Related Articles from the News
Celebrating Fatherhood this Fathers Day for all the Right Reasons
I know many men who feel uncomfortable with the attention that they get on Father’s Day. I guess for many years as a father, I was one of those. I was very hesitant to celebrate Father's Day. Many years ago I had the same negative attitude to Christmas Day, because of all the crass commercialism. I changed, you can too. ...
Fathers as Love Leaders
You may wonder why I am so committed to encouraging you to be the best father you can be for your children. I could say that it’s the mountains of sociological studies that show a direct link between fatherlessness and dozens of social problems. Sociologists from all over the globe, through empirical studies, link increased rates of crime, health problems, ...
Happy Families, Healthy Economy
Last week I got a phone call from Mary-Louise Fowler, the coordinator of the World Congress of Families VII (WCF). She said with a worried voice, “We are in danger of losing some of our best speakers!” “Why?” I asked. Mary-Louise replied, “Homosexual activists are attacking the World Congress of Families because many of the speakers believe that children deserve a mother and a father and ...
I Just Got Off the Phone
I just got off the phone from another dad: devastated, crying, sobbing, absolutely gutted. "How can the mother of my children be so hurtful? I don't understand it”, he said between the tears. "I just want to see my kids. How hard is that?” Yesterday I was counselling one of our guys not to react. He was receiving abusive SMSes ...
Dad Hangs Himself in the Courthouse that Denies Him His Children
Could you please, please get this story out there! We desperately need to stop this from happening again. This is the second time in the same court. Now two kids don't have a dad; a mum, dad and family are left grieving. Just weeks ago, a 16-year-old young girl, devastated by her parents' divorce, suicided in her old family home. ...
In Loving Memory of Andrew T Renouf (Part 2)
Thank GOD we have DIDS in this country. 5 males a day, every day, suicide in this country. In Canada, it’s 9 a day. We are establishing links to start DIDS over there. ~~~ Andrew T. Renouf committed suicide on or about October 17, 1995, because he had 100% of his wages taken by the Family Responsibility Office, an agency ...
In Loving Memory of Andrew T Renouf (Part 1)
Thank GOD we have DIDS in this country. 5 males a day, every day, suicide in this country. In Canada, it's 9 a day. We are establishing links to start DIDS over there. ~~~ Andrew T. Renouf committed suicide on or about October 17, 1995, because he had 100% of his wages taken by the Family Responsibility Office, an agency ...
Sometimes I Just Need to Switch Off
Well here it is, Saturday morning, and Warwick rang me for my article and I had nothing prepared. I was wandering around a shopping centre not particularly looking for anything, just in a bit of a daze. You see, sometimes things just get the better of me, and sometimes I just switch off. An interview I had recorded with Southern ...
Lonely Father’s Day
I have just returned from Sydney, where we have opened several DIDs groups over the past couple of weeks. It never ceases to amaze me, the guys I meet along the way. Absolutely awesome dads who, although they struggle on a daily basis to see their kids and hold down a job, they volunteer some personal time to help other ...
Law Reform Lacks Representation
Below are just a few of the emails that I have been swamped with since sending out the notice of public hearings for Wednesday and Thursday, today. Many are from women. ALL are of disgust. Where is the representation from men's groups, you ask? Easy -- they obviously didn't want you there. DIDS received this notice today, and it was ...
Delivering Dads Back to Their Children
In the coming weeks and months, we as mothers, fathers, children, grandparents and families await the Government’s answers to the proposed reforms within Family Law and within the Child Support Scheme. We have been waiting patiently, even though we have been experiencing the very same thing this grandmother (below) so graciously describes. We as responsible fathers have been supporting our ...
The Cry of a Single Father
Please read this attached e-mail that I sent to 60 Minutes in an effort to try and get any help or understanding. It is hard to find a reason to go on when even your cry for help is told to be quiet. Dear Sixty Minutes, Please, you have got to listen! Just read through this e-mail at least. You ...
