psychological brainwashing, mind contol and teaching hatered is just fine with you. If you did your homework you would know that there have been numerous scientific studies not only in the US but WORLD WIDE that prove that Parental Alienation is a reality for millions of innocent children. It also proves the horrible life that you and others who lack sufficent intelligence have sentenced these children to. I guess if it does not happen to your children or grandchildren you can't acknowledge that it exists. CHILDREN DESERVE TO BE LOVED BY BOTH PARENTS AND PARENTAL ALIENATIION IS THE ULTIMATE HATE CRIME! IF THE APA DOES NOT INCULDE THIS AS A MENTAL DISORDER THEY TOO SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR CONDONING A FORM OF CHILD ABUSE THAT IS NOT VISABLE TO THE NAKED EYE. The distruction that this disorder does to the adult lives of these children is beyond measure and many of them NEVER recover from the abuse! You are sick!!!

Anonymous
In my many years of experience in the Children's and Family Courts in several countries, it is far more common to find Parental Self-Induced Alienation Disorder. This is where a parent is emotionally indifferent to a child or has abused a child or for numerous other reasons a parent has not formed a meaningful relationship with a child. The child may naturally have rejected that parent in response to the parent rejecting the child by his/her attittudes and behaviour. It frequently occurs that such parents are unable to accept or even acknowledge the child's rejection of him/her and consequently blames the other parent for the child's rejection and that the other parent is `alienating' the child from him/her. This is highly common in Family Law proceedings and many of my professional colleagues in the child protection professional community have commented on similar observations .
If the APA were to recognise PAS then they must at the same time also recognise Parental Self-Induced Alienation Disorder/Syndrome.

Anonymous
From Australia, www.safety4parentsandkids.org,
PAS is a bogus and has been used by the legal industry as a defence to depreciate motherhood in children's lives, and is an attack on women and kids...
Psychiatrists are going to spread their revenue net, to rip more and more people off if PAS is included in the DSM5, and more and more children will be exposed to more and more trauma.
PAS created by Richard Gardener, has been used to abuse women, and also promotes poedophilia, if you look at Gardener's history, he himself could be considered mad as he stabbed himself to death...
Children need freedom from being abused in Family justice systems, and there is enough research tos upport this, motherhood is non-neogtiable, as fatherhood is important to them. However, because of PAS, which is not recognised as a medical term, and not being evidenced as a disease, should never be classified as a disease, as it diverts attention from domestic violence and child abuse.
Children suffer lifelong impact of family court proceedings, and a fresh mindset is needed and a shift in paradigm as to how to manage separations safely for children. Poedophilia is unacceptable, and Gardener also supported this, but he himself was mad, by stabbing himself to death.
It will only make lawyers, courts, corrupt report writers even more wealthy. No parents should allow PAS to be accepted.

Anonymous
From Australia, www.safety4parentsandkids.org
PAS is a bogus and has been used by the legal industry as a defence to depreciate motherhood in children's lives, and is an attack on women and kids...
Psychiatrists are going to spread their revenue net, to rip more and more people off if PAS is included in the DSM5, and more and more children will be exposed to more and more trauma.
PAS created by Richard Gardener, has been used to abuse women, and also promotes poedophilia, if you look at Gardener's history, he himself could be considered mad as he stabbed himself to death...
Children need freedom from being abused in Family justice systems, and there is enough research tos upport this, motherhood is non-neogtiable, as fatherhood is important to them. However, because of PAS, which is not recognised as a medical term, and not being evidenced as a disease, should never be classified as a disease, as it diverts attention from domestic violence and child abuse.
Children suffer lifelong impact of family court proceedings, and a fresh mindset is needed and a shift in paradigm as to how to manage separations safely for children. Poedophilia is unacceptable, and Gardener also supported this, but he himself was mad, by stabbing himself to death.
It will only make lawyers, courts, corrupt report writers even more wealthy. No parents should allow PAS to be accepted.

Anonymous
In biomedecine research and development, when an "acceptable " level of maiming and death has been passed, the medecine is recalled/questioned. In psychology-(and these are psychologists, not psychiatrists), there is a lack of scientific research and control.The field is rife with ideas and theories. Alienation type theories grew from the mind of a pro-pedophile psychologist. For a theory to so objectify and dehumanize children for the sake of "proving" some idea, is reprehensible behaviour. That is possibly why this continent will never reach an unacceptable number of maimings and deaths of children. To treat developing children as products, is despicable. Theory didn't work on that one ? Child died ? Oh well- throw that one out in the garbage and don't let the media know.Is this behaviour what the APA would even consider endorsing? These theories are maiming and leading to the deaths of children.Crimes should be treated as crimes and these cases should never even reach a divorce court. Abuse a child = automatic divorce.But that would be logical, sane and humane and so may never happen.

--
Drs. Peter Tromp
voorzitter

Vaderkenniscentrum|SKO
Jacob Cabeliaustraat 17
3554 VH Utrecht
t. 030.2383636
e. vaderkenniscentrum@gmail.com
i. www.vaderkenniscentrum.nl
i. www.vaderdagtrofee.nl
---
Symposium Vaderschap en uitreiking Vaderdagtrofee m/v 2011:
Op vrijdag 17 juni 2011 zal op het jaarlijkse Symposium Vaderschap van Vaderkenniscentrum.nl in samenwerking met de Universiteit van Amsterdam en IkVader weer de winnaar van de Vaderdagtrofee m/v 2011 bekend worden gemaakt. In 2010 werd de trofee gezamenlijk gewonnen door Orville Breeveld en Glenn Helberg voor hun initiatieven voor Surinaamse en Antilliaanse vaders (Vitamine Vader, Voorstel Vaderschapswet). Symposium en uitreiking waren een groot succes. Zie verder ook http://www.vaderdagtrofee.nl.

Meer inlichtingen over de Vaderdagtrofee m/v en het Symposium Vaderschap bij Peter Tromp (t. 030.2383636, Email).

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Overall Suicide Rate Rising In Northern Ireland: Suicides increasing in young men and decreasing in women

2011-03-03T10:11:00.000-08:00

Overall Suicide Rate Rising In Northern Ireland: Suicides increasing in young men and decreasing in women

Embargoed until 20 June 2007

The overall rate of suicide in Northern Ireland appears to be rising, a new study has found. However, whilst suicides are increasing substantially in young men, they are decreasing in women.

It is widely acknowledged that official mortality statistics underestimate the true extent of suicide, and accurate yearly figures are notoriously difficult to assess.

This study analysed annual figures collected by the Samaritans from the ‘Unofficial Registrar General’s’ figures for the years 1984-2002. Trends by sex, age group, marital status and method were examined.

The average annual rate of suicide was calculated for the 10-year period 1984-1993, and compared with the 9-year period 1994-2002.

It was found that the average annual rate of suicide increased by 4.7%. Female suicides decreased by 17%, but the average annual rate of male suicides increased by 13.2%.

The highest percentage increase was seen in males aged 25-34 (34%), followed by the 15-24 age group (26.5%).

The greatest increase in the average annual rate was seen among single people – amongst males it was 24.2%, and females 28.6%.

There was a decrease in the average annual rate for all methods of suicide except hanging, where there was an increase of 99.4% in males and 87.8% in females.

The researchers conclude that the rising trend in suicides in Northern Ireland is largely the result of the increase in suicides amongst young males aged 15-34. The rate of female suicides appears to be falling.

The increase in the violent suicide method of hanging suggests that this more lethal way of attempting to kill oneself is contributing to the higher suicide rate.

Suicides

2011-03-03T10:10:00.001-08:00

Suicides
Small decrease in 2009

Suicide rates by sex, United Kingdom, 1991-2009

Between 1991 and 2009 the number of suicides in people aged 15 years and over in the UK gradually decreased. Despite a sharp increase of 538 from 1997 to 1998, figures continued to fall until 2007. Suicides increased in 2008 to 5,706 but fell by 31 in 2009 to 5,675.

There are more suicides among men than women. Male suicide rates peaked at 21.1 per 100,000 in 1992 and 1998 and then continually declined to 16.8 per 100,000 in 2007. The rate increased in 2008 to 17.7 per 100,000 and remained similar in 2009 at 17.5 per 100,000.

Suicide rates for women have been consistently much lower than rates for men and have shown a steady downward trend. The rate was highest in 1991 and 1992 at 6.7 per 100,000 and was lowest in 2007 at 5.0 per 100,000. In 2008 the rate increased to 5.4 per 100,000 and was similar in 2009 at 5.2 per 100,000.

Suicide rates by sex and age-group, United Kingdom, 1991-2009

In the early 1990s the highest suicide rates in the UK were among men aged 75 years and over. Rates for this age group have since decreased, falling from 25.1 per 100,000 in 1991 to 13.6 per 100,000 in 2009, now the lowest rate across the three male age bands. Since 1997 the highest rates have been in men aged 15–44, peaking in 1998 at 24.0 per 100,000 and then steadily decreasing to 17.6 per 100,000 in 2007. The rate for this age group increased to 18.6 per 100,000 in 2008 but decreased to 18.0 per 100,000 in 2009. Suicide rates among men aged 45–74 have fluctuated less throughout the period. In 2009 the rate for this group was 17.4 per 100,000.

Women aged 75 years and over show a similar trend to men in the same age group. The highest rate for this group over the period was 9.4 per 100,000 in 1993. The rate in 2009 halved to 4.7 per 100,000. Since 2005 the highest suicide rates among women have been in those aged 45–74. In 2009 the rate for this group was 5.8 per 100,000. Suicide rates in women aged 15–44 were consistently the lowest across the 1991-2007 period. In 2008 and 2009 the rate for this group was 4.9 per 100,000.

Source: Office for National Statistics, General Register Office for Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency.

Notes:

Suicide has been defined as deaths given an underlying cause of intentional self-harm or injury/poisoning of undetermined intent. In England and Wales, it has been customary to assume that most injuries and poisonings of undetermined intent are cases where the harm was self-inflicted but there was insufficient evidence to prove that the deceased deliberately intended to kill themselves. For comparability, this definition has been used across all countries of the UK.

Figures are for adults aged 15 years and over.

Figures are based on deaths registered in each calendar year.

Rates are directly age-standardised using the European Standard Population.

Rates for 2002 to 2008 have been revised due to revisions in the mid-year population estimates (published by ONS on 13 May 2010).

Published on 27 January 2011 at 9:30 am

Irish Parenting Site for Dads and Dads-to-be

2011-03-02T12:42:00.000-08:00

Irish Parenting Site for Dads and Dads-to-be

Reasons and Methods for Direct Action

2011-03-02T12:31:00.000-08:00

Below is a general good read for those needing to understand some of the reasons and methods for Direct Action and pressure groups vs political lobbying approaches.

As you read this, please consider that since the demise of F4J (which tried to be a jack of all trades "insider" & "outsider", and failed) there have been at least two new political parties formed supporting the agenda of co-parenting and family law reforms. Therefore, don't get confused by thinking that Real FFJ is anywhere near being an "insider" and that is best left to dedicated moderates who can ride on the back of "external" pressure from the likes of RFFJ:

http://www.pressurepolitics.com/evidenc … n+business

This section looks at Direct action

[This section discusses insiders and direction action]

Groups switch strategies themselves without suffering loss of 'insider' status. To initiate a public protest against proposed changes in the law can be pursued at the same time as 'insider' strategies of arguing against them without loss of status. Government departments know and understand the aspirations of and constraints operating on group leaders and expect groups to make a loud noise on some things, and they will still invite them to participate in working groups and other participatory forums.

(Page, 1998, p. 1 1)

........

Tactics such as peaceful public demonstrations and letter writing campaigns are perfectly compatible with insider status, but more violent forms of direct action are not. It is evident that leaders of insider groups have from time to time tacitly encouraged various forms of protest by their members as a means of generating additional leverage against government in times of difficulty. However, they have always been worried about losing control of their members in such circumstances. This was evident in the mid-1970s when demonstrations by farmers against Irish beef imports led to railway lines being ripped up by 'flying pickets' of farmers and increasing anxiety among the leaders of farmers' unions that they would be accused by ministers of not being able to control their own members. These worries surfaced again in 1998 when farmers' union leaders welcomed demonstrations by members as evidence of the extent of their frustration, but became concerned when these demonstrations led to illegal acts.

The tensions of trying simultaneously to pursue an insider and an outsider strategy are well illustrated by the case of the environmental group, Greenpeace. Over the years, Greenpeace has shifted towards more dialogue with government and business while maintaining the direct action activities that attract the donations which sustain the organization. This change of approach was exemplified when Greenpeace held its first business conference in 1996. Those attending were told that the group's latest weapon was ... solutions enforcement". This meant pushing markets to adopt products that solved environmental problems' (Financial Times, 26 September 1996).

Although Greenpeace has continued to use direct action tactics, not everyone connected with the organization was happy about the shift of emphasis. As a consequence, divisions over strategy persist: 'The division in the movement between a moderate, rational campaigning approach that appeals alike to governments and to a cautious but persuadable public on the one side and the militant direct action radicalism that still attracts the pure green radicals remains unresolved' (O'Neill, 1995, p.31). As firms try to promote a 'greener' image, the executive director of Greenpeace international has lamented that it is becoming more difficult to pick 'good fights' (The Economist, 1 August 1998, p.79).

Nevertheless, Greenpeace is still perceived by decision makers as more radical than other environmental groups. It is the only one of the leading environmental organizations represented in Brussels not to have been comissioned by the European institutions for investigative work (Greenwood, 1997: p. 190). It is the only leading environmental organization that 'does not receive funding from the European Commission. This corresponds with Greenpeace's policy of maintaining political and financial independence' (Webster, 1998: p. 1 80). Yet this outsider image is at odds with adverts for senior Greenpeace staff which seek political advisers with a business or intergovernmental background to provide 'strategic direction to campaigns and interface with high-level contacts in government, international secretariats and industry'. Given such a Janus-faced profile, no wonder that stories surface from time to time of tensions within the organization, although its hierarchical character and the fact that it has 'supporters' rather than 'members' help to stifle dissent.

What is really going on is that Greenpeace is shifting towards an insider strategy, but the process is not yet complete: 'Greenpeace is turning away from confrontation and public debate as ways to influence industry and moving to "positive persuasion" of manufacturers by playing their own game' (Eden, 1996: p.49).

Greenpeace's skill at using the media by providing 'a sort of "convenience news" of pictures, imagery and story lines' (Jordan, 1998b, p-16) has helped to maintain their public image as an organization that gets things done by challenging mighty multinationals on the high seas in inflatable boats. Their short term successes such as defeating Shell over its plan to dump the Brent Spar oil platform at sea attract considerable publicity whereas their unsuccessful campaign to stop expansion of oil exploitation in the Atlantic was largely unreported. At some point, however, the declining number of supporters (2.5 million worldwide in 1998 compared with a peak of 4.1 million in 1991) will come to realize that an outsider group has completed the transformation to an insider group, that the 'lounge suits' within the organization have finally defeated the 'rubber suits'. Simultaneously pursuing an insider and outsider strategy is a transitional phase and eventually a group has to opt for predominantly one strategy or the other (usually an insider approach).

[This section discusses the role of pressure groups in democracy...]

