"A Father's Choice"
For more information on the movie, "A Father's Choice", see the producer's web site
This IS exciting news for fathers!

EVERYONE has asked for this for years! What if we had a movie about how fathers are treated in the system of family law?
Could a realistic movie about father's rights change the attitude of Americans toward their court system?
Last summer an independent film maker in Tennessee finished working on "A Father's Choice". A movie about a father, who after having a child outside a marriage, found he had no rights to his daughter. The movie is realistically done and shows the cruel abuse and gender bias directed toward fathers by the family courts, schools, and the attitude of others in general toward fathers.
Since this is a movie by an independent film maker, it can only be speculated whether it ever will be shown in mass to the public. Efforts are in place to make this happen.
Take a look at the web sites listed below. If you have been negatively affected by family court in any way, you will thrilled that this movie may finally show people what really happens to fathers!

For a trailer of the movie, see the following Youtube video. You can see how good the movie is!

For more information on the movie, see the myspace site for the movie.

Reminder
- promoted by the Association Manos Unidas por la Custodia Compartida
Madrid - 10 febbraio 2008
"Custodia Compartida SI - Denuncias Falsas NO - Sindrome de Alienacion Parental NO"
[Internet Web Site & Programme]

video from Carlos Caldito - Espana

Click on the image to view video on Utube

Fathers 4 Justice founder to enter Mayoral race
09.01.08
Read Source

The founder of direct action group Fathers 4 Justice is planning to enter the London Mayoral race. Matt O'Connor, who orchestrated stunts such as the powder-bombing of Tony Blair in the Commons, has vowed to bring "theatre and drama" to the campaign.

He plans to focus on the breakdown of families, which he believes is behind the huge number of teenage murders in London - 27 last year and two already this year. "One in two black children grows up without a father. One in four children grows up without a father. In London it's a real issue," said Mr O'Connor, 40, a father of three.

"We need to tackle crime and we need to tackle young offending. The role of fathers is absolutely integral to solving this problem."
Fathers 4 Justice was founded to highlight the difficulty many estranged fathers have in gaining legal access to their children but its publicity stunts have caused controversy.

Mr O'Connor almost committed suicide in 2001 when he considered jumping off Waterloo bridge after being barred from seeing his two sons from his first marriage.
He expects to launch his campaign on 14 February and stand for the English Democrats, who campaign for an English parliament because they believe that England loses out to Scotland in terms of public funding.

Source TheHerald - United Kingdom

Pilot to ensure children see divorced parents is dropped
LUCY ADAMS, Chief Reporter January 07 2008

The Scottish Government has ditched a promised pilot scheme aimed at easing the trauma of the hundreds of children who lose contact with one or both parents during divorce proceedings.

In December 2005 ministers pledged to run a pilot aimed at ensuring, where appropriate, that both parents have access to their children after separation and that court orders allowing contact are enforced.
In Scotland each year an estimated 700 children fall victim to court order breaches which mean they lose contact with at least one parent.
As part of the Family Law Act 2006, Hugh Henry, the then deputy justice minister, pledged to pilot family court facilitators and commissioned research into the problem.

The Scottish Government has now dropped the plans claiming there was no suitable candidate found during the procurement process to run the project.
Brian McNair was granted a court order to see his two children 10 years ago.
He was meant to get overnight access and be able to take them on holidays. But he says he has been unable to get the court order enforced and that his ex-wife allows only him to see them three times a year for about 10 minutes.

"I am so angry and disappointed," he said. "Dropping this will have serious ramifications for fathers, mothers and grandparents.
"Children are becoming alienated from their parents and no-one is doing anything about it. The government is just turning its back. I have been contacted by so many fathers and some mothers unable to get access to their children because there is no-one to ensure compliance with the court orders."
Pauline McNeil MSP, Labour's justice spokeswoman, has written to Kenny MacAskill, the justice secretary, demanding to meet him and discuss why the pledge has been dropped.
"Having fought so hard to get this commitment I am very disappointed that there is no action being taken," she said.
"It is primarily about how this affects the children of those parents who cannot get their contact orders enforced.
"I would look to this government to re-establish a way of making the system better. I would expect them to start by reinstating this commitment."
Dr Martin Crapper, of the support group Families Need Fathers said: "We believe at least 700 children a year are affected by breached contact orders but this may just be the tip of the iceberg.
"In England they gave extra sanctions to the court to use against those who breach such orders including community orders. I would like to see the same thing happening here. In Scotland a parent can only be fined or imprisoned for breaching such an order and the courts are understandably reluctant to use such measures because of the additional harm to the children."