Christmas – A Lonely Time for Single Dads
The Attorney General has released a discussion paper on Family Law Reform. Take the time, read it and put a submission in to: www.ag.gov.au Think about parallel parenting. Why can't it work here? We are coming up to Christmas. Many dads won't be seeing their kids for Christmas -- someone else may be handing out their presents from under the tree ...
The Fight for Justice (Part 2): How Wilberforce Achieved Success
That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done, So, there is nothing new under the sun. This observation was written in about 935 BC. It is as true today as it was then. Its modern equivalent is the saying, “History always repeats itself.” Last week’s article revealed ...
The Fight for Justice (Part 1)
Mahatma Gandhi once said that when facing adversaries, they first ignore you, then they fight you and then you win. Those people who despair at the apparent lack of progress in the fight for social justice for separated families need to take heart from Gandhi's observation. We have successfully accomplished the first stage of the battle: they’re ignoring us. If ...
Delinquent Dads?
The best decisions about the care, welfare and support of children are those made by their parents. However, the Child Support Agency has decided that it should take over this role. As a result, I know plenty of non-custodial fathers (and one mother) who not only have no intention of ever paying child support, but also do everything they possibly ...
Change Don’t Come Easy
Many people have a solid, ingrained resistance to change, particularly when that change doesn’t align with the way they think. Our understanding and perception of the world around us is, to a large degree moulded by the culture of our age. When we look back to another age, another time and culture, we are often horrified by how the reasoning ...
Child Support and Deadbeat Dads – Myth Versus Fact (Part 2)
(continued from part 1) The next question then becomes, why doesn't this hard core group just pay up? Well of course, just as there are some taxpayers who will go to any lengths to avoid paying taxation, there will always be some who will adopt a similar attitude towards payment of child support. It is an unfortunate facet of human ...
Child Support and the Deadbeat Dad – Myth Versus Fact (Part 1)
It was fascinating to watch the media recently making a complete botch of facts (as per usual) in order to generate reader interest. This mangling of fact in favour of 'readability appeal' (fiction) happens all too frequently in our media -- something that is costing us dearly as a society, as our perceptions of social reality become evermore distorted by ...
A Harsh Statistic: Child Support and Unemployment
A harsh statistic, which should be sobering and alarming to both legislators and their advisors, but has been largely ignored, is that about 40% of all payer clients held captive by the Child Support Agency (CSA) are effectively unemployed. Another statistic that appears to have also made no impact on government decision-makers is that 76% of all unemployed men receiving ...
Teachers versus Fathers
The observation that separated couples rarely get along with each other would come as no revelation to anyone. It is generally relationship problems that lead to the separation in the first place. Yet these relationship difficulties are often used by the Family Court as the basis for refusing shared parenting and for restricting a father’s contact with his children. I ...
Inspiring Single Dads
Here we go again -- my second Single Dads article in almost 1½ years of the FathersOnline newsletter. I always said the first article wouldn’t be the last. What has brought on this sudden burst of ‘single father inspiration? Read Peter Duncan’s email in the News & Info section before you go any further to find out: Dear Dads4Kids Get ...
Equal Parenting
Letter to the Prime Minister from The Lone Fathers Association of Australia Part Two The best interests of the child With a legal presumption of equal shared physical custody, a clear message would be sent by the Australian community to the divorce industry that a child is a human being with an inalienable right to equal parenting (including parenting time) ...
Shared Physical Custody
Letter to the Prime Minister from The Lone Fathers Association of Australia Part One General comments The LFAA, as the national peak body representing separated fathers and their children, wishes to inform you of our extreme disappointment with the Report on “Shared Custody” by the House of Representatives Committee on Family and Community Affairs released on 29 December 2003. While ...
A Tale of Three Cities
A few years ago I was a happily married man -- a beautiful wife, three sons, a home that was well on the way to being paid off, a job, and settled in the community. We had just had our 10-year anniversary -- a night on the town for the family. A few bumps along the way, including some really ...