Pressure Groups and Democracy

There is a fundamental link between the existence of pressure groups and the very survival of a system of democratic government. Freedom of association is a fundamental principle of democracy. Democracy permits the existence of groups, but it could also be argued that groups contribute to the quality of the decision-making process. Those that have axes to grind may have something to say that is relevant to the issue under consideration.

A system of representative democracy offers electors a relatively infrequent choice between alternative party programmes..........

http://www.pressurepolitics.com/evidenc … n+business

Table 7.1 A typology of direct action

Form of action: Protest marches
Legality: Usually legal
Purpose: To demonstrate to decision-makers scale of support and concern on an issue

Form of action: Boycotts
Legality: Legal
Purpose: To inflict commercial punishment on a firm

Form of action: Stunts
Legality: May be marginally
Purpose: To focus attention illegal on an issue through publicity

Form of action: Blockades, occupations, other disruption
Legality: Open to civil action, increasingly crimninalised
Purpose: Exertion of direct pressure or target to inhibit or prevent activities

Form of action: Destruction of property
Legality: Illegal
Purpose: Bringing activity to an end

Form of action: Violence against individuals
Legality: Criminal
Purpose: Punishing those individuals seen as responsible for 'immoral' acts

Failings of Mediation

2011-03-02T12:26:00.000-08:00

Mediation Failure

“Like coming to terms with a bereavement”, is how the DHSSPS define parental
separation and issues surrounding residence and contact with children via the family
mediation handbook. Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) or mediation has cost the tax
payer millions of pounds in research and operational costs, as this is not a free process the
uncountable cost of family mediation in the UK cannot be measured.
Mediation is best described as a process rather than an outcome. The main goal of mediation
is to help parties come to a mutual solution through open communication. Even if a final
solution isn’t reached, it doesn’t mean that mediation has failed, since many intermediate
issues and problems may have been solved along the way. This however does not omit the
need for litigation with a resulting judicial order made in the best interest of the child.

A study (link) in 1999 in Northern Ireland, 4 years after the implementation of the Children’s
Order, specifically stated, “Initiatives to promote the use of mediation services in order
that parents may resolve conflict”, from this early stage in the development of mediation
services in N.Ireland, mediation is seen as a process rather than a outcome. The other notable
findings from this study were the lack of early intervention and help and support services for
fathers.
An extensive research project, Monitoring Publically Funded family Mediation, was carried
out in England and Wales and resulted in a press release from the Lord Chancellor’s office
via Lord Irvine in 2001 that stated that mediation does not work;
“The government is committed to supporting marriage and to supporting
families when relationships fail, especially when there are children involved. But
this very comprehensive research, together with other recent valuable research
in the field, has shown that Part II of the Family Law Act (i.e. mediation) is not
the best way of achieving those aims. The government is not therefore satisfied
that it would be right to proceed with the implementation of Part II and
proposes to ask Parliament to repeal it once suitable legislative opportunity
occurs.”

As reported by the Guardian Newspaper in 2005, Divorce and Mediation Schemes Flop. 47
couples used this publically funded scheme of which 23 actually finished, in terms of the case
load of contact and residence cases in the areas in where this scheme was trailed this project
was a failure. Later in parliament Margret Hodge claimed that this project was a failed effort
to neutralise the ongoing support from the public for fathers groups.

Furthering on from mediation being used between separating parents, mediation is now being
advertised to grandparents (link) by National Family Mediation.

As there is no presumption of contact or residence between a child and its father mediation in
N.Ireland will not be nothing more than a process to aid parental separation. When faced with
an obstructive parent mediation is not an outcome to giving children contact with their
parents, the final outcome of mediation is not binding and in effect not enforceable. When the
head of the Gender Equality Unit, Eileen Sung, was presented with this concept it was stated
by Sung that “surely there needs to be a set of principles surrounding shared parenting”
(link).

The Families Matters Strategy 2009 (link) document produced by the DHSSPS engages the
notion that mediation is a solution:
4.29 Relationship Support and Family Mediation: We recognise that emphasis
must be placed on intervention at the early stages of difficulty in a family, before
potential breakdown. Marriage and relationship support, such as family
counselling, enables adults and children to have access to information, advice
and effective support at key life stages and at particular times of challenge or
crisis, which may be associated with the start (or an increase in) relationship
difficulties. We recognise the effect relationship counselling has on helping
families stay together.

It is highly unlikely that this notion is an achievable outcome given that no responses to the
consultation of this document came from groups representing fathers (link). As per the
respondents to the families matter we can class the document as a subjective social science
study and not an objective statement of truth. Had the voices of fathers who have been
through mediation failures that ultimately ends in litigation were listened to there would not
be such a promotion of mediation that is either privately or publically funded.

With all the supporting research that mediation does not work it is questionable on how
Health Minister Michael McGimpsey could state “Family Mediation provides this vital
and confidential support service and enables couples to achieve improved post-divorce
relationships between themselves and their children” (Link).
There will be no workable arrangements via mediation until a social attitude to shared
parenting that is supported by law is created. The best interest of the child principle as stated
by parliament is that the best interest of a child is gained by maintaining the love and care of
it parents, a principle that has yet to be implement and in N.Ireland has led to 15 years of
needless cases that have cost hundreds of millions of pounds of tax payers money.

As advertised By the HSC (link), mediation in 2010 is being given free of charge to those
who have not yet faced litigation. Most notable in this new approach mediation is being
advertised as the empowerment of parents, parents do not need empowered children need
laws and regulations that will stipulate that upon separation children will be able to see their
parents as equals and their parents treated as equals.
Although not worded as such by the HSC, the HSC are recognising that the emotional
trauma that can occur through parental separation needs to be fully addressed. Even before
parental separation there is now a social attitude that upon separation that a father in most
cases will have to leave his home and his children and in the vast majority of cases have to
seeking a judicial order to have contact with his children. What the government are now
doing is attempting in their words to “empower” fathers to accept that they can no longer be a
parent to their child.
FUNDING HAS BEEN MADE AVAILABLE TO SEPARATING COUPLES WHO
HAVE NOT YET BEEN THROUGH THE LEGAL SYSTEM, TO ACCESS FREE
MEDIATION SESSIONS.
PARENTS CAN NOW AVAIL OF A FREE, INDEPENDENT APPROACH TO
SEPARATION THAT ENABLES PARENTS TO BE EMPOWERED.
FAMILY LIFE TODAY CAN BE STRESSFUL, DEMANDING AND COMPLEX.
MAINTAINING GOOD RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN PARENTS AND CHILDREN
IS CRUCIAL TO OUR WELL BEING AND HAPPINESS. FAMILY MEDIATION
OFFERS AN ALTERNATIVE TO CONFLICT WHEN FAMILIES EXPERIENCE
DIFFICULTIES DURING SEPARATION OR DIVORCE AND HELPS REDUCE THE
TRAUMA OF SEPARATION.
FAMILY MEDIATION CAN REDUCE THE TIME, AS WELL AS THE
EMOTIONAL AND FINANCIAL COST OF AN ADVERSARIAL PROCESS.
AVAILABLE ACROSS NORTHERN IRELAND.
http://www.communityni.org/sites/files/communityni/imagecache/image_story/images/content/hscblogo.gif

Mediation like many other areas of family law has become a profitable income, reported in
the Independent ;
“A mediator earns between £25,000 and £30,000 rising to around £35,000
with a management or training role. Workplace mediation pays upwards
of £350 per day.”

Like many other areas governing cases involving separating parent’s mediation is acting as a
delay process, and is acting against the best interest of the child in terms of written law where
it stipulates that any delays prejudice the case. To take stock in the case of parental
separation, parents could face a 3 to 4 month period for mediation, if unsuccessful then
litigation is required, crossing over into litigation could involve a waiting period of up to 6
months to secure if needed legal aid and for the case to be listed. Family law cases in
N.Ireland are according to the courts service taking 4 months to reach a final order, at the
very least in the vast majority of cases fathers could be waiting at least a year to resolve
contact cases regarding obstructive mothers, a year apart from their child that will prejudice
the case as after a year the parental bond that was once such an important factor in a child life
is gone (parental alienation).
While children can develop satisfactorily provided they have a secure attachment with at
least one intimate caregiver, the optimum for infants and young children is three secure
attachments
(Hrdy, 2009 - p.130).
Polling for Breakdown Britain found that if you are not brought up in a two-parent family
you are:

. 75% more likely to fail at school
. 70% more likely to be a drug addict
. 50% more likely to have an alcohol problem
. 40% more likely to have serious debt problems
. 35% more likely to experience unemployment/welfare
dependency

(Centre for Social Justice, December 2009)
The underlining social dynamics are clear that there needs to be legislative changes to
contribute to a social change in attitudes to the roles and responsibility of parents, process
like mediation are not the solution and should not be enforced until laws are created to make
the outcomes of mediation binding in terms of parental separation.
Steps must also be taken to ensure that mediation is not pushed so far onto parents that it will
damage the welfare of children involved, as by attempting to remove contact and residence
cases from the courts could lead to a dilution of reported child abuse, more commonly
emotional abuse, and the action ability of social services of such abuse.

Facebook Status forwarded by Peter Morris

2011-03-01T11:54:00.000-08:00

Family Law: Seventeen new family law QCs appointed

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Men more evolved? Y chromosome study stirs debate

2011-02-27T02:01:00.001-08:00

· By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein, Ap Science Writer– Wed Jan 13, 4:28 pm ET
WASHINGTON – Women may think of men as primitive, but new research indicates that the Y chromosome — the thing that makes a man male — is evolving far faster than the rest of the human genetic code.
A new study comparing the Y chromosomes from humans and chimpanzees, our nearest living relatives, show that they are about 30 percent different. That is far greater than the 2 percent difference between the rest of the human genetic code and that of the chimp's, according to a study appearing online Wednesday in the journal Nature.
These changes occurred in the last 6 million years or so, relatively recently when it comes to evolution.
"The Y chromosome appears to be the most rapidly evolving of the human chromosomes," said study co-author Dr. David Page, director of the prestigious Whitehead Institute in Cambridge and a professor of biology at MIT. "It's an almost ongoing churning of gene reconstruction. It's like a house that's constantly being rebuilt."
Before men get too impressed with themselves, lead author Jennifer Hughes offers some words of caution: Just because the Y chromosome, which determines gender, is evolving at a speedy rate it doesn't necessarily mean men themselves are more evolved.
Researchers took the most detailed examination of the Y chromosome, which females do not have, of both humans and chimps and found entire sections dramatically different. There were even entire genes on the human Y chromosome that weren't on the chimp, said Hughes, also of the Whitehead Institute.
The two-year research took twice as long as expected because of the evolutionary changes found, Hughes said.
There is a bit of a proviso to the comparison to other chromosomes. While all human and chimp chromosomes have been mapped, only two chimp chromosomes have been examined in great detail: Y and chromosome 21. Yet, there's still enough known to make the claim that the Y is the speediest evolver, Hughes and Page said.
Until recently the Y chromosome was considered the Rodney Dangerfield of genetics, especially because it had fewer genes than other chromosomes. A few years ago some researchers even suggested that the Y chromosome was shrinking so that in 50,000 years it would just disappear — and so would men.
"The story is not as cut and dried as many would have liked to predict," Hughes said. "It's kind of fun to say that men are going to die out, but the science is proving — now that we've got data — that that's not true at all."
Page agreed. "The Y chromosome has many more tricks up its sleeve than it was given credit for," he said.
There are a couple of reasons Page and Hughes cite for Y being such an evolutionary powerhouse. One is that it stands alone and isn't part of a pair like 44 other chromosomes. So when there are mutations there's no matching chromosome to recombine and essentially cover up the change, Hughes said. Because women have two X chromosomes, the X chromosome doesn't have this situation.
Another reason has to do with the nature of mating. When female chimps are in heat, they mate frequently and with many partners, so there is an evolutionary pressure on the male to produce the most and best sperm to propagate his genes, Page said.
To test this out, Hughes said she hopes to soon examine the Y chromosomes of a rhesus macaque, which is fairly promiscuous, and the marmoset, which is more monogamous than early humans probably were.
Outside scientists praised the study.
"Wow," said R. Scott Hawley, a genetics researcher at the Stowers Institute in Kansas City. "That result is astounding."
"The Y chromosome clearly has the strength and tenacity to fight back," said Hawley, who wasn't part of the research. "I certainly think the Y chromosome has taken a bad rap for a long time with people doing maps showing areas for channel surfing."

Facebook Status forwarded by Peter Morris

2011-02-26T14:41:00.001-08:00

National Black Ribbon Day: Both parents must have a role in a child's life. The UN have given statistics in favor of shared care & I ask the cause to have a read of this Article.

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The CSA and the Government: the dog is barking and the cat is locked in the study

2011-02-23T09:19:00.000-08:00

Failure is something to which all of us, some more than others, are well attuned to. It haunts and embitters more than it inspires progression and improvement. For the separated couple who still come across each other in a work environment, there is a dull, in-the-background thuddering of loss, the what-could-have-been's and, more often than not, a passive aggressive resistance to deal with the problem. The Government and the CSA fell out of love a long time ago. They would smile politely and hold hands at dinner parties but it was obvious to everyone watching that, at first, they were sleeping in separate rooms and then, embarrassingly, no longer seemed to talk to each other. The Government would visibly cringe with every alarmingly obvious faux pas that the CSA continually careered into.

Every so often, following a public examination from the whispering and not-so-whispering media gossips, the Government would stand up for its maligned, limping, flaccid ex. It would make gestures designed to help the CSA out: a new computer system, introductions to seemingly sensible young men to keep them on the straight and narrow and even the denouement of all movings-on: a change of name. Sadly even the trendy new name didn't make it better.

When parents separate, their obligations to their children continue; sometimes, some parents are difficult about being required to meet these obligations. Therefore there needs to be a system whereby their being difficult is not a barrier. Why should the child lose out because their parents no longer go out? It is the parents who are leaving each other; neither leaves the child (in an emotional rather than literal, living together sense). However, the system does not work. The BBC reports government ministers as saying there are over £4 billion of arrears and for every pound of that recouped, it costs 40 pence. The total running costs are £460 million per year. The problem is simple: it is cost-inefficient at being inefficient.

Maria Miller, Minister in the Department for Works and Pensions, believes that the present system 'drives a wedge between parents'. There are, apparently, queues of people "who can't come to their own arrangements" under the present system. Cryptically, for those people who can't come to their own arrangements "we will be making sure that the current system, the statutory system, actually works harder and has more depth". Aside from whatever it means for a statutory system to have 'more depth', that seems fine. Separated couples who come to their own arrangements are much happier and the arrangements do last longer (see the entire FDR-Ancillary relief system for proof). Anything that obstructs that is regrettable.

In the large majority of relationship breakdowns people will only seek the help of an outside agency when things are at their very worst. Either people will be able to arrange things themselves or they need help. If they need help, one can assume that there is already something of a wedge between them. Perhaps there are some people who simply wish to formalise their arrangement through a government agency, but those are people whose compliance with the system is unlikely to render the process defective. The headline grabbing problem of the CSA, in whichever identity, has been its inability to deal with those who are deliberately trying to defraud and cheat the system. The fact that there are lots of people out there happy to come to their own arrangement is really not the issue.

