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. As a man once said, “When you eat the chicken, make ...

We recently moved house. The house we had been renting for 13 years was sold, and there was no other option. According to the USA Employee Relations Council, moving house is the third most stressful event in life, following death and divorce. Other lists put it lower, but whatever the case, it usually makes the top ten of life’s worst events. Moving house is stressful because you have to make decisions ...

Dads in Distress Inc has announced the formation of ‘Mums in Distress’, a support group based on the same concept as ‘Dads in Distress’. There are no winners in divorce and separation, especially our children. The reality is mums suffer just as much as dads, with the end result of our children ending in distress. We receive thousands of calls and emails from mums, especially within the second marriage scenario, who are ...

Dear Diary, IT’S A BOY! My beautiful daughter gave birth the other week to a beautiful boy, 8lb 3oz. I was supposed to speak in Parliament House at the Human Rights Conference about ‘DIDs’ that week. And you know what? Normally my work would take preference over my private life. That’s possibly why I am now divorced. But this time I said no. My beautiful daughter and the birth of my ...

Cup in hand, deep in thought, It’s like this every day. And it twists my heart I know But there is no other way. I dream of you, there’s nothing else, No picture I can see. To see your smiles and how you’ve grown Or how much of you is me. To hold you close, to hear you laugh, To put you to bed at night. To tell you things a ...

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 Cross Ten State Focus was just aired today, which was just ...

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 guys who may be struggling as well. It’s awesome to see, ...

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 forwarded from a friend, not from the Attorney-General’s Department. The hearings ...

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 children, and yet are denied the right to have a relationship ...

Tonight is the start of the school holidays; I am allowed to pick up my son.  I feel extremely emotional about this, because I know only too well what it feels like when these times come for men who are deprived of the opportunity to spend time with their little ones. It took a court order to get to this point. What a shame, what a shame on this society, that ...

I arrived home from school at about 4 pm one afternoon to find that my pigeons had been stolen, and one of the new chicks had been killed and was dead on the floor of the cage. I was 10 at the time. It was 1952 and we were living at 44 Canning Street, North Melbourne. I loved my pigeons. I had five excellent pairs and they all were good breeders. ...

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) by both its parents and a right to not have a ...

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 the fathers and children of Australia have asked for bread, the ...

It is a well-known adage that evil triumphs when good men do nothing. The events of history testify to the truth of this saying. Yet, there are plenty of examples in history of good men accepting the authority of a tyrannical government. The apostle Paul was a Jew living under the dominance of a conquering nation, the Romans. Despite this, he taught that it was important to be obedient and submissive ...

Each year in Australia thousands of children are being mentally and emotionally abused by the Family Court of Australia by being forced to participate in an investigation of their parents’ competency. This process is called a ‘Family Report’. Many children are severely harmed by the experience. Family Reports are a massive and unjustified violation of the rights of children and parents. They contribute significantly to the social tragedy of the separation ...

One of the reasons my life has been so good is that I have had a good father. I also want to be a good father to my own children. However, the freedom to make this choice no longer exists for separated fathers in Australian society. Family Law legislation in Australia has removed from me my authority as a father and placed it in the hands of anonymous government bureaucrats who ...

One of the things I enjoy about spending time with my children is the opportunity to drop everything else I do. This is through necessity as well as through choice, since my children offer me no other option. I’m involved with a number of community groups which require a considerable amount of time, research and thought. As well as this, like most people, I find that I need to work for ...

It may by reassuring for separated fathers to know that many federal parliamentarians have some awareness of their plight. The efforts of many men in communicating their experiences and highlighting the injustices inherent in the Family Law System is paying dividends. During the recent meeting of the Fatherhood Foundation/Dads4Kids at Parliament House, Canberra, the following comments were made: Senator Bill Heffernan said that they hear all the time in the party ...

School holidays have well and truly ended, during which many fathers have had the opportunity to spend some time with their children. For some fathers, the sense that their children are merely ‘visiting’ them, often underscores the idea in both father and children that the children ‘belong’ somewhere else. This idea is often difficult to challenge, particularly when it has originated with court ‘orders’. The youngest of my children often refers ...