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Equal Parenting Alliance Party
Why do we feel another group is needed?
“Surely there are plenty of groups already, who on earth needs another one?” – this, of course, is a perfectly valid question.
We looked at all the existing groups with any degree of popular support, to see what role they fill, and ask how we see the whole movement moving forward in the future.
Fathers 4 Justice – Formed in 2002, they grabbed public attention and made a good job of getting publicity for many of the issues.
Unfortunately, they did not follow through with a concerted educational or ‘hearts & minds’ campaign or achieve much public education beyond the message that ‘lots of dads are angry'.
We believe their controversial campaigning style ultimately made gaining committed public support difficult.
They disbanded in January 2006 after an obedient media reported a wildly unlikely plan to kidnap the Prime Minister’s son.
The recent splinter group Real Fathers
Equal Parenting Council - a prominent lobby group that provide a good information and legal support service for parents and others involved in contact disputes.
They strongly support shared parenting and have a good (occasional) media presence, though they do not seem to otherwise campaign to the public at large.
Fathers Direct – a government funded quango that aspires to present itself as the voice of British fathers.
It does not really campaign to the general public and unfortunately generally confines itself to trivialities like “fathers in Papua New Guinea suckle their children so this shows dads can be good too” (our paraphrase).
It is not an organisation that people can join. They do have some useful comments to make, but unfortunately, a lazy media are too ready to introduce them as the independent voice of fathers – which they most certainly are not.
Still room for another group?
So, with all these groups, surely there can be no need for another one? They must present the full range of available views – another group will just confuse matters?
We don’t think so.
Though all these groups have their good points, we believe there is a need to extend the campaign directly into the political arena. We aim to reach out and persuade the public at large to get involved. Ultimately, until we present the public with a credible alternative they can vote for, we feel there will be no way to persuade this government that change is needed.
We believe none of the existing groups are positioned to do this, or are likely to change so they can achieve it. This is where we see the Equal Parenting Alliance fitting in. We have identified a niche that needs to be filled.
Equal Parenting Alliance complementary to other groups
We do not see or offer ourselves as the alternative to any of these groups, and we do not want or aspire to be in competition with any of them. We intend to be complementary to them all.
We wish every compatible group well, and believe they are all needed. Each fill slightly different roles and each we trust to push the boundaries within their chosen domain.
It is our sincere wish that all groups will be able to improve our inter-group co-operation in the future. To achieve change, we believe we must present a united front to the opposition, if we as the Equal Parenting Alliance can help to achieve this, we will be happy. Similarly, if someone else achieves this and we disband in six months we would be just as happy. There is no room for egos when we are fighting for decent parenting standards now and the future long-term emotional welfare of our children.
Family law failure no longer an option
We believe that we should not have to routinely accept such poor outcomes for our children, or for ourselves. Children should have the right to normal, reasonable parenting time contact, even after their parents separate. With 40% of marriages ending in divorce, our family law system must adapt to cope with family breakdown and treat it as one of life’s normal problems, and not as a complete disaster without solution.
Families Need Fathers – primarily a support group for estranged fathers, a role which they generally perform particularly well.
FNF also share very similar views on shared parenting with EPC and ourselves.
They do receive some public funding, which makes some wary of their enthusiasm to reach their objectives (a wariness we generally do not share, however). They are, however, a charity, which severely restricts the range of political activities they can be involved in.