The overemphasis of mediation in all this is so de rigueur. Mediation is the Government's answer to all family problems these days; it's cheap and allows people to make their own decisions. Maria Miller explains '…we believe that support, such as mediation, can play a greater role in assisting parents to collaborate and reach a family-based arrangement that is in the interest of their children.' It is hard to argue with that but, frankly, bizarrely, the paper goes on to state, '[f]or many this will take the form of emotional support that allows them to understand the needs of their children and the emotional position of their former partner. Through this support they can reach a point where they can talk to their partner and begin to reach an effective agreement on their maintenance arrangements.' What's with all the emotion? Whilst family lawyers just can't get enough of the touch-feely, do we really need to conflagrate a child's emotional needs with their financial needs? There is a dangerous game here. Once one starts tying up the emotional with the financial, one enters the world of emoto-financial blackmail, in which the child is always the loser. The cardinal, always wrong, keystone of this: the darkly covert whispering in the paper of linking maintenance to contact. Goodness, whatever happens: Minister, do not make the mistake of thinking the two should ever be linked.

Let us turn then to the idea of the system working 'harder'. We accept that we have a failing system. It is inefficient in terms of output and mechanism: what do we do? Charge the people applying! Charge them all! The very poorest? Those on benefits? Charge them all! According to the BBC, "under the proposals parents unable to agree could be charged about £100 .... those on benefits could pay about £50, £20 of which would be paid up front and the rest in instalments. The charges would not apply in cases where there has been domestic violence."

So, the large number of parents who deliberately decide not to provide for their children, those who constantly move address, change jobs, change their names will now be caught, finally, by the change to the system whereby.... the applicant... not them... pays to apply. If you want to stop a floodgate opening up, if you want to curb the number of people doing something you make it more difficult for people to do that thing. The Government itself does it: don't want people to smoke/drink? Tax cigarettes and alcohol to the hilt. Here, the Government want more people to keep using the child support system, so, they propose to charge them. It doesn't make sense. Surely, it will either make the number of people applying remain the same (because they look at a cost benefit analysis of what they should get under the statutory scheme) or will reduce it. It is not going to encourage more to apply or give confidence in the system to those applying. It is to look at a problem and provide a different solution: 'The dog is barking? Don't worry I've locked the cat in the study'.

You might say that the number of applicants is not the problem; it is processing those claims effectively. In that case, nothing that has been proposed so far does anything to actually address what is in fact the real problem. The Government's current response is revenue raising, pure and simple. Take a huge group of people, such as parents who have separated, and charge all of them for a service, such as provision for their children, that ultimately they must take part in. The Government is forcing parents, even the most disadvantaged, to subsidise their own failing system. Remember there were two distinct problems: cost inefficient and inefficient. The present proposal saves the Government money, making it more cost efficient. The other side of the problem: the inefficiency of the system? Oh, well, at least it will not cost the Government as much for the system to be so inefficient.

The bizarre reference to an exemption where there has been domestic violence is, frankly, just odd. The relevance of domestic violence to child support is none. How are the allegations to be tested? Will there be a fact finding every time an application is made? What is domestic violence? Actual violence or just threats? Is not some emotional harm worse than actual physical harm? What about the emotional harm of financial abuse? Does that not mean, ontologically, everyone applying should tick the 'domestic violence' box....?

The Government are presently consulting on changes (http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/strengthening-families.pdf). Here is a thought: if after 20 years of trying to make it work in the bureaucratic world of the civil service has not worked, return the matter back to the Court process. Not enough time in Court lists? Well, don't cut so much from the Court system then.

All Party Parliamentary Group on Family Law

2011-02-23T09:10:00.001-08:00

Last week on the 15th Feb, the All Parliamentary Group on Family Law met for a debate in the House of Commons, the event was entitled: Shared Parenting: Panacea or Placebo?

Ray Barry, Tim Line and Stu G were amongst 5 or 6 Rffj members in attendance, Ray's report is on the EPA site

The next event is entitled "Transparency in the family courts"
This is a public event due to take place on Tuesday, March 29th at 6.30pm in the House of Commons

Stu G's report from the 15th Feb is below:

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Family Law and the Court of Protection
Speaker Meeting in the House of Commons
On Tuesday, 15th February 2011

Shared Parenting – Panacea or Placebo?

Report by Stu G
Research and Development Coordinator, Rffj

This Speaker Meeting was the third in a series. Far more people attended this third event than the second. This time, every seat in the Grand Committee Room was taken. The meeting was chaired by Baroness Deech and John Hemming, with two guest speakers advocating in favour of and two against the proposals of a legal presumption of shared parenting.

Most, if not all the other civilized jurisdictions in the universe, no longer concern themselves with whether or not shared parenting should be a legal presumption. Florida led the way decades ago and most nations have followed suit. All have conducted their own credible, longitudinal research with massive sample groups of children in and out of shared parenting arrangements. With the pathetic exception of the UK, all have decided that not only does shared parenting provide children infinitely better outcomes, they have actually defined shared parenting in terms of parental split of the child’s time and long since enacted laws with supportive social policies to implement and underpin shared parenting as the norm.

Here we were, in the second decade of the 21st Century, to engage in the typical British way of doing things: delay progress whilst we hold lots of meetings to which no experts are invited as speakers. These debates then rage on for decades. The old joke of joining the words ‘mass’ and ‘debate’ seems appropriate. Factions form, new leaders appear, and the overall message is diluted as each faction produces much the same material and proposals in different colours. Last Tuesday, we listened to four of the UK’s most eminent non-specialists part with their thoughts in their allocated ten minute speeches.

Just for the record, the Early Interventions Project has long since addressed the issues we were assembling to ‘discuss’. It was directed to happen in 2003 but scuppered by the Civil Service/ CAFASS. Its components were then plagiarized by separate father’s groups who chose not to collaborate with each other. Therefore, in a way, the evening was akin to hearing two speakers reinvent the wheel and two try to further buckle it.

John Baker, the Policy Officer of The Association of Shared Parenting.

First to speak was John. He spoke of his organization’s promotion of a draft Parliamentary Bill (Shared Parenting Bill), which he admitted ‘will not become law’. He expressed the need for a rebuttable presumption of shared parenting instead of the current sole resident parent arrangement where one parent wields all powers, including whether the child will have a relationship with the non resident parent. John said absence of resident parent goodwill, or its variance, is best countered by a presumption of contact for the children. The belief that such a presumption already exists is soon shattered when the non resident parent sues for contact. John noted that abusive parents who have their children taken into care have contact rights not afforded to good non resident parents unless they litigate. He gave an example of one particular separated couple who disagreed so much that they even called their children different names.

John moved on to talk about degrees of contact time. CAFCASS were briefly mentioned as the court’s supposed arbitrators of the children’s interests who typically award a flat rate of 1/7 of the child’s time with the father. He listed what ‘parenting time’ was for – it was quite an extensive and inclusive list of activities. In essence, he felt that there was ‘no formula’ and that degrees of parenting time should be linked to the length of the activities list in each particular case.
Lastly, John quoted from Articles 5,7,8,9,18 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and suggested they be used as the basis for decisions involving children.

Stu G Comment:

John Baker is a well known and respected campaigner who has devoted much of his life to this cause. His proposal for a draft Parliamentary Bill puzzled me. Very few such bills actually become law - something like 10% - unless they are set in motion by a Cabinet Minister which, in this case, seems unlikely. A quicker and more effective solution to the family law problem would be to impose means of interpreting current law on the judiciary or better still, for the judiciary to adopt a specific interpretative policy. Bills take too long to get nowhere. Money, time and effort is diverted and wasted. Parliamentary Bills are generally a marketing ploy to create the image that we live in a democracy. If you want to spend lots of time and money appearing useful whilst not being very effective, get a backbencher to propose a Bill in the House of Commons.

When taken in the round, I thought that perhaps John contradicted himself in his shared parenting section. Our problems in law derive from a lack of legal definitions, yet he does not see shared parenting as definable in terms of apportionment of time. Furthermore, a significant degree of contact time would be needed to satisfy his well considered activities list. He does have a point, as kids should enjoy contact, but given the choice between calculating time based on activities when the resident parent is uncooperative and having definitive time to spend as the children wish, I’d take the latter. Activities-based contact is a new phenomena which my time-contact conditioned mind needs a while to absorb. When there are hundreds, if not thousands, of credible, empirical research articles positively linking good child outcomes in terms of parenting time, it seems counter-productive to introduce a new concept. John mentioned no research in his speech in support of his maverick idea.

In theory, activities-based contact could be worthy of a limited study. In practice, however, I thought of the disagreeable separated couple John himself used in his speech. I envisaged the following scenario:
(phone call):
Father:
“er…hello dear….I was wondering; I need more time with Timmy because I think it’s time for him to go swimming regularly and under our current activities-based arrangement there is no time allocated for it.”
Mother:
“Yes, good idea. He does need to go swimming more. How thoughtful of you. Just what he needs. But I’ll take him. You can F**k O**!!”.

John is correct about the ideal of adhering to the UNCRC. Experts reporting to the FJR inform that breaching the human rights of children is the norm in UK family courts. But a human rights watchdog needs two things; power and effective monitoring. The UNCRC has no real roots in UK law and court hearings are conducted in secret, with unaccountable operators, and whistleblowers jailed. It’s a good proposal in theory and one echoed recently, again-only-in-theory-so-far, in Australia. But not something which will happen unless the legal framework governing family law changes, which John does not propose in any realistic form.

I anticipated better from John. Despite being a seasoned campaigner, his proposals lack definition. Also, I felt he needs instruction on how law functions in reality, as opposed to theory. So it was disappointing, but no surprise when he concluded his speech without offering any workable solution.

Samantha Callan, Chairman in Residence of the Centre for Social Justice)

Samantha began her speech with the warning of how Great Leaps Forward often fail to match expectation.
She quoted Kennedy and Obama’s elections and the Chinese changes in the 50s and 60s as examples. Inferring the same logic applies to shared parenting, she quoted research from Australia which apparently concludes that children in the most conflicted post separation families do not fare well in shared care arrangements, suffering the worst mental health outcomes. She then admitted that, when part of the Centre for Social Justices’study ‘Breakthrough Britain’, she was part of a team which supported shared parenting. Her opposition to the Shared Parenting Bill hinged on elements the law would not take into account – that of conflicted families. She said the Bill presumes too much, that shared parenting should not be considered in terms of time allocation. She claimed research suggested that six pre-requisites had to exist before shared care could be successful: (1) geographical proximity (2) parents getting along well-enough (3) child focused arrangements (4) commitment to make it work (5) family friendly work practices for mothers and fathers (6) financial comfort –particularly for women.

Again, using Australia as the example, she stated that some separated couples had mistakenly believed the Family Law Act of 2006 to impose equal parenting, or 50/50 split. She classed many of those in 50/50 arrangements as ‘parents tenaciously holding on to their rights rather than the interests of the children.’

Stu G Comment

Arguing against shared parenting is akin to denying the Holocaust. It is the most damaging of prejudicial language, crossing all racial divides. In my view, it takes a rather ignorant person to accept the APPG invitation that Samantha Callan chose to. I wondered whether the speech would match my expectations. It did.

Social and psychological research databases are overflowing with credible papers depicting longitudinal studies, with large and mixed sample groups. The papers are subjected to critical peer review. But the ‘research’ Samantha quotes is written by Jennifer McIntosh, an Australian legal academic who selects sample groups which are more likely to produce the outcomes she seeks. Her work is found in Family Law Studies databases. (Who knows what poison lies therein?). Lawyers and CAFCASS might read it, but nobody else. So only lawyers, whose purposes McIntosh’s work serves, and the untrained, semi-educated and easily impressionable operators of CAFCASS, even bother to read it. Indeed, few seeking accredited social research would subscribe to a Family Law database.
McIntosh repeatedly makes the same claim and seeks to prove it – that shared parenting in conflicted families does not work.

It is a deliberately narrow trajectory. Luckily, only a minority of fools, prejudicators and legal profiteers take on board the message that it is the element of shared parenting, rather than the element of conflict, that causes the distress to the children involved. Unfortunately, these are the people with the biggest mouths, and their shameless ability to sensationalize will always ensure they get more airplay. Furthermore, as ever, McIntosh presumes the post-separation conflict is always instigated by the father. Most of the conflict revolves around parenting time, therefore the simple solution is to remove that issue via legal presumptions and most of the conflict will disappear.

Limiting the occurrence of shared parenting to cooperative parents encourages intransigence from mothers who wish to avoid it. It is a surreptitious means of maintaining the status quo.
McIntosh is unpopular in Australia; even judges have criticized her. Her work has no statistical significance whatsoever, and is therefore not credible enough to base sound policy on. One has to ask the question as to why, when her work is not taken seriously by the Australian government, judiciary or real researchers, would anybody wish to import her bilge to the UK? Perhaps Callan aims to be McIntosh’s UK equivalent.

No doubt the legal fraternity will be queuing up to desperately provide Callan with ‘research’ funding, safe in the pre-determined knowledge that her papers will mirror McIntosh’s and ‘suggest’ against the presumption/espouse the ‘disaster’ of shared parenting.
Whenever a speaker wishes to argue against the obvious, they need to weave a story. Judges in family courts do it often. They select a principal and build a story around it. Facts that do not attach well are disregarded. The imposed judicial outcome is ‘based on principal’.

Callan is doing the same in her speech by ignoring empirical research. Six key facts she chooses not to import from Australia are (1) that shared care is a political success (it is not the political disaster she claimed it to be during question time, losing a handful of feminist votes hurt no-one), (2) that monitoring has shown the outcomes for children to be far better than the previous system, (3) that kids are very happy to spend time alone with their fathers, (4) that mothers murder more than twice as many children as fathers and (6) that 80% of child abuse happens in the homes of sole resident parent mothers.

Callan also has trouble filling out her allocated speech time, so talks about American Presidents and China in the 50s. The Great Leap Forward analogy is completely misplaced – the rest of the world has already implemented presumptions of shared care; some jurisdictions ‘leaped’ decades ago. ‘Breakthrough Britain’, was a study motivated not so much about social breakdown, but how to reduce its cost to the nation. This implies that fathers will have a stronger argument to remain in the lives of their children if it saves the government money. (Luckily, it does). To claim expertise in matters involving children because of having worked on the Breakthrough Britain team does not, to me, add up. You do not measure a child’s quality of life with a calculator.

Another ploy, when faced with defeat, is to invent surrender terms. In court, this is often achieved when a mother’s counsel concocts a Schedule to a Contact Order, imposing conditions, at the whim of the mother, under which the directions of a judge will happen. The judge will undermine his own directions by approving the Schedule without reading it. So, in her speech, Callan lists six circumstances under which she feels shared parenting could happen, five of which can (and will) be undermined by the resident parent.

Craig Pickering
CEO
Families Need Fathers

Craig chose to tackle the detractors head-on: picking apart the argument against shared parenting.
He used five headings; (1) that Parental responsibility is inadequate, (2) that shared parenting is impractical/children do not like it (3) that ‘a child needs a home’, (4) that high conflict parents should not share parenting, (5) the ‘quality verses quantity’ argument, (6) and protecting children from abuse.