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We ran a procurement exercise to secure a host organisation who would recruit and manage a postholder in each of the courts. We have reached the end of the procurement process without identifying a suitable candidate.
"We have started to look at options as to how the aims of the pilot could be met by other methods.
"A broad programme of research on contact issues is under way and is suitably flexible to ensure it can be adjusted to take account of any conclusions or data that emerges from other projects."

Latest UK Government e-petition asking the Prime Minister to stop Parental Alienation
Link to the petition
To date there are 120 signatures on this petition with the signup deadline being 23 April 2008.

The petition states:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop parental alienation if an ex partner refuses the absent parent access to the children then monetry payments should cease.
Ex partners are damaging our future generations.Children need their fathers/mothers and grandparents after divorce or separation.Therefore if the government were to pass a law stating that if access is denied then the residing parent should have their maintenance payments stopped until access is resumed.Thus freeing up courts dealing with access rights."
I appreciate that these petitions do have limited impact on the Government but it is another opportunity to raise awareness of Parental Alienation through official channels.
Please circulate to anyone who you feel may find this of interest.

Väterradio.de WANTS YOU

to call in or email your experiences about your child maintenance obligations in their upcoming January 2008 episodes at:

http://vaeterradio.de
Dietmar Nikolai Webel [dnwebel at web.de]
Bundesvorstand des Väteraufbruch für Kinder
( National Coordinator Väteraufbruch for Children )
Tel/ Fax 034602-48911

You may call in anonymously, you will be able to converse or write in regards of why you refuse to pay child maintenance, why you live below poverty level with or without steady employment. Perhaps you are a parent who is paying child support but is still denied contact with the child due to the other parents superiority.
There maybe other interest groups which have not yet been recognized but want to speak out!

http://www.mediaradar.org/

As indicated by Ghislain Duchateau from Belgium, the message by RADAR is really an important one from the U.S. The problem of desinformation on domestic violence is not only present in the U.S. but in the whole of the civilised world, in the U.K, in France, Italy, Germany, the Low Countries and... in Belgium.

We are all against personal domestic violence, that is not the question. We all admit that domestic violence occurs in too many cases and that it causes damage to women, to men and to children. But together with RADAR we have to fight against the unilateral and wrong information which is sent out in so many domestic violence programs in the U.S. and in so many countries in Europe. RADAR is urging in the U.S. for a VAWA reform. VAWA - and that has been proven - has brought along already for so many years such a lot of misery in families and a change in that law and in the mentality of people is necessary. Since a couple of years a similar law is voted in the Belgian Parliament and is implemented in the Belgian jurisdiction and it is causing that same misery in families in my country. Every year here there are domestic violance programs in my country and protest against the unilateral disinformation is not accepted by the responsible organisers of those programs and by the authorities. We don't have the same strength and people as RADAR has in my tiny country, but we stay aware of the fact that we have to do what we can against such unjust treatment of men wrongly accused of domestic violence whereas women go free for inflicting harm to men. We know that there are a twohundred scientific research based reports which indicate and prove that domestic violence from women to men is almost as frequent as domestic violence from men to women. But when you shout it out, you aren't believed.
I want to express my admiration for what RADAR does and realizes in the U.S. I want to express that same admiration for what Amen and Mary T. Cleary do in Ireland [http://www.amen.ie/side.html] but in a different way. I am grateful for all what they do.
http://www.amen.ie/side.html

RADAR ALERT: In 2007 We Set the Stage for DV Reform!

NIn 2007 domestic violence programs around the country continued to encourage false allegations, undermine families, force children into single-parent households, ignore the civil rights of the falsely accused, and discriminate against male victims.
And as RADAR's Special Report "Why Have Domestic Violence Programs Failed to Stop Partner Abuse?" reveals, these programs have been flatly ineffective in reducing abuse rates – and in some cases placed victims at greater risk of violence.
http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADARreport...-Stop-Abuse.pdf

