Shared Parenting - Why It Works

With special guests:

• Maurice Vellacott
• Michael Green and
• Sue Price.

With moves clearly afoot to wind back the modest reforms of the previous government on shared parenting legislation designed to encourage a relationship between both parents and children after separation, we take a look at the very strong case for shared parenting as the norm post-separation, with advocates arguing it works best for both children and parents - as well as saving the government a great deal of money by encouraging single parents to get off welfare and into work.

Maurice Vellacott is a Canadian Member of Parliament who has just introduced a bill promoting shared parenting into the Canadian legislature. He says a recent poll demonstrated that 78% of Canadians support equal shared parenting, with slightly more women than men supporting co-operative care of children post divorce.

Surveys in Australia have shown similar high levels of support, with the main obstruction to the commonsense notion coming from government bureaucrats and the family law industry itself. Regular guest Sue Price from the unfashionably named Men’s Rights Agency will talk about the devastating impacts on individuals and the broader community of the sole-mother custody model which has done so much harm over recent decades. She dismisses the current spirited campaign by feminist lobby groups outside Family Courts as nothing but hysterical male bashing by people with absolutely no knowledge of family law.

We close the show with an extended interview with Michael Green QC, author of the book Shared Parenting, who is also alarmed at the current moves to unwind shared parenting legislation. He argues that with legislation in many jurisdictions now enshrining shared parental responsibility and parenting time, there is ample research which indicates how important it is for children to continue meaningful relationships after family breakdown.

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Fatherhood and Politics

With special guest:

• Ray Barry.

Ray Barry is the Religious Affairs Co-Ordinator with Fathers 4 Justice (F4J) and Party Leader for the Equal Parenting Alliance (EPA) in the UK. This is a must-listen interview, succinctly summing up the state of Family Law in the UK and the challenges that lie ahead.

The civil rights group Fathers 4 Justice was founded in December 2002 by Matt O’Connor after he experienced first hand the injustices of the secret family courts as he struggled to see his two boys Daniel and Alexander after a traumatic divorce. Started as a vehicle for social change, F4J quickly became the high-wire act of protest groups, whether powder-bombing the Prime Minister in the House of Commons, scaling the balcony at Buckingham Palace in a Batman Costume, invading the Pulpit at York Minster during a General Synod Service or taking the National Lottery Draw live off air on BBC1 in front of ten million viewers.

The Equal Parenting Alliance is a relatively new UK political party, formed in February 2006 which aims to promote a system of family justice in the UK that puts the needs and interests of children first.

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Gender-Neutral Approaches to Domestic Violence

With special guests:

• Joep Zander
• Patricia Gho and
• Paddy Murray

In the social justice arena, two small European countries appear to be way ahead of the pack, and Dads on the Air has been among the first to report these important historic developments to the English-speaking world. First, on the 10th of March we reported on the new “50/50 Equal Shared Parenting Time” laws in Belgium, and now we are pleased to report that the Dutch Government has finally recognized the need to provide domestic violence shelters for abused men.

First up we speak with Joep Zander, who is a well known author, artist and fathers rights activist in the Netherlands. He presents his view of the new DV shelters, acknowledging that because it is still very early days he has some reservations about the scheme. However he hopes the shelters will turn out to be successful in providing a much needed escape for men from their violent partners or families.

Next we speak with Patricia Gho of Stichting Wende, director of the men’s shelter in the Hague. Commenting on the radical change in Dutch Government thinking that led to the trial, she states that “the Government simply could no longer ignore all the data that has for many years shown that there is a real need to also provide shelter for the abused men in our community”.

Bringing the issue closer to home, last up we speak with Paddy Murray, the Buddhist chaplain from Goulburn prison. Mr Murray has done some interesting development work in violence-prevention in Campbelltown with both men and women. He ran the first violence prevention course for women, which unfortunately is no longer in operation. His approach, which he calls “peaceful relating”, is to move beyond gender in violence-prevention work, arguing that the gender lens is just a distortion that does not help much with the work.