Craig accurately stated that, outside of the courts, PR has little or no significance or practical use, and later linked into how related law such as Child Maintenance benefits sole resident parents. He tied levels of shared parenting to practicalities such as the nearness of the separated parent. He defined shared parenting as an arrangement in which the children spent between 30-70% of time with either parent. He pointed out that researchers often interpret children’s views when negating share parenting too literally i.e. that the same complaints about their parents abound in intact families.
Craig referred to the intent of the Children Act 1989 being undermined; that the pre-1989 system has simply rolled on under different terminology.

Craig countered Callan’s high conflict argument well enough by quoting credible research and did the same for the ‘quality versus quantity’ argument.
So far as shared parenting ‘exposing children to abuse,’ Craig hinted that many abuse allegations were frivolous and that the onus of proof should be on the accuser. Again, he quoted credible research from the Australian Institute of Family Studies showing that even in separated families where the mother has fears about shared parenting, the arrangements are going well, benefiting the children involved, and that 37% of parents in this troublesome bracket are cooperating eventually. FNF proposes that CAFCASS be “focused primarily on the issue of sorting real from falsely alleged abuse with stronger links to other agencies”.

Stu G Comment
Craig’s was the shortest and best speech of the evening. It was the only speech of the evening which actually defined shared parenting and provided credible meta-analysis evidence paths to back up his position. (A meta analysis is an expert review of several other research papers, sometimes hundreds of them, to find common themes). In contrast, Callan provided no credible evidence for her views and concealed her sources of information.

Craig made the best of his limited ten-minute opportunity. I’m sure that given more time he would have went further. Ten minutes is simply not long enough and the points he has made speak for themselves. The only real criticisms I would have are that he could have produced the Australian evidence showing sole residence to be a very risky arrangement for children and I’m critical that his proposals to the FJR perceive a continued role for CAFCASS.

CAFCASS, in many ways, are the root of the problem. A decade after coming into existence, they are still untrained in the very subject of concern – appropriate levels of contact, under what circumstances, how soon. This is a fundamental failure; the courts are still ill-advised due to CAFCASS’s choice of completely ignoring their own remit. CAFCASS are also unaccountable. CAFCASS officers often quote from the same bent ‘research’ as Callan (“two homes can be confusing for a child etc”).

It seems untenable that FNF can recommend the continuance of an agency labelled by the Public Accounts Committee as ‘unfit for purpose’. I also have concerns about ‘other agencies’- which could include domestic violence agencies.

Only two agencies need be involved with allegations of abuse: the Police and the Crown Prosecution Service. If allegations are unworthy of proper, criminal investigation, to criminal levels of proof, they need not be part of the picture. Local Police could work closely with local authorities on the few cases left in the court system once a rebuttable presumption of shared parenting is enshrined in law. CAFCASS will no longer be required to produce their untrained, simplistic and biased reports to guide courts on whether or not children should see their good-enough fathers – contact will happen by default, and quickly. Proposing that proof of allegations be required whilst recommending the retention of CAFCASS appears contradictory.

David Hodson; The International Family Law Group

The download version of David’s speech papers had a two page prefix advertising his company and his numerous personal achievements. He works in both the UK and Australia as a lawyer as well as being a part time District Judge at the Principal Registry of the Family Division, London. He is a senior member of the UK College of Family Mediators and Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. He has co-written and edited books on Family Law.

David began in story mode…
“In the beginning, or at least in the 1970s and 1980s, three dinosaurs roamed the postparental separation world: custody, care and control and access….” and proceeded to entertain the audience with how the Children Act 1989 changed all that.
The story went on to show how shared residence orders evolved. “In A v A (Minors) (Shared Residence Orders) (1994) 1 FLR 669, the High Court judge said they should only be made when there was “something unusual” about the case”. The “non-resident parent” status was thus reinvented, and we were back where we started pre-1989.

(Fathers rebelled). Lawyers started to make shared residence orders and they “have been a predominant theme of the past 10 years.”
David ran through the cases which advanced the shared residence order and the reasons in each case for the move forwards:
In Re K (Residence Order: Securing Contact) (1999) 1 FLR 583
“important to bear in mind that nowadays, as opposed to a considerable number of years ago, fathers are at times better equipped to look after children than they were”.
In D v D (Shared Residence Orders) (2001) 1 FLR 495, “the test was the
child's best interests and that it did not require exceptional circumstances to justify the
order. It was sufficient to show that it reflected the child's best interests.”

In Re F (2003) 2 FLR 397, “a shared residence order had to reflect the underlying reality of where the children lived their lives.” In A v A (2004) 1 FLR 1195, it was found that the mother was making unilateral decisions about health and education without reference to the father and marginalising him. In Re P (Shared residence order) (2006) 2 FLR 347, “it does not need exceptional or unusual circumstances for a shared residence order to be made and the additional value of a shared residence order was conveying the court’s message that neither party is in control and that the court expects parents to co-operate with each other for the benefit of the children.”

Re K (Shared Residence Order) (2008) 2 FLR 380, “the first instance judge could quite properly refuse equal division of time and still make a shared residence order.” Re D (Leave to remove: Shared Residence) (2006) Fam Law 1006, the High Court made a shared residence order where the parents were in different countries, Re AR (A Child: Relocation) (2010) EWHC 1346, the newly appointed Mr Justice Mostyn said that “nowadays a shared residence order is the rule rather than the exception even where the quantum of care undertaken by each parent is decidedly unequal.” T v T (Shared Residence) (2010) EWCA 1366 Lady Justice Black said Mostyn had moved too fast and shared residence should be made in the “best interests of the child”.

David then said that the lessons of the 2006 change in law in Australia had affected the pace of change in England. He claimed that fathers mediated for equal levels of contact rather than what was in the interests of the children. He then summarised and agreed with the July 2009 Centre for Social Justice report “Every Family Matters” which identified all the areas of unhappiness in family law but concluded there was no need to radically change the law, other than for it to recognise the two parent framework and encourage shared residence. David concluded by saying that, in essence, there was no need to change the law because all that reformists seek is already there.

Stu G Comment:

David did not advocate against shared parenting as such but against the need for a presumption of shared parenting, basing his argument on his belief that, in principal, it is already here.

He is talking absolute rubbish.

Maybe I am moving too fast. Could it be that in every case where he acts as a lawyer David wins shared residence for his clients when they are fathers and loses sole residence applications when they are mothers? When he acts in his role as a part-time judge, does he always practice what he preaches? Does he direct shared residence in line with the guidance of the Court of Appeal? If so, all fathers should form a queue at his practice and outside his court. Perhaps that is why he put his company details on the front and second pages of his speech. But I’m sure if we ask David how many shared residence orders he has achieved or directed we’ll get the response of ‘oh, I can’t go into individual cases etc..’ And I do hope that when his firm is instructed, it is he who personally does the representation, not a fresh faced beginner.

David’s long-winded legal argument falls down before the race is even on. His story is based around principal. Again, the real facts that do not easily attach to the narrative are disregarded. To be credible, his speech needs to be based around practice. Reality contradicts his rose tinted view of family law.

The Children Act 1989 intended shared residence to be the norm. As David himself says, there is no term of ‘non-resident parent’ in the Act. Mike Robinson (a truthful expert and realist) has documented how Hansard and House of Commons guidance from 1989 shows shared residence to have been the intent of Parliament. (Hansard Debate 19December 1988, page 1217 to 1219, and the House of Commons reference sheet 89/5.13 on the Children Bill, 26 June 1989).

I quote:
“History shows us that family law reform is only successful if the courts accept it. Legislative change alone is not enough. What is needed is the narrowing of judicial discretion, stricter and more detailed external guidance, and the Supreme Court’s unfettered oversight of the judicial system to limit xenophobic reaction to change and dogmatism.” (Mike Robinson, McKenzie, Autumn 2010, Issue 90 p12-13)

In other words, the judiciary betrayed Parliament post-1989 and continued the legal industry, with all its multiple income streams for the legal profession, just as it was before the Children Act came into force. Shared residence was stolen by judges, then sold back to litigators by drip feed.

The best way to ensure the largest financial return on any model is to update it every couple of years. Each time the shared residence model was upgraded, no doubt a flurry of court applications followed, as more fathers fell into new brackets of qualification. The reality was that most of the applications were, and still are, refused without proper reason. Shared residence is the carrot, fathers are the donkeys parting with their money, searching for an equal status that few will achieve.

The success or failure of applications does not rely on merit. The Court of Appeal keeps the tills ringing by selling dreams; fathers clamour for that elusive, winning lottery ticket.
Lord Justice Wall himself contradicted Hodson’s position in his speech to FNF last year. When addressing the issue of shared residence orders, he said: “some judges like them, some judges don’t”. It is not about circumstances. There have even been a case where a father litigated for shared residence, having had years of increasing, trouble free contact, and was denied further contact to his children.

If the select few Court of Appeal cases that David quotes are presumed to provide guidance to and monitoring for the lower courts, that system is failing entirely. The Lord Justices are none other than the same High Court judges who have pocketed handsomely by undermining the Children Act over the previous two decades. Section 54 of the Access to Justice Act prevents appeals from the Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court. We have a legal system which is pretty much sealed for profit.

During question time David again contradicted his speech when admitting that judges have no training in what is in the interests of children: “it is unacceptable that a judge can sit on a bankruptcy case in the morning and a child matter case in the afternoon…. Judges need to specialize.” These comments of untrained judges do not sit well with David’s story of all being well; that there is no need for change etc. They sit better with Mike Robinson’s quote above. The sad truth is that most of the judges in family courts are untrained and do not really know the law. They know a couple of principals, and how to weave narrative to suit. David’s solution to the crisis, during question time, echoed that of his master LJ Wall : “more money, more judges.”

The real solution is a rebuttable presumption of shared parenting, along with a definition in terms of minimum parenting time, less cases in court; with those who do end up in court facing real judges who know the needs of children, and know the law.

David Hodson is also a mediator. He must know that the introduction of the legal presumption of shared parenting vastly improved the outcomes for mediating couples in Australia, with 87% agreeing shared parenting in or out of mediation. He chose not to share that fact with us. Instead he deflected the argument by insinuating that shared care was misinterpreted as 50/50 split, and that many of the 50/50 arrangements fell down.

The reality is that the shared care bracket in Australia is not 50/50 but 35-65%. It has been unequivocally proven to provide the best and happiest outcomes for children. Anybody who tries to convince you otherwise is just selling you an old, tall story; a car with a bent and rusty chassis. It does not matter who they are, what they are, or who they think they are. Do not be convinced, and don’t buy it.

On Tuesday, 15th February 2011, at The All Party Parliamentary Group on Family Law and the Court of Protection Speaker Meeting in the House of Commons, the only members of the audience who bought David and Samantha’s stories were the lawyers.

Family torn apart in 15-minute court case: Judge condemned for decision to remove children

2011-02-23T09:08:00.001-08:00

A judge broke up a family in just 15 minutes, it was revealed yesterday.

Judge James Orrell ordered that three children should be taken from their parents after doctors gave evidence in his court about bruising to the ear of one young child.

The doctors said it was their opinion that the bruising could have been caused by pinching.

The ruling made at a family court in Derby was exposed after an Appeal Court judge overturned Judge Orrell's decision and condemned the way a family was nearly destroyed in a quarter of an hour.

Appeal Judge Lord Justice Thorpe said he was 'aghast' at the handling of the case.

The incident came to light amid continued controversy over the secrecy in which the family courts deal with cases despite repeated scandals over misjudgements or high-handed behaviour by social workers and wrong evidence by expert witnesses.

Last year Labour Lord Chancellor Jack Straw ordered the family courts to open their proceedings to outside scrutiny. But judges have been deeply reluctant to let anyone but lawyers, social workers and expert witnesses into the courts, and have effectively kept them closed all outsiders.

Judges and lawyers say the risk of the plight of vulnerable children becoming known to the public by name is too great and that such publicity would be greatly damaging to children.

As a result the public can know nothing of what happens, and must rely on regular assurances from judges and insiders that all is well and standards are maintained in cases that decide the future of parents and children.

Details often only become public if a family case comes to a criminal court - as happened when the circumstances of the killing of Peter Connelly, Baby P, were revealed when his mother, her boyfriend and his brother were tried at the Old Bailey in 2008.

In the Derby case social workers sent the evidence of the doctors to the court before Judge Orrell held his hearing. Their lawyers expected a preliminary hearing, but the judge heard the doctors and then ordered the social workers to remove the children from their home.

Lord Justice Thorpe said today: 'I am completely aghast at this case. There is nothing more serious than a removal hearing, because the parents are so prejudiced in proceedings thereafter.

'Once you have lost a child, it is very difficult to get a child back.'

He added of Judge Orrell: 'I know he is a very experienced judge and I know he has done wonderful work in Derby for many years.

'But there is a point where a judge’s brisk conduct of business in his search for protection of a child is just not acceptable.

'This does not seem to me like acceptable process or natural justice.'

Lord Justice Thorpe sent the case back to the county court in Derby, which handles the most serious local family cases, but he said any further decisions on the children's future should be taken by a different judge.

He added: 'Judge Orrell is a pillar of the family justice system, but I do believe it is important that the parents have confidence in the tribunal.'

Lawyers for the parents said the judge listened to evidence from the doctors but failed to hear what the parents had to say. He had also failed to listen to the bruised child, who is said to be 'of sufficient age and maturity' to speak for himself.

Crisis of masculinity? Time for psychologists to study men

2011-02-22T13:44:00.001-08:00

For two years clinical psychologist Martin Seager has tried without success to get the British Psychological Society (BPS) to approve setting up a specialist men’s section to promote the study of male gender issues.
He outlines why, in a post-feminist society and where almost all prisoners are male, psychologists and the BPS should focus more on men's psychology.

........
Introduction and background:
An examination of the academic research and literature on the subject of gender within the field of psychology and social science reveals a highly significant statistical difference between the attentions dedicated to studies of the female gender as compared to the male.
In particular, there are less than 10 social science journals (e.g. “Men & Masculinities – Sage) that deal exclusively with issues that affect men, whereas there are over 40 such journals dealing exclusively with issues that affect women.
Given that the male and female genders have clearly evolved together in inter-relationship over aeons of time and given that the whole concept of gender is by definition based on a dyadic system of female and male, this imbalance in research activities is in itself of great scientific interest.
A true “psychology of people” (1) would require that any imbalance is addressed in the interest of promoting the scientific understanding of all sectors of our society.

This gender imbalance in the scientific community is matched by equally striking gender imbalances elsewhere in our society. For example, in the UK there is a minister for women but no minister for men, despite urgent calls for one.
The suicide rate (2) for men has for several decades been at least three times higher than that for women. To this day, national statistics show that men die significantly younger (3) than women. Men are four times more likely to become dependent on alcohol (4) than women. Men make up the vast majority of single homeless persons (5). Nearly all prisoners in the UK are male (6) and the majority of these prisoners have mental health problems which means in effect that our prisons are highly populated with males who need help with their mental health.
In our schools girls are now regularly outperforming boys academically. Men and women still to this day have different employment conditions and parental rights. There are very few gender-specific health services for men in the UK but a great many for women.
There is in post-feminist Britain as elsewhere an inevitable tension between the need to honour the principle of sexual equality and the need to recognise genuine gender differences.
Even the make-up of our own profession reflects significant gender differences without any deliberate intent. There is a great disparity between the numbers of males and females coming into the fields of applied clinical, counselling and health psychology, women outnumbering men significantly.

