Tories Back Fathers' Rights

July 12, 2004

British Tory leader Michael Howard is to call for a change in the law which would give parents equal access to their children when relationships break down, according to the BBC. At a summit on custody battles today, Howard is expected to say that "the best parent is both parents," a familiar phrase coined as the title of a book by Children's Rights Council President David Levy.

It is thought that ministers are considering changes in law that would give divorced fathers a better deal on custody and access. The Tory summit will consider the idea of shared parenting or equal access rights - a norm in many countries. .

In the early 1990s, left-wing shadow cabinet ministers complained about government handling of domestic relations issues under John Major. In particular, child support reform was seen as demonstrating inept handling of social issues by the conservative government. There was a direct logical step to Tony Blair's simple but powerful message that governments must do what is right that helped sweep his Labour Party into power. .

But once in power, the Labour government was not active in dealing with key problems in domestic relations reform - which are now commonly known as fathers' rights issues. Although initially innovative, and making efforts to humanize some aspects of the bureaucratic welfare system, the overall intellectual plan stuck too closely with designs by the international family law reform movement that created the fathers' rights (counter-) movement to begin with. .

Recent campaigns by Fathers 4 Justice, that included the bombardment of Tony Blair with flour-filled condoms while he spoke to Parliament, focused greater attention on domestic relations issues, particularly the difficulty of maintaining healthy, ongoing relationships between fathers and children after courts have designated mothers as sole guardians. Surveys have shown strong public support for the campaign. .

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