Tuesday, June 18, 2002

British rock star calls for change in Britain’s custody law

A story released today by the Herald News reports that British rock star Bob Geldof last night called for Britain's custody laws to be "scrapped and rewritten" after claiming they are biased towards women and against the best interests of the child.

Geldof said that during his custody battle he was advised by a "well-meaning person in court" not to tell the court that he loved his children. He says that when he asked why, the person said "the court will think it unhealthily extreme if a man articulates his love for his children".

Geldof said fathers who had limited access to their children felt suicidal on Christmas Day and Father's Day and were prevented from having a normal relationship with their children. "The law in effect is not so much biased towards the mother but very discriminatory against the father."he added.

"Up until now, women haven't gone out to work, men have gone out to work and they've provided and the women have nurtured.

"That social consensus has changed hugely since the time this law was drafted. The law is inflexible and worse in this case ...it's fundamentally wrong. It should be scrapped and be rewritten."

Geldof emphasised that his comments were not "anti-women". "It's not just a male agenda. I get women who take care of the children who can't understand ... how it (the law) can be so unjust towards fathers."

Jim Parton, chairman of Families Need Fathers, said he believed it was not the law relating to custody battles which was unfair but the people who enacted the law.

"People working in the family law system, including judges and social workers, need to understand that children need their fathers. Fathers are an optional extra as far as many family policy people think."

Ian Maxwell, depute director of One Parent Families Scotland acknowledged that the courts were perhaps not the ideal place to settle a child custody battle.

"The attitude towards fathers has become more positive but it still has some way to go before they are treated exactly the same as mothers." Maxwell added.

He said one area where inequality still reigned concerned the rights of unmarried fathers, who even if they had their name on the child's birth certificate, were not recognized in law as having parental responsibilities and rights. The Scottish Executive plans to improve the law in this respect in the forthcoming Family Law Bill.