These striking statistical gender differences are indisputable empirically because they are based on simple and consistent quantitative measurement. Such figures are consistently reported across a whole array of data sources, including scientific journals, books, broadcast media, magazines and mental health websites.
It is not hard to explain some of these differences in general terms. Most obviously, in a “male dominated” society women have long been disempowered politically and socially. From the age of the enlightenment (latter 18th Century) onwards there was a growing awareness amongst more enlightened women of their disadvantaged position in society. This has led to the birth and development of feminist thinking and feminist activism which has rightly pressured society to change.
Society has rightly responded to this pressure but this has not so far resulted in a balanced examination of the genders.
Even to this day, the study of gender is largely synonymous with the study of women’s issues in the same way that the study of ethnicity is largely synonymous with the study of ethnic minority issues.
It can be argued, therefore, that being in the “dominant” group or in the majority carries with it its own risk of invisibility, quite different from that of being in a disadvantaged group but no less real.
There are two genders and they cannot properly be understood except in the context of each other. In our post-feminist society, where “male domination” has arguably now been properly addressed both politically and socially, there is now even more need than ever to examine the psychology of the male.
Some authors, even including feminists such as Camille Puglia (7) and Kathleen Parker (8), are now arguing that there is a “crisis of masculinity”. Researching into this and other important questions must be a primary responsibility of psychological science.
The British Psychological Society (BPS) clearly, therefore, as the leading body for psychological science in the UK is well placed to take a lead on this.
What would be the purpose and functions of a BPS section on “The Psychology of the Male Gender”?
The sections of the BPS have been developed to promote research into and awareness of important areas of psychology that may otherwise be neglected.

A “men’s section” of the BPS would clearly serve the following purposes:
To promote the scientific study and understanding of the psychology of the male gender and to disseminate this knowledge more widely in society
To raise awareness of the gender-specific pressures affecting the psychological health, education, development and well-being of men and boys in our society
To study and understand the impact of fathering on our society and to address factors that may influence and develop better fathering
To develop a robust and accessible body of knowledge around male psychology that can help to illuminate and demystify the subject for the rest of society
To become a focus for improved and more rounded teaching programmes for students and trainee psychologists (and others) across the UK on male gender issues
To provide a more complete evidence-base on areas of significant gender difference (for example suicide rates, addictions, crime rates)to help educators, policy makers, the media and other opinion-formers make more informed decisions in relation to male citizens
To promote conferences, seminars, broadcasts, publications and other educational events that will help to promote healthy attitude change across society in relation to the male gender
What would the research topics be for a section on the psychology of the male gender?

Obvious important research topics would include:
Fathering – the role of the father in the development of male and female children
Gender and role expectations for males in a post-feminist world
Health – gender differences in patterns of physical and mental disorder; male-specific responses to stress; male attitudes to illness; male help-seeking behaviour; the development of male-oriented services and methods of treatment for health problems
Suicide – understanding why males are more extreme in their suicidal behaviour and developing gender-specific methods for helping males to become less vulnerable
Addictions – exploring gender differences in the use of drugs to deal with emotional distress
Eating disorders in men - exploring the differences and commonalities with female sufferers
Male victims of sexual abuse – looking at how the experience of abuse in childhood might impact differently upon males and implications for their support and treatment
Male victims of domestic violence – how being a victim of physical abuse within a couple relationship might impact differently on males and implications for intervention
Aggression and violence – exploring the relationship between emotional distress, male gender “scripts” and aggressive acts
Male culture and socialisation – exploring masculinities as a range of male identities beyond an essentialist single notion of masculinity
Gender differences in school performance; understanding and improving how boys learn so as to inform the development of improved gender-specific educational methods
Why the need for a “Men’s Section” of the BPS?
If the society wishes to advance our understanding of gender issues then the same arguments for a men’s section must apply as were successful in leading to the formation of a women’s section
There are obvious and important gender differences in the UK (see above) as in other societies that require urgent research and investigation. In one obvious sense of course, gender differences are to be expected and valued. Men and women may be equal but they are certainly not the same nor would this be desirable. For example, the whole basis of gender is sex. By definition, sex requires gender differentiation in biological and evolutionary terms. The psychology of sexual attraction can only continue to be based upon the age-old allure and excitement of difference in gender image and identity. Even homosexual couples differentiate themselves according to more “masculine” and “feminine” types. However, many observed gender differences (including the suicide rate, addiction rate and the crime rate) are not so acceptable. Why should one gender be apparently so much more extreme or desperate in its behaviours than the other?

Explanations for these and other important questions will not so easily be forthcoming without an active impetus from the body responsible for leading on psychological science, teaching and research in the UK, the BPS. A section could help to provide a much needed impetus and profile to the study of gender issues from the male perspective.
Given that the whole academic culture surrounding the study of gender has derived so much impetus from feminist thinking and activism, there has been an understandable lack of research into gender from the male perspective. This imbalance also (ironically) has been further reinforced by a real difference in the genders in their capacity to expose vulnerabilities, reflect on feelings and express personal needs. Men do not like to dwell too much on “what it feels like to be a man” as this in itself could be said to threaten a sense of masculine identity. This has undoubtedly also led to the relative lack of male-on-male research and writing. Of course, there are notable publications (mostly in the USA) on the subject of male psychology (9) but there is as yet no comprehensive mainstream body of knowledge on male gender issues that can compare to feminist scholarship.
There is already widespread support across the BPS for such a section
Conclusions:
Psychological science at its best should fulfill the role of investigating, studying and illuminating the full spectrum and diversity of the human condition.
The psychology of the male gender remains to this day a significantly less charted area of academic study than the psychology of the female gender. This is partly because as a “dominant” group, men have not appeared either to themselves or to women to be an urgent subject of study.
Also, it is arguably a characteristic of the male gender to be less reflective and psychologically minded and this may also partly account for the fact that there has so far been no great body of male scholarship on the subject of male psychology.
If anything, the initiative in closing this gap has so far been taken more by a certain subsection of feminist thinkers and writers than by male authors.
The formation of a new men’s section within the British Psychological Society would help to close this gap further within the UK at least and would help to advance our knowledge of male psychology.
This would in turn give a lead to other groups within society and would contribute to a more balanced and comprehensive understanding of both genders and their inter-relationship for the betterment of all.
References:
Bronstein, P. and Quina, K. (Eds.) (1988) “Teaching a psychology of people: Resources for Gender and Sociocultural Awareness” – Washington DC, American Psychological Association
According to the Office for National Statistics (2007, Mortality Statistics, Series DH2, No. 32) in 2005 the suicide rate for men (averaged across all age groups) was 12.3 per 100,000, exactly 3 times higher than that for women (4.1 per 100,000).
The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (October 2009) show that in England the average life expectancy for men is 77.7 years and for women 81.9 years, a gender gap of more than 4 years
Tobacco, Alcohol & Drug Use & Mental Health: Report based on ONS Survey, Coulthard et al (2000)
Single Homelessness: An Overview of Research in Britain. Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Peter Kemp and Susanne Klinker (2000) The Policy Press and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
In 2003 males made up 94% of the total prison population in the UK (Office for National Statistics)
Vamps & Tramps (1994), Vintage Books
Save the Males: Why Men Matter, Why Women Should Care (2008), Random House Books (New York)
See under “further references” below
Further References:
Ashmore, R.D. & Del Bosa, F.K. (Eds.) (1985) Social Psychology of Male-Female Relations: A Critical Analysis of Central Concepts, Elsevier Books
Biddulph, S. (1995) Manhood, an Action Plan for Changing Men’s Lives (2nd Edition),
Finch, SydneyBly, R. (1990) Iron John: A Book about Men, Addison-Wesley, New York
Clare, A. (2000) On Men: Masculinity in Crisis, Chatto & Windus
Connell, R.W (1995) Masculinities, University of California Press
Farrell, W. (1974) The Liberated Man, New York, Berkley Books
Farrell, W. (1988) Why Men are the Way they Are: the Male-Female Dynamic, New York, Berkley Books
Farrell, W. (2001) The Myth of Male Power: Why Men are the Disposable Sex, New York, Berkley Books
Gray, J. (1992) Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, Harper Collins
Jukes, A. E. (1999) Men who Batter Women, Routledge
Kimmel, M, Hearn, J.R & Connell, R.W (2005) Handbook of Studies on Men and Masculinities, Sage
Pollack, W. (2003) A New Psychology of Men, Basic Books
Samuels, A. (ed.) (1985) The Father: Contemporary Jungian Perspectives, London, Free Association Books
Schoenberg, B. Mark (1993) Growing Up Male: The Psychology of Masculinity, Bergin & Garvey
Shamir, M. & Travis, J. (2002) Boys Don’t Cry? Rethinking Narratives of Masculinity & Emotion in the US, Columbia University Press
Trowell, J. & Etchegoyen, A. (2001) The Importance of Fathers: A Psychoanalytic Re-evaluation (Series -The New Library of Psychoanalysis, 42), Taylor & Francis
* Martin Seager is a consultant clinical psychologist and head of psychology at North East London Mental Health Trust

UK-Only - Is oral sex safe? A documentary about men missing out on essential vaccine

2011-02-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

Actress Jaime Winstone lifts the lid on the little-known oropharyngeal cancer, caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) which can be caught through having oral sex.

Darren was diagnosed with oropharyngeal cancer, a rare form of mouth cancer, at the age of only 31. But that wasn't the only shocking news that he had to deal with. Most oral cancers are caused by smoking or drinking, but Darren's was caused by the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which is sexually transmitted. Darren had caught it through having oral sex. New research shows that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of HPV-related oral cancers amongst young people.

Jaime Winstone sets out to discover why the statistics are rising and whether anything can be done to stop this trend. Sadly, she has an intimate relationship with cancer - as filming began, her close friend Paul died from pancreatic cancer aged only 26. Whilst his cancer wasn't preventable, Darren's was.

HPV is recognised as the cause of cervical cancer in women and so, two years ago, the government introduced a national vaccination programme for teenage girls. But if a vaccine exists, why isn't it also given to boys to protect them from developing HPV-related cancers? Although this oral cancer is still relatively rare, the HP virus is common, with an estimated 80 per cent of adults having it, without any symptoms, during their lives.

Jaime's journey takes her to meet Dr Margaret Stanley, an expert on HPV and Professor Hisham Mehanna, a head and neck specialist at University Hospital, Coventry whose research has shown an increase in HPV-related oral cancers. Jaime talks to teenage boys about what they know of HPV and to teenage girls about why they are reluctant to get the freely available vaccine, before confronting the Department of Health over why they currently don't vaccinate boys as well as girls on the NHS.
Part of the Dangerous Pleasures season on BBC Three.

I was actually expecting to hear how it's all boys' own fault that they're missing out on essential vaccines that could save them from cancer. Surprisingly, it wasn't.

Instead, a young lady discusses the loss of a friend of hers who DJ'd for a living. While he died of colon cancer, she recognised that boys were being ignored for the HPV jab. She visits a young couple with a daughter and a son and asks how they feel about the fact their son is discriminated against. This was actually a pretty eye-opening documentary and I recommend watching it for anyone in the UK (or with a good proxy).

Domestic Violence is NOT physical comedy

2011-02-22T13:27:00.000-08:00

A recent Pepsi commercial has created a quite a stir on the internet. Apparently women abusing men in a marriage didn’t go over as well as they planned. Everyone from the False Rape Society to NPR has been rather angry about this. Still the world is not in complete agreement. The core belief behind the opposing argument is “so now any time a man gets hurt it is domestic violence or misandry? Whatever happened to physical comedy?”

You would think this would be a clear cut case. The woman is physically harming her husband because she doesn’t like the way he is behaving. In order to correct the way he acts he has to get kicked, shoved into a pie, and has a bar of soap shoved into his mouth. With a bit of bad luck he would have been hit in the head with a can as well.

And yes, you are expected to laugh at this.

Still on a broader level, there is a point to be made. Do physical comedy and sexism overlap? In the media for some reason they do, but if you take a step back it is easy to clarify. There is quite a bit of “humor” found it men getting slapped around by women for doing stupid things. Boyfriends are hit by girlfriends, husbands are pummeled by wives, and girls beat the living daylights out of boys. Sometimes it is adults that end up hurting each other (The episode of Everybody Loves Raymond where they are selling the Girl Scout cookies and Raymond gets beaten up and his wife has to save him).

I look at this in the same way as I see the Pepsi ad. The physical harm is meant for correctional purposes.

When we try to reshape people’s behavior in real life and we see them being physically harmed it qualifies as abuse. It’s a basic aspect of positive punishment in the psychological concept of operant conditioning. Increase the burden and pain on someone and their behavior will change out of fear. It’s a simple concept that is rather nasty in its most extremes.

This is a key aspect of misandric physical comedy. When it is meant to correct behavior, especially in a relationship, it is straight up abuse. But somehow if you put it in a situation comedy and add a laugh track, you have a classic scene that people will remember for years. It may even be a key point in winning you an Emmy!

This is abuse, and it is not funny.

Now what qualifies as physical comedy that is not abuse?

Womens Aid Well Paid Jobs

2011-02-16T08:53:00.000-08:00

WOMEN'S AID NATIONAL OFFICE (BRISTOL)

Women’s Aid is the national domestic violence charity, which co-ordinates an England-wide network of over 500 local domestic and sexual violence services, and campaigns to end violence against women and children. This is an exciting opportunity to join our team. We have the following vacancy:

24 Hour National Domestic Violence Helpline run in partnership between Women’s Aid and Refuge

Helpline Shift Support Worker

Women’s Aid are recruiting for a Helpline Shift Support Worker to work on the Freephone 24 Hour National Domestic Violence Helpline, based in Bristol.

Can you help provide a vital lifeline to women experiencing domestic violence?
With relevant experience of providing support and information services for people in need, excellent telephone skills and an understanding of domestic violence, you will need to be able to respond effectively and sensitively to calls from a wide range of people. The National Domestic Violence Helpline operates on a 24/7 basis using a rotating shift pattern.

Hours: 31 per week worked in a variable shift pattern covering 24/7 that includes Bank Holidays, weekends and overnights.

Salary pay scales 25 - 29: £21,519 - £24,646 pro rata

Closing date for applications: 9 am, 18th February 2011
Interviews will be held on 25th February 2011
For an application pack, please email recruitment@womensaid.org.uk

Women only need apply (Section 7 (ii) SDA 1975). Women’s Aid is committed to quality, equality and valuing diversity. Applications are particularly welcome from black and minority ethnic women. Registered charity no: 1054154

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PETERBOROUGH WOMEN'S AID

Child Support Worker (female) Maternity Cover - 35 hours per week - £18323 per annum

An exciting role within a local specialist group working with women and children who are affected by domestic violence.

You will need a NVQ Level 3 Child Care qualification or equivalent and be able to plan and deliver play sessions and other activities. You will need the ability to offer individual support plans and a knowledge of domestic violence issues would be an advantage. This position will require excellent organisational skills and an ability to prioritize.