In response RADAR and the VAWA Reform Coalition continued to make the case for reform. Highlights of the year included:
1. Expansion of the VAWA Reform Coalition to about 90 organizations in 32 states: http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/VAWA-Reform...Declaration.pdf
2. Sponsorship of 5 high-profile campaigns
- Time to Tell the Truth about Domestic Violence (Domestic Violence Awareness Month) : http://www.mediaradar.org/time_to_tell_truth.php
- House Resolution 590: Half-Truths, Distortions, and Lies: http://www.mediaradar.org/hres590.php
- Nifong: Tip of the Iceberg: http://www.mediaradar.org/nifong_tip_of_iceberg.php
- Stop CEDAW/I-VAWA, Protect the Family: http://www.mediaradar.org/cedaw_ivawa.php
- International-VAWA: Exporting Family Break-Up: http://www.mediaradar.org/international_vawa.php
3. Extensive media activities :
- 42 Alerts: http://www.mediaradar.org/prior_alerts.php
- 16 press releases: http://www.mediaradar.org/press_releases.php
- Numerous interviews and op-eds: http://www.mediaradar.org/prior_headlines.php
4. Release or updating of 6 Special Reports that document the problems: http://www.mediaradar.org/radar_special_reports.php
- Has VAWA Delivered on its Promises to Women?
- A Culture of False Allegations: How VAWA Harms Families and Children
- Why Have Domestic Violence Programs Failed to Stop Partner Abuse?
- Education for Injustice
- Justice Denied: Arrest Policies for Domestic Violence (update)
- VAWA Programs Discriminate Against Male Victims (update)
5. Release of the Agenda for VAWA Reform: http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADARdocume...VAWA-Reform.pdf
6. Freedom of Information Act request revealing a widescale lack of services for male victims: http://www.mediaradar.org/ovw_foia_data.php
7. Major expansion of information on the RADAR website
8. Sustained lobbying presence on Capitol Hill

But 2007 was just the beginning.
2008 is a presidential election year and the candidates need to hear from everyone about the necessity to reform domestic violence laws - they especially need to know about the Agenda for VAWA Reform
http://www.mediaradar.org/docs/RADARdocume...VAWA-Reform.pdf

Get involved in the critical effort to protect families and children. We will make a difference in 2008.

New Presidency of Association ACFC

American Coalition for Fathers and Children
Dr Linda Nielsen

Dr. Stephen Baskerville has returned to academic pursuits, taking a position as associate professor of government at Patrick Henry College in Virginia.
Over the past four years as ACFC President, Stephen has published numerous articles and scholarly reports on the plight of parents in the family courts, as well as producing significant commentary on domestic violence and the child support bureaucracy. Click here to read Stephen's latest paper on child support printed in the Independent Review.
With the publication of his recent book: 'Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fathers, Marriage and the Family' Stephen has once again exposed the system which profits by separating parents and children. As a result of his teaching load, responsibilities connected to promoting the book, desire to continue devoting time to writing and coupled with the end of his term in office, he is not seeking reappointment as President of ACFC. He will remain active with the organization, continuing to serve as a member of the Board of Directors. All of us appreciate his contributions over these past years and look forward to his future articles and commentary.
The ACFC Board of Directors (David Roberts, Dr. Stephen Baskerville, Michael McCormick, Dr. Stephen Walker, John Maguire and Jim Semerad) have been working on this transition for several months. We were guided in our search by the principle that ours is an issue which knows no bounds. It is neither the domain of conservatives or liberals, poor or wealthy, and pays no attention to ethnicity or sex. Our issues cross all demographics and our goals are shared, and should be supported, across all sectors of our society. Our desire was to bring forward a candidate that was first and foremost a strong Shared Parenting advocate. Thereafter, we were looking for someone with excellent credentials academically and professionally. We sought a leader who would present the case for Shared Parenting in a manner appealing to all sectors of our society.

Welcome Dr. Linda Nielsen

Our search committee members considered and discussed the position with several candidates and are pleased to announce ACFC's new President for 2008, Dr. Linda Nielsen.
For the past two decades Dr. Nielsen has been a proponent of Shared Parenting. She is a tenured faculty member at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Her background as a social researcher combined with her training as an adolescent psychologist, make hers a voice which cannot be ignored in the expanding debate over the need for Shared Parenting and the important necessity of a Fathers contribution in child rearing.
In 2004 Dr. Nielsen authored the book, 'Embracing Your Father' which encourages and provides practical advice to young women wanting a deeper relationship with their fathers. As a professor in Wake Forest's women studies program she teaches a course titled "Fathers and Daughters." Unique in the nation, this course challenges young women to break out of stereotypical thinking about Fathers and 'requires/encourages' them to develop a deeper relationship with the most important man in their life, their Dad. To learn more about this book click here.
In 2005 PBS released a documentary on this important work and it's life changing impact on the women who have passed through the course. We are working to secure permission to rebroadcast this film through the ACFC website and hope to bring it to you shortly.
Dr. Nielsen is already having a positive impact on our issues. She has completed a straight forward, easy to use, two-page brochure summarizing the research which makes the case for Shared Parenting and kids crucial need for father involvement. Look for this brochure in an upcoming email.
It is our pleasure to welcome Dr. Linda Nielsen. Click here for highlights of Linda's biography.
[sito Internet]