Post open to women only under the Sex Discrimination Act 1975s7(2)(d)S7(2)(e)

Closing date: 4th March 2011
For application packs please email pw_aid@btconnect.com. or telephone enquiries to 01733 847926

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AYLESBURY WOMEN’S AID

OUTREACH CO-ORDINATOR full time (initially 1 year contract) required to manage the Outreach service which offers information, support and advocacy to women experiencing crisis as a result of domestic violence.

The post requires that applicants have

• 2 years relevant experience
• An ability to work from a feminist perspective
• A clear understanding of the issue of violence against women
• The ability to drive and have the use of a car

Salary: £26,276,472 - £28,636 (NJC points 31 – 34)
Closing date for applications: Friday 11th March 2011

For further information and/or an application pack please ring 01296 436827 or email denise@awaid.demon.co.uk to receive the pack electronically.

This post will be subject to an enhanced CRB check and open to Women only. (Advertised in accordance with the Sex Discrimination Act 1975, Section 7(2)

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SIGNHEALTH

This is a fantastic opportunity to be a key part of an exciting new project from SignHealth, the pioneering Healthcare Charity for Deaf People. We are creating Young DeafHope, the UK’s first project working to prevent bullying, domestic abuse and sexual abuse of young Deaf people, (a sister project to DeafHope, the UK’s first project helping Deaf victims of domestic abuse). The pilot project will deliver workshops to young Deaf people in Deaf schools and Hearing Impairment Units in London and the South East, building to a national roll-out.

Female* Project Manager for Young DeafHope project
£28,000 to £32,000 pa pro rata plus London Weighting
(dependent on experience)

Three year contract. Nominally based in South London.
Initially part-time (3 days per week). Potential to increase to full-time, dependent on external funding being received by SignHealth charity

You are a woman* who uses BSL as your first language (or to CACDP Level II), and are actively involved in Deaf culture. You have superb communication and team-building skills, and can work independently or as part of a team. You have experience of working with Deaf children or young adults and have strong empathy with them, quickly building rapport with young people of differing communication needs. Ideally you have experience of developing and delivering training workshops to young people. Deaf youngsters will look to you as a role model.

If this is you, we want to meet you.

Female* Support Worker for Young DeafHope project
£20,000 to £24,000 pa pro rata plus London Weighting
(dependent on experience)

Three year contract. Nominally based in South London.
Initially part-time (2 days per week). Potential to increase to full-time, dependent on external funding being received by SignHealth charity

You are a woman* who uses BSL as your first language (or to CACDP Level II), and are actively involved in Deaf culture. You have superb communication skills, and work well as part of a team but can take initiative when needed. You have experience of working with Deaf children or young adults and have strong empathy with them, quickly building rapport with young people of differing communication needs. Ideally you have experience of delivering training workshops to young people.

If this is you, we want to meet you.

To apply for either of these positions please send an Application Form, Equality Form, Pre-medical questionnaire, CV, and covering letter to SignHealth, 5 Baring Road, Beaconsfield, Bucks HP9 2NB
Email info@signhealth.org.uk in case of any queries.

Forms and further information about Young DeafHope, and SignHealth’s other activities can be downloaded from our website at www.signhealth.org.uk

Applications from D/deaf people are strongly encouraged.
The successful candidate will be subject to a Criminal Records Bureau Disclosure at an enhanced level & Independent Safeguarding Adults clearance.

* The requirement for this role to be female-only is an Occupational Requirement to achieve a Legitimate Aim in the personal welfare or educational services field within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010.

Closing Date: 23rd Feb 2011
Interviews will be held on 2nd and 3rd March 2011

Registered Charity No. 1011056

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SOLACE WOMEN'S AID

Solace Women's Aid is dedicated to providing a full range of services for women and their children, enabling them to live lives free from domestic and sexual violence.

Counselling Co-ordinator: Domestic and Sexual Violence Service 22.5 hrs pw
You will work closely with our counselling services manager to support the day to day running of our very busy specialist service. Your role comprises the provision of regular clinical supervision to our team of counsellors alongside the assessment and allocation of clients into the service.
Salary: NCJ scale point 30-32 (£28,770 - £30,345 pro rata) Fixed term contract until October 2012

CLOSING DATE: 21st February 2011
INTERVIEW DATE: 1st March 2011
CONTACT DETAILS: For information & application pack (we do not accept CVs) ring Maureen Giles or Pat Shillong on 020 7619 1350 or email info@solacewomensaid.org

Section 7(2)e of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 apply. These posts are exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 and subject to a CRB disclosure check.

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EAVES HOUSING

VOLUNTEER/INTERN OPPORTUNITY

Corporate Fundraising Volunteer

A new volunteer role has arisen for a Corporate Fundraising Volunteer. Working closely with the Corporate Fundraiser, your role will involve assisting with the organisation of charity events and in-kind donations which will include face-to- face meetings with businesses, undertaking some administration duties including inputting on our databases and some research.

You will be proactive, flexible and organised and have the ability to work on your own initiative and as part of a team. You will be working with people from a variety of backgrounds so good communication and interpersonal skills are essential.

This is an exciting role and would be ideal for a hardworking individual looking to build on their fundraising/events experience.

To be of mutual benefit we would expect the successful applicant to be able to commit to working at least 3 days a week ideally until mid June. Your support will be needed mainly during office hours, which are 9.30 to 5.30.

Due to the sensitive nature of our work, an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check is required, which Eaves can obtain for on your behalf.

You can find out more about Eaves and its projects, and also download the recruitment pack, by visiting www.eaves4women.co.uk. You can also obtain an application pack by emailing recruitment@eaveshousing.co.uk or calling 020 7840 7124 (please state clearly the volunteer position you are applying for).

Eaves is a feminist organisation, committed to equality of opportunity and encourages applications from all sectors of the community.

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EAVES HOUSING

VOLUNTEER/INTERN OPPORTUNITY

Communications Assistant Volunteer

A new role of a volunteer/intern Communications Assistant has arisen. The role will be suitable for anyone who has experience of working within a communications setting or is studying in a related field – for example journalism.

The main purpose of the role will be to provide support to Eaves Communications and Fundraising Manager across media and publications work. This will involve updating a directory of contacts, empowering service users to write their own newsletter, updating media contacts database and assisting with the production and preparation of marketing materials, events and media work.

To be of mutual benefit we would expect the successful applicant to be able to commit to working two – three days per week on an ongoing basis. Your support will be needed mainly during office hours, which are 9.30 to 5.30.

Due to the sensitive nature of our work, this role is for a woman in accordance with Schedule 9, part 1 of the Equality Act 2010. An enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check is required, which Eaves can obtain on your behalf.

You can find out more about Eaves and its projects, and also download the recruitment pack, by visiting www.eaves4women.co.uk. You can also obtain an application pack by emailing recruitment@eaveshousing.co.uk or calling 020 7840 7124 (please state clearly the volunteer position you are applying for).

Eaves is a feminist organisation, committed to equality of opportunity and encourages applications from all sectors of the community.

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SURVIVE

In-house Bookkeeper for Survive (part time)
(female only*)

Survive is an innovative, dynamic and well respected charity which works with women and children who have experienced domestic abuse in South Glos and Bristol. We are looking for a permanent, part time bookkeeper to prepare for and produce monthly management accounts and run our payroll. You will be proficient in using SAGE and Excel and will provide support to the admin and managerial staff to enable them to manage and access budgets and prepare for audit. Ideally you will be AAT qualified. Survive has a committed and friendly team of 17 who provide a wide range of front line and managerial services in a main office and across three refuges. The post is for 13 hours a week at £ 17,466 pro rata + pension. Applications only accepted on the form available on our website www.survivedv.org.uk Enquiries 0117 9613065

Closing date: 12pm Wednesday 23rd February. Interviews: Friday 4th March.
Survive is committed to equality of opportunity in all aspects of our work.
* Women only - section 7 (2) of 1975 Sex Discrimination Act applies.
Charity No. 1114005

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the nia project

the nia project provides a wide range of services for women and children who have experienced domestic violence and other forms of gender violence.

The organisation is now recruiting for the following Maternity cover posts within the Children and Young Peoples Service.

Family Learning Project

1 x Family Learning Worker
Full time (35hrs/week)
Maternity Cover until 22nd April 2011 - Fixed Term Contract.
Based in Hackney (with travel across London required)
Salary Range: (35 hrs/week) (25,301 - £27,724

We are delivering a pan-London Family Learning Project working with mothers/carers and their children (0-16 yrs) from Black, minority ethnic and refugee communities who have been affected by domestic violence. Family learning opportunities will be offered to enable mothers/carers and their children to learn together, developing new skills such as cookery, crafts and IT, whilst also developing parenting skills.

The Family Learning Worker will work with the Family Learning Team, across London, delivering a range of programmes and workshops. Job share arrangements for this post will be considered.

Family Support Project

1 x Family Support Worker
Full Time (35hrs/week)
Maternity Cover until 20th May 2011- Fixed Term contract
Based in Hackney and Haringey including some evenings
Salary Range: (25,301 - £27,724)

We are seeking an experienced practitioner who will provide direct support to children affected by violence against women through the provision of play-based groups, including early years play sessions (6 months – 5 years) and holiday playscheme’s (5-16 years) and to provide 1:1 support and advocacy for mothers/carers and young people affected by violence against women. This will include support with parenting as well as practical and emotional support. Job share arrangements for this post will be considered.

Information for above posts:

Female applicants only. Section 7(2) (e) of the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act applies to all posts.

These posts will be subject to an enhanced Disclosure from the Criminal Records Bureau

Closing Date: 5pm, Thursday 17 February 2011

To apply for any of the above posts you can download an application pack from our website: www.niaproject.info, or contact the Admin Line on 0207 683 1270.
CV’s will not be accepted.

the nia project is an equal opportunities employer and welcomes applications from all sectors of the community. We are members of Women’s Aid Federation, England.

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BLUECARE - IDVA VACANCY (London)

My client is seeking a independent domestic violence advocate who is a compassionate and supportive individual with strong advocacy skills.

The service itself provides victims of domestic violence support and guidance in taking measures to safe guard themselves. The role will involve managing a case load of high risk complex cases and requires a pro-active and organised individual.

The successful candidate must have experience working within MARAC framework and ideally be CAADA trained. Previous experience as an independent domestic violence advocate is preferable however we will welcome applications from candidates demonstrating experience managing high risk cases in a multi-agency setting.

Closing date: 19th February

If you would like to apply for this position or would like any more information please send your CV to paul.coulson@bluecare.co.uk. Or call on 0207 861 8918.

I also have positions available in refuge, outreach and floating support as well as Substance Misuse and Criminal Justice in the London area. If you would like to apply to any of the above please send your CV to paul.coulson@bluecare.co.uk

MARAC

2011-02-11T09:03:00.001-08:00

THE MARAC

What is a Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC)?

The main aim of the MARAC is to reduce the risk of serious harm or homicide for a victim and to increase the safety, health, and wellbeing of victims - adults and children. In a MARAC, local agencies will meet to discuss the highest risk victims of domestic abuse in their area. Information about the risks faced by those victims, the actions needed to ensure safety, and the resources available locally are shared and used to create a risk management plan involving all agencies.

MARACs

The MARAC will help ensure that high risk victims are supported and better protected from further abuse by a coordinated effort from all agencies and organisations. The views of the victim are taken into account by the meeting and there is close liaison where possible, between the victim and partner agencies to ensure that the safety plan is indeed safe. The MARAC helps high risk victims access more resources locally, helps build relationships with local agencies and impacts on the core purpose of the MARAC which is to reduce repeat victimisation and ensure that robust safety planning for and with the victim is undertaken.

'The MARAC provides a valuable opportunity to share the information which other agencies may have in an appropriate manner, which will assist to determine the true extent of risk to the victim and any children, ensuring a more effective safety plan.'

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Why do representatives from different agencies attend?

The MARAC allows the views of the victim to be put forward and each agency share the information they have to enable a picture of the level of risk. This ensures that there is a coordinated response and ensures that appropriate resources are offered by partner agencies. The kind of partnership working and efficient and effective information sharing at MARAC would not be achievable if it weren't for the meeting, it is therefore crucial that every agency attends to give their expert opinion on domestic violence, share the up-to-date information they have, and act as a link between the victim and the MARAC agencies.

What cases are discussed?

The highest risk cases of domestic abuse are discussed in the MARAC. These will have been identified by a practitioner from any agency using an recognised and evaluated risk assessment tool. This may include cases of extended family violence including so-called 'honour' based violence.

What information should each agency bring?

Each agency should bring any relevant information from/about the victims case that would help the MARAC to create a safe and effective risk management plan. This could include information on level of risk, barriers to accessing support for the victim, wishes of the victim (for example wishing to be re-housed locally), any upcoming appointments and content of previous contacts. In North Lincolnshire we have two posts known as IDVA and they work specifically if high risk victims of domestic violence. We have found that the victim will generally disclose more details around the abuse to the IDVA than to any other agency; this may present the IDVA with difficult decisions on disclosure where the wishes of the client might conflict with what may help assure their safety. It is therefore crucial that the IDVA attend the MARAC to ensure the action plan is as safe as possible.

What actions can we offer?

The actions offered by agencies will usually reflect work that is already being undertaken with the victim. This will involve supporting the victim through crisis, discussing options, supporting through criminal/civil process, assisting with housing options, risk assessment and safety planning with the victim and signposting on to other services.

What are the legal grounds for sharing information where consent is not given?

Disclosures to MARAC are made under the Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act. Information can be shared when it is necessary to prevent a crime, protect the health and/or safety of the victim and/or the rights and freedoms of those who are victims of violence and/or their children. It must be proportionate to the level of risk of harm to a named individual or known household. For further information on the FAQ's on disclosure of information at MARAC available at www.caada.org.uk. The principle that underpins MARAC is that the threshold of risk is so high that consent is not legally necessary from the victim to share info. In practise, having the victims support for their process will almost always lead to a more successful outcome.

Does the victim need to know they are being discussed at MARAC?

Yes. Whether each agency discusses the MARAC with their client will depend on whether they believe it is safe to do so, or whether it would put the victim or any other party at greater risk. It is good practice to contact the victim before the MARAC to gather information on what the currect situation is and what the victim wants.

After the MARAC

The outcome of the MARAC should be fed back to the victim. If a further incident occurs, then the case should be referred back in order that the level of risk can be reassessed.

Domestic violence policy is a 'war on men' claims Tory

2011-01-28T05:02:00.000-08:00

Published on Fri Dec 17 10:23:47 GMT 2010

A TORY councillor has vowed not to campaign for his party until it reverses a policy designed to combat domestic violence.

Portsmouth City Councillor James Williams (pictured) announced he will not work for the Tories outside his own Nelson ward unless it withdraws the new 'Go' orders.

The orders give senior police officers on-the-spot rights to remove men suspected of committing acts of domestic abuse from their homes for 48 hours. Courts can then extend that to two weeks.

The policy was designed by the last Labour government, but is now being piloted in three areas of the UK by Home Secretary Theresa May. There is no equivalent policy aimed at women. Cllr Williams says the orders challenge freedom and are part of a feminist war on men.

'As an elected Conservative councillor, I am ashamed Theresa May has chosen to adopt totalitarian methods in the ongoing war against men by the feminist movement,' he said.

'I shall not take part in any election campaign for the Conservatives outside my own ward until this vile sexist legislation is removed.'

He added: 'This is a Stalinist policy and goes against everything I believe in as a Conservative.

'I am in the party because I believe in freedom and fairness, and this policy is the opposite.

'Domestic violence, both physical and emotional, is a very serious problem, but this policy gives police the power to act as judge and jury, kicking men out of their homes.

'What if a woman alleges domestic abuse even if none has happened? It's unfair that this policy will deprive men from seeing their children even if they've done nothing wrong.'

Nicki Youern, chief exec of YOU, which runs Portsmouth's women's refuge, said: 'It's a little early to make definite judgments on this policy.

'We don't know what effect it will have and it is only being piloted at the moment. But it may help to protect vulnerable women and children from violence.'

Councillor Donna Jones, chairwoman of Portsmouth North Conservative party, said: 'He has told us his position and we have accepted it.'

Mens Policy Forum

2011-01-28T04:57:00.000-08:00

Two members of MensAid NI, attended a Mens Policy Forum at the NICVA offices. This was a very informative meeting and a chance to network with other groups.

Our knowledge of Family Law issues and constant campaigning for equality of male victims of domestic abuse went down well. We are taking on a case where a man has suffered extreme Domestic Abuse, severe failings of Social Services and has been prevented contact with his children.

Our next meeting is in April, where ideas will be put forward in reference Mens Health week in June.

Cost of domestic violence

2011-01-05T12:32:00.000-08:00

Womens Aid have put these financial costings on their webiste. What they havent stated is that if these are the true costs of DA, then this includes males within these costs, as being the victim.

Yet millions are pumped into assisting women, pennies pumped into assisting men.

What is the cost of domestic violence?

The estimated total cost of domestic violence to society in monetary terms is £23 billion per annum. This figure includes an estimated £3.1 billion as the cost to the state and £1.3 billion as the cost to employers and human suffering cost of £17 billion. (Walby 2004). The estimated total cost is based on the following:
• The cost to the criminal justice system is £1 billion per annum. (This represents one quarter of the criminal justice budget for violent crime including the cost of homicide to adult women annually of £112 million).
• The cost of physical healthcare treatment resulting from domestic violence, (including hospital, GP, ambulance, prescriptions) is £1,220,247,000, i.e. 3% of total NHS budget.
• The cost of treating mental illness and distress due to domestic violence is £176,000,000.
• The cost to the social services is £0.25 billion.
• Housing costs are estimated at £0.16 billion.
• The cost of civil legal services due to domestic violence is £0.3billion.
The statistics collated by Walby above are recognised as an under-estimate because public services don't collect information on the extent to which their services are used as a result of domestic violence. The research doesn't include costs to those areas for which it was difficult to collect any baseline information - for example cost to social services work with vulnerable adults, cost to education services, the human cost to children (including moving schools and the impact this has on their education), and it excludes the cost of therapeutic and other support within the voluntary sector.
The cost of domestic homicide is estimated by the Home Office at over one million pounds: a total of £1, 097, 330 for each death, or £112 million per year

New service provides help for men in crisis

2010-11-30T07:20:00.000-08:00

New service provides help for men in crisis

Published Date: 29 November 2010

A NEW group providing support services to men in crisis has been formed in Northern Ireland.

Mensaid NI claims men here are being disadvantaged in many areas of health, social welfare, housing and the family courts.

The new group will also offer victim support services to men
who are suffering all forms of abuse in domestic situations.

Although the province's well-documented domestic violence inflicted on women is the source of much concern, Pete Morris of Mensaid said there are also male victims being damaged who fear losing their children if they can't persevere.

Mr Morris said: "Because society expects men to live up to some kind
of macho image, it is unbelieveably diffcult for men who suffer psychological or physical abuse in
the home to seek help.

"For anyone who's never experienced it it's hard to explain, but when a man reaches the point where he can't take anymore, it's only then that he confronts the reality that the mother of his children holds every ace in the pack."

The group's spokesman said they have "hit the ground running" and have already had face-to-face meetings with various Stormont departments and committees, the housing executive and several family law experts.

"The lengths some fathers have to go to have any contact at all with
their children is beyond belief and that is why many abused men try
to put up with their situation," Mr Morris said.

Parental alienation is the term used for the greatest fear of those fathers who have a strong bond with their children but fnd themselves
facing a family break-up.

Mr Morris said: "We have been contacted by men who face all kinds of diffculties, but parental alienation – the bond between them and their children being broken while they fight for access through the courts – is one of the worst.

Another is the fnancial hardship of the maintenance payments which
are sometimes impossible to meet by the time someone pays for a roof
over their head."

Mensaid is currently seeking funding to establish a drop-in centre and eventually aims to provide a refuge for male victims of domestic abuse.

Further information is available via the website www.mensaidni.co.uk or by contacting 07512462375.

Meeting with CMED Officials

2010-11-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

Today, I attended a meeting with John Miller Operations manager CMED, Denise Ferguson Business development Directorate and Gerry Boyle Head of Benefit Secruity Services.

The background to this meeting was to act for men who have contacted us via RFFJ. Brief of meeting below,

Today the attendees at the meeting were myself ( RFFJ ) two men with
horrific cases, Jim Curran and Leslie Ardler.

From CMED was John Miller ( Operations ), Denise Ferguson
( Business Development Directorate ) and Gerry Boyle ( Head of
Benefits Security Services )
We began by introductions and highlighted issues we were there to raise.

Issues

Blackmailing of men
Two separate systems
Loss of correspondence ( Postal system within CMED)
Housing costs within assessments
Arrears collections
Legislation
Advertising

We raised the issue of Blackmailing, where a man was told to drop his
appeal or CMED "would come back ten times harder on him". John Millar
was astounded to hear this and explained that the staff member has
concerned has no remit for such. We had a debate over the term
"blackmail" whereby John said it was a very defamatory term. I put it
to him to answer what this treatment was: Blackmail or intimidation,
regardless of which ever, it constitutes a criminal offence on behalf
of staff member.

Leslie presented himself as the being the person who was
"blackmailed". John listened to him and gave his word that he would
look into this matter and call him personally on Friday.

John explained the CMED, from the initial CSA. The IT system used is
one derived within GB. For N Ireland to implement their own would cost
millions, so this system is used here. He admits that GB got it wrong
and that this system was not the best.

In 2003, it changed to the CORN system. This system is based on
percentages ie first child-non resident pays 15% of salary, 2nd
child-20%, 3 or more children is 25%. Currently, there are 35,500
cases within CMED. 13000 on the live system have been assessed to pay
NO maintenance, 15000 pay full maintenance, with the remaining 7000
not paying. The current outstanding debt is £80 million. This is from
17 years previous to date.

Several changes have been implemented within CMED, of which people are
not aware of. Where a resident parent claims benefits then maintenance
payments from non resident parent are paid to them. This means the
payments do not affect the benefits and not taken into account as an
income.

Non resident parent has their assessment based on a period of time,
usually 3 months salary. We highlighted cases where people have
commissioned based incomes and these vary throughout the year, thus
meaning an assessment within their busiest time makes a high
maintenance payment, which continues for the year. When these people
have reduced commission at quiet times, it is hear that they suffer
financially as assessment does not change, and same payments are
required.

This will be fixed with a new system which is coming in in 2011. This
system will see the current two systems put onto one, with the
earliest people on the old system being transferred onto it first.
This system is based through HMRC, which means assessments will be
done through their data, which in turn should help people with
commissioned based pay.

Initially, two systems were meant to be amalgamated, but the GB
Government went against it.

I highlighted cases where arrears are collected, which cause severe
hardship. These arrears are from men who are WILLING to pay, but seek
fairness in doing so. An example is :

Earn £800
Rent £400
CMED take £400

Leaving zero balance living costs.

I explained that this needs addresses as men are losing their homes. I
proposed a set rate scale for arrears: £800 per month take home the
CMED collect 20%, for every further £500 then payments increase 5%.
This would ensure CMED collect SOME arrears yet still allow person to
cover rent, living costs. This proposal was listened to as was how men
are losing homes through CMED. The current legislation governing CMED
does NOT allow for housing costs to be taken into account within an
assessment. We highlighted our intention to challenge this
legislation.

Leading on from this was the staff attitude to men " not my problem",
"don't care" etc when men highlight the difficulties they are going to
face with required payment requests. John Miller has said he will
speak with staff, and after I proposed more customer care focused
training, Denise pointed out that there is a training programme about
to be implemented.

Ref Lost correspondence. I asked John how their postal system works.
He explained that when post arrives at CMED office, it is logged on a
system as being their, thereafter handed out to relevant department. I
asked for a system to be put in place whereby the department receiving
items ALSO signs for receiving such. This would ensure a paper trail
of all correspondence and, we feel, would rule a lot of the " didn't
receive" comments.

There are 4 business departments within CMED, with each having a part
within each case. There is no "one case officer" who oversees each
case before payment requests go out. I asked if this could be adapted
into their system.

Another issue raised, was the lack of understanding of CMED and how to
work with CMED by men after a break up. We highlighted how a lot of
men have paid in person to ex partner, but then ex partner then denies
such , causing CMED to chase father for thousands in arrears. I
brought up the possibility of the CMED being prosecuted under Article
14 ( Discrimination ) of the Human Rights Act, as they have been
accepting the word of an ex partner over the word of a father. I will
explain this.

Father pays for some time, in person to mother of child. For whatever
reason, mother then tells CMED that she received nothing in person.
CMED accept this and pursue father. Father tells CMED he did pay, but
they ignore him. Thus taking females word. I advised that ALL
allegations of previous person to person payments have to be
investigated fully by CMED. It is not up to the father to prove
himself, it is up to CMED to use all resources to verify what he says.
They must STOP accepting the word of a mother over a father as this
clearly breaches afore said HR ACt.

There is a department within CMED, known as the CMISS or Child
Maintenance Information and Support Service. This service is set up
alongside the Family Court Mediation service, whereby if two parties
can come to an agreement, CMISS will write up a contract like document
which both will sign, and CMED will not become involved. The agreement
can be as simple as one parent getting uniforms, paying for trips etc.
As long as both are happy, then CMED will not be involved.

This is an excellent system, and will rule out past issues of personal
payments being denied. I am fully supportive of this system and have
asked for literature to display. I also asked Denise to have
literature placed in Family Courts as this is where most CMED cases
emanate.

Denise mentioned several groups wre involved in consultation, but men
wre not supported. She found it hard to find mens groups, and hard to
contact men's groups. We have gave our commitment to fill this gap and
work with CMED and CMISS. New advertising of their service will be
forthcoming in the New Year as well as presentations to Law Society,
Solicitors, etc. They also want to present this service to midwifes,
nurses etc so the vast majority of the community can be advised
throughout all services.

I highlighted to John, that we wre planning to protest outside CMED in
Belfast, due the conduct of their staff to men, and publicly name
staff concerned. I also explained the context of our banner we had
printed for this, but advised him that we refrained to give CMED to
take our issues on board seriously. The two people with me have been
told by John that he will look at their cases, which for me was a
great effort on his part, and a relief to the guys in question, as one
is the one who was blackmailed into dropping an appeal and now faces
losing his home.

Gerry Boyle kept trying to pass issues to the SSA Policy Department,
but after several attempts, he finally realised where we were coming
from in relation to frauds. His retort was to say any person who has
claimed benefit when they shouldn't, will be asked for payments back.
This is in reference to people continuing to claim Child Benefit after
losing child. Other benefits fall in line with Child Benefit. I asked
Gerry for his department to push forward with us for Court Issued
Benefits Order, whereby a new resident parent can get this Order and
present to benefits office. Thus cutting out waiting times on
investigations, investigating entitlement etc. He again wishes to pass
this to policy department, which we will gladly put to them

All in all, this was a very good meeting. I am happy with responses,
and I will take Johns word on his commitments. Meeting Denise was an
excellent opportunity as we can advise men on a lot of changes to
system, and the proposed system for 2011. We will also, when John
forwards the legislation to me, challenge the legislation governing
CMED to get them to include housing costs in assessments.

We now have a contact, highly placed within CMED, whom we can
highlight any cases of ill treatment to. We also have a contact within
the Business side of CMED whom will keep us informed of new changes.

Abused Men In Scotland - Time for a change

2010-10-15T10:48:00.001-07:00

Abused Men In Scotland - Time for a change

New charity set up to assist male victims of domestic abuse.

Dewar Research - PUBLICATIONS

2010-10-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

Dewar Research - PUBLICATIONS

REFERENCES EXAMINING ASSAULTS BY WOMEN ON THEIR SPOUSES OR MALE PARTNERS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

2010-10-15T10:47:00.000-07:00

REFERENCES EXAMINING ASSAULTS BY WOMEN ON THEIR SPOUSES OR MALE PARTNERS: AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Human Rights & Professional Standards Committee to focus on high crime rates of domestic abuse

2010-10-07T13:07:00.000-07:00

OCTOBER 7, 2010 · POSTED IN CRIME, MY WORK AS AN MLA, POLICING, POLITICS

Basil McCrea hosting Women's Aid 30th Birthday at Stormont earlier this year

Ulster Unionist Policing Board member and Chair of the Board’s Human Rights and Professional Standards Committee Basil McCrea MLA has voiced his concern in relation to new figures which highlight the level of crimes committed with a domestic abuse motivation.

Commenting on the issue Basil said: “According to recently published PSNI statistics over 9% of all crimes recorded in Northern Ireland are crimes with a domestic abuse motivation. This is hugely worrying.

Of particular concern is the fact that 24.3% of murders, manslaughters and attempted murders, 36.4% of threats or conspiracies to murder and 86.1% of orders breached are in respect of crimes with a domestic abuse motivation.”

Basil will today chair the Human Rights and Professional Standards Committee meeting at Da Vinci’s Hotel, Londonderry, which is specifically concentrating on issues of domestic abuse following up on the Board’s Domestic Abuse Thematic which was published last year.

Speaking ahead of the meeting Basil said; “Issues surrounding domestic violence are extremely important and it is imperative and we strive to stamp our violence within the home and elsewhere. At this time I would like to commend Women’s Aid and all other groups involved in the fight against domestic abuse for all the hard work that they do. Together we can work together to highlight the issue and help those living with it on a daily basis.”

Domestic Violence 101: Understand the Truth, Stop the Abuse: False Allegations - National Family Rights | Examiner.com

2010-10-05T10:42:00.001-07:00

http://www.examiner.com/family-rights-in-national/domestic-violence-101-understand-the-truth-stop-the-abuse-false-allegations

Emailing: fd9b31ef-279d-4b1e-b365-b1daebd1a70e.pdf

2010-10-04T12:11:00.000-07:00

DUP and SF have failed to bring any legislation to Assembly since June.

2010-10-03T12:00:00.000-07:00

DUP and SF have failed to bring any legislation to Assembly since June.

Articles About Men- Most Men Unaware of Breast Cancer Risk in Males: Survey

2010-10-03T02:24:00.001-07:00

Check out this post: http://www.articlesaboutmen.com/2010/10/most-men-unaware-of-breast-cancer-risk-in-males-survey-911/

From the Front Line- Fatherhood on the Front Line

2010-10-01T12:45:00.001-07:00

Check out this post: http://paulabradshaw.wordpress.com/2010/09/26/fatherhood/

From the Front Line- Budget Cuts and Domestic Violence

2010-10-01T12:44:00.001-07:00

Check out this post: http://paulabradshaw.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/budget-cuts-and-domestic-violence/

Articles About Men- Male, Female brains react differently to stress, new research finds

2010-10-01T06:42:00.001-07:00

Check out this post: http://www.articlesaboutmen.com/2010/10/male-female-brains-react-differently-to-stress-new-research-finds-911/

Nearly 40% of Special Treatment Orders contained errors

2010-09-17T06:34:00.000-07:00

Nearly 40% of Special Treatment Orders contained errors

How Female Suffrage Destroyed Western Civilization

2010-09-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

How Female Suffrage Destroyed Western Civilization

by RAMZPAUL on SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

By ramzpaul

A few weeks ago Google paid homage to the ratification of the 19^thAmendment to the Constitution. The following tag was on their home page complete with a little pink checkbox that represented a woman making her choice at the ballot box.

“Celebrating 90 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing women the right to vote”

As a globalist corporation, Google does not “celebrate” various anniversaries based on the whims of some individual webmaster. Such decisions on what to commemorate on Google’s main page are carefully determined based on cynical political calculations. Either the occasion must be non-controversial (e.g., Celebrating the 71^st Anniversary of the Wizard of Oz) or politically correct.

A Short History of Cultural Marxism

“Political correctness” is simply the modern slang term for what is properly known as Cultural Marxism. Cultural Marxism was developed in 1920s Germany at Frankfurt University. Unlike Revolutionary Marxism which advocated violent revolution to establish a new society (such as the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, etc.) Cultural Marxism advocated destroying Western Civilization through cultural subversion. One of the key concepts spawned from the Frankfurt school was called Critical Theory. The Critical Theory ideology that was developed in the 1930s was responsible for many of the “politically correct” memes we hear today, such that sex (gender) is a social construct.

The architects of Cultural Marxism were expelled from Germany in the 1930s once the National Socialists (Nazis) gained power. These refugees found new homes primarily in America and England. When World War 2 ended, the Cultural Marxist ideology soon metastasized quickly across American and English universities.

So while it is popular to imagine that all these radical cultural changes (such as feminism) started with the hippies and beatniks in the 1960s, the roots actually extend back to 1920s Germany and 19^th century Marxism.

Over the past 50 years, Cultural Marxism has been wildly successful in the West and it is now the de facto ideology for the establishment. As was the case in the Soviet Union, everyone knows what thoughts are politically acceptable and what thoughts are heretical. Global corporations such as Google are savvy enough to “celebrate” the proper political ideas.

For example, while Google is proud to celebrate the 19^th Amendment with a cute pink checkbox, I doubt Google would celebrate the 2^nd Amendment with an illustration of a White Man holding a rifle. And all of us who were raised under Cultural Marxism instinctively know why this is the case.

The 19^th Amendment

The right for women to vote now seems as American as All-You-Can-Eat buffets and Wal-Mart. Try suggesting to a typical God fearing, flag waving, Republican and Tea Party conservative that giving the vote to women was a bad idea, and watch him recoil in horror like a vampire looking at a cross. To even think of such a notion is anathema and un-American. After all, our brave troops are fighting the evil Muslims in the Middle-East to protect our right to vote!

And yet, for most of America’s history the vast majority of men (and women) were opposed to women’s suffrage. So were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln all secret women haters with small penises? Or might they have had another reason to oppose female suffrage?

The 19^th Century Argument Against Suffrage

Most of the arguments against female suffrage have now gone down the memory hole. School children are now taught that suffrage was inevitable and the people who opposed suffrage in the prior generations were simply backwards and ignorant. Because it is obviously axiomatic that female suffrage is a good thing. To even debate the subject would be crazy! As such, historical writings against suffrage are ignored and buried.

However, extracted from the depths of time is an essay written by a woman who was opposed to suffrage. This essay detailed the logical reasons why female suffrage would harm America.

Thoughts on Female Suffrage

By Madeline Dahlgren, 1871

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/sceti/printedbooksNew/index.cfm?TextID=19950_O_16&PagePosition=1

“We acknowledge no inferiority to men. We claim to have no less ability to perform the duty God has imposed upon us, than they [men] have to perform those imposed upon them. We believe that God has wisely and well adapted each sex to the proper performance of the duties of each. We believe our trusts to be as important and sacred as any that exist.

It is our fathers, brothers, husbands and sons who represent us at the ballot-box. Our fathers and husbands love us. Our sons are what we make them. We are content that they represent us in the corn-field, the battle-field and the ballot-box, and we them in the school-room, at the fireside, and at the cradle; believing our representation, even at the ballot-box, to be thus more full and impartial that it could possibly be were all women allowed to vote.”

Notice that it was assumed that men and women have different biological natures and, as such, God has given men and women different responsibilities. The notion that sex is just a social construct would have been considered to be absurd. Also notice the frequent references to religion. Prior to the Cultural Marxist revolution (Cultural Marxism abhors Christianity) Christian ideals were appealed to in an unapologetic manner.

The basic argument against female suffrage was that women were represented by their husbands, fathers and sons at the ballot-box. The essay further argues that as mothers raised their sons (this was before mothers warehoused their children in daycare to pursue their corporate careers) women actually fundamentally shaped the character of men, and hence, the direction of America. As such, women had a powerful voice and they were represented.

Later in the essay, Dahlgren predicted that female suffrage would create competition between men and women which would create an antagonism. Instead of a family standing in unity, suffrage would divide the house. Such division would create discord into the family and weaken the marriage tie. Dahlgren predicted that divorce would become common if women were given the vote.

Dahlgren writes:

“We hold that the new status will prove to be the worst kind of communism. The relations between the sexes, so carefully guarded by religion and by parents, by law and by society, will become common and therefore corrupt. The family, the foundation of the State, will disappear. The mothers, sisters and daughters of our glorious past will exist no more and the female gender will vanish into epicene. “

As a contemporary of Marx, Dahlgren correctly identified that the push for female suffrage was Marxist in origin. Fifty years later the Cultural Marxists implicitly agreed with Dahlgren that the best way to destroy Western Civilization (aka Christendom) was to undermine the family. And the seeds that were planted in the 19^th amendment paved the way for the spawning of what would be known as feminism.

The people opposed to female suffrage proved to be right beyond their wildest predictions. As Google was celebrating the 19^th amendment, a British newspaper detailed the boasting of a 26 year old woman who claims to have had sex with 5,000 different men. If Madeline Dahlgren were alive today, I am sure she would have understood the connection between female suffrage in the West and the decline of civilization.

Single mothers, rampant divorce, abortion and falling birth rates are part of the cancer that is destroying what is left of Western Civilization. But very few people (even conservatives) fail to realize that the inception of this cancer can be found in the passage of the 19^th amendment.

Tagged as: 19th amendment, cultural marxism, women's suffrage

BBC FINALLY ADMIT THERE ARE WOMEN BATTERERS

2010-09-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

MARAC Toolkit: - Powered by Google Docs

2010-08-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

Contents: - Powered by Google Docs

Counsellors struggle to treat male victims of domestic violence

2010-08-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

Counsellors struggle to treat male victims of domestic violence

Some trained counsellors feel unprepared to treat male victims of domestic violence due to their own assumptions about domestic abuse.

This is one of the findings of Kevin Hogan* and John Hegarty from the University of Keele who discussed the findings on Saturday 10th July at The British Psychological Society’s Division of Counselling Psychology’s annual conference at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

In 2008 6.4% of men in England and Wales between the ages of 20 and 24 reported having been the victim of domestic abuse and Home Office figures suggest the problem is evenly spread between the sexes. (Ref http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs/hors191.pdf)

Despite this and decades of pioneering work with female victims of domestic abuse that has provided clear, usable information to therapists the subject of male victimisation has been systematically rejected and bypassed as politically incorrect. This has left many counsellors unsure about how to effectively treat victims and concerned they aren’t getting the best support.

Kevin explained: "Male counsellor’s stereotype who can be a victim and women counsellors fare no better, since such male clients naturally fear being with women. This leaves the abused male with a tough job to do, educating his counsellor as well as helping himself."

A small-scale study was designed to understand better how counsellors respond to working with male victims of domestic violence. They interviewed six therapists (three women and three male) and found that some of them had to reassess their own view of male and female roles in society.

Kevin said: "All of the counsellors spoke about experiencing an element of surprise as a result of a lack of awareness of male victimisation and assumptions around domestic abuse. They described how they had to suppress their surprise so as not to make the client feel uncomfortable.

All counsellors said they need more awareness training so that they can offer the best support to these vulnerable men."

* The study was undertaken as part of Kevin’s post-graduate dissertation.

Editors Note - The findings have significant implications for the counselling profession as a result of recently introduced European equality laws, which now require that services do not discriminate on the grounds of gender.

Ref: PR1786

The Masculine Heart: GoodTherapy - Treating Male Victims of Domestic Violence

2010-08-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

The Masculine Heart: GoodTherapy - Treating Male Victims of Domestic Violence

Women's refuge closed by 'politically correct' council as it does not cater for abused men | Mail Online

2010-08-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

Women's refuge closed by 'politically correct' council as it does not cater for abused men | Mail Online

Concerned A4 to DL - Powered by Google Docs

2010-08-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

Concerned A4 to DL - Powered by Google Docs

PartnerabuseinEnglandWalesScotlandJan10.pdf - Google Docs

2010-07-28T09:47:00.001-07:00

PartnerabuseinEnglandWalesScotlandJan10.pdf - Google Docs

RADARreport-UN-Hides_Truth-of-DV.pdf - Google Docs

2010-07-28T09:47:00.000-07:00

RADARreport-UN-Hides_Truth-of-DV.pdf - Google Docs

THE DEFINITION - Powered by Google Docs

2010-07-28T09:41:00.000-07:00

THE DEFINITION - Powered by Google Docs

revised_terms_of_reference_cyp__3_september_2009_.pdf - Powered by Google Docs

2010-07-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

revised_terms_of_reference_cyp__3_september_2009_.pdf - Powered by Google Docs

Equality

2010-07-27T15:47:00.001-07:00

Below is a search result for accomodation for male victims of domestic violence.

Search results:

Accommodation type: Any second stage, Any specialist, Domestic violence, Single parents; Accept or target:People with children; Area: Belfast, Derry, North Eastern, South Eastern, Southern, Western; Accept: Any agency, Self referral; Gender: Men only

Sorry, there are no results that match your search criteria shown above. Click on Edit search criteria under Quick links to change or broaden your selection. Check that any text you have typed in is spelt correctly.

Search results:

Your search returned 3 records.

Name	Type
FHA&SS - Shepherds View Young Parents Project Tel 028 7134 4309 Area(s): Derry	Medium support
SATH Tel 028 7138 3098 Area(s): Strabane	Medium support
SL-eight Project Tel 028 8225 9000 Area(s): Omagh	Medium support

Equality??

2010-07-27T15:46:00.001-07:00

Below is a search result for accomodation for female victims of domestic violence.

Search results:

Accommodation type: Any second stage, Any specialist, Domestic violence; Accept or target: People with children; Area: Belfast, Derry, North Eastern, South Eastern, Southern, Western; Accept: Any agency, Self referral;Gender: Women only

Your search returned 13 records.

Name	Type
Belfast and Lisburn Women's Aid Tel 028 9066 6049 Area(s): Belfast, Lisburn	Domestic violence
Causeway Women's Aid Tel 028 7035 8999 Area(s): Coleraine	Domestic violence
Cithrah Foundation - Selah Accommodation Service Tel 028 9336 3188 Area(s): Carrickfergus	Domestic violence
Cookstown and Dungannon Women's Aid Tel 028 8676 9300 Area(s): Cookstown, Dungannon	Domestic violence
Craigavon and Banbridge Women's Aid Tel 028 3836 2777 or 028 3834 3256 Area(s): Banbridge, Craigavon	Domestic violence
Fermanagh Women's Aid Tel 028 6632 8898 Area(s): Fermanagh	Domestic violence
Foyle Women's Aid Tel 028 7134 4499 Area(s): Derry	Domestic violence
Life House - Belfast Tel 01926 421587 Area(s): Belfast	Single parents
Newry. Mourne, S. Down and S. Armagh Women's Aid Tel 028 3025 0765 Area(s): Newry & Mourne	Domestic violence
North Down and Ards Women's Aid Tel 028 9127 3196 Area(s): Ards, North Down	Domestic violence
Omagh Women's Aid Tel 028 8224 1414 Area(s): Omagh	Domestic violence
Sydenham House Tel 028 9065 6444 Area(s): Belfast	Domestic violence
Women's Aid ABCLN Tel 028 2563 2136 Area(s): Antrim, Ballymena, Carrickfergus, Larne, Newtownabbey	Domestic violence

Research_into_Homelessness_and_Substance_Misuse.doc - Powered by Google Docs

2010-07-25T14:39:00.001-07:00

Research_into_Homelessness_and_Substance_Misuse.doc - Powered by Google Docs

Homeless_families.doc - Powered by Google Docs

2010-07-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Homeless_families.doc - Powered by Google Docs

Types And Locations : Simon Community Northern Ireland

2010-07-25T14:37:00.000-07:00

Types And Locations : Simon Community Northern Ireland

Personal Experiences : Simon Community Northern Ireland

2010-07-25T14:33:00.001-07:00

Personal Experiences : Simon Community Northern Ireland

Reasons : Simon Community Northern Ireland

2010-07-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

Reasons : Simon Community Northern Ireland

How Many : Simon Community Northern Ireland

2010-07-25T14:31:00.000-07:00

How Many : Simon Community Northern Ireland

Fw: Response to your emails - male victims of domestic violence

2010-07-24T01:05:00.001-07:00

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

From: "McGarrity, Naomhin" <Naomhin.McGarrity@dhsspsni.gov.uk>

Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:15:39 +0100

To: 'pete.morris74@googlemail.com'<pete.morris74@googlemail.com>

Cc: McIlhone, Marian<Marian.McIlhone@dhsspsni.gov.uk>

Subject: Response to your emails - male victims of domestic violence

Pete

Thank you for your two e mails relating to my letter issued on 21st July 2010.

I agree that a meeting between your organisation and officials with responsibility for delivering the Domestic Violence Strategy would be a useful way of addressing the issues you have raised regarding male victims.

Please forward some dates and times of when this would suit you and I will arrange.

Regards

Naomhin McGarrity

Naomhín McGarrity

Domestic & Sexual Violence Unit

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety

D3 Castle Buildings

Stormont Estate

Belfast

BT4 3SQ

Internal: 89607

Tel: 028 9076 5607

Email: naomhin.mcgarrity@dhsspsni.gov.uk

Feeds | NICVA

2010-07-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

Feeds | NICVA

Everyman - The Home of Prostate Cancer and Testicular Cancer- Home

2010-07-10T05:34:00.000-07:00

Everyman - The Home of Prostate Cancer and Testicular Cancer- Home

Domestic Violence - abusive woman

2010-07-09T13:47:00.001-07:00