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Making History

With special guests:

• Pascal Gallez and
• Michael Green.

We have a very special program this week. Our guest is Pascal Gallez from Belgium, and the subject of our discussion today is the revelation that we now appear to have a template of Real Equal Shared Parenting Time laws in Belgium. Dads on the Air understands we are making history by being the first to bring this to the attention of the English-speaking world. While not perfect, it certainly is a big step forward in the right direction.

This is an important milestone, because it will provide all those fighting so hard around the world to bring about change to the Draconian Family Justice System, with an example of how “Equal Shared Parenting Time” laws need to be structured and how they can work.

Also on the program we’ll be speaking with Michael Green. Michael currently is the patron and past President of the Shared Parenting Council of Australia. He is a Lawyer, a QC, an author of two books on parenting issues, and runs a mediation company. We’ll be speaking to him about his thoughts on Belgium’s new Shared Parenting Laws and how they might work in Australia and other countries.

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European Update

With special guests:

• John Forsyth and
  
• Jiri Fiala.

John Forsyth is a journalist based in Scotland who worked for the BBC in London for 10 years before returning to Scotland to become Political Editor of Scotland on Sunday newspaper. He has recently resumed freelancing for newspapers. John has taken some interest in the Scottish Government’s persistence with a gender-based analysis of domestic abuse to provide 10s of millions of pounds in funding for support groups for female victims of domestic abuse and violence and zero for males in the same situation. The latest 2007-8 domestic abuse statistics were published recently with a government press release saying police reports of domestic abuse had gone up 2%. Somehow they managed to gloss over the fact that police reports of women as victims of men had fallen while incidents of males on the receiving end had gone up by 12%, as they have in each of the last 8 years.

Jiri Fiala is the founder and director of the Czech Republics’ fathers group K213. Jiri has been desperately trying to obtain contact with his two children, which the Czech Courts will not support. After taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights, who incidentally ruled in his favour, the Czech Family Court still refuses to act upon the directions of the European Court of Human Rights, and will not enforce his legal contact with his children.

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Renovations Required

Dr James Cumes

With Special Guests:

• Rainer Sonnenberger and
• Dr James Cumes.

First up we are joined by Rainer Sonnenberger from Germany. Rainer is a member of the board of directors of the largest organization for fathers and childrens’ rights in Germany Vateraufbruch Fur Kinder.

Next we speak to James Cumes, renaissance man and author of, amongst other things, America’s Suicidal Statecraft. James was one of the few commentators to predict the current global economic crisis. We speak to him from Vienna where he explains some of the causes of the global predicament and offers some sensible solutions to resuscitate the Australian and global economies.

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Rites of Passage

Dr Arne Rubenstein

With Special Guests:

• Arne Rubenstein and
• Ruedi Oswald.

At the Men’s Advisory Network’s Second National Conference back in August, in Fremantle, we recorded Dr Arne Rubenstein’s inspiring keynote address titled Creating contemporary Rites of Passage and the Pathways to Manhood Program. Dr Rubenstein is the co-founder and CEO of the Pathways Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that runs the national award winning Pathways to Manhood Program in schools and communities around Australia. This program for teenage boys and their fathers is a contemporary Rite of Passage that aims to inspire the boys to have a vision and reach their potential.

Ruedi Oswald, is a licensed Swiss social worker who is going to give us an insight into what happens to separated fathers in Switzerland, and how easily they can be separated from their children once one parent is allotted sole custody by the legal system. We’re going to try and find out what differences there are in the way that separation and divorce are dealt with by the Swiss Family Justice System compared to what happens in the rest of the western democracies. While his wife, who is a doctor, lives in the family home and he hasn’t seen his 3 kids for 10 years, he is forced to live out of the back of a converted van. Ruedi is looking for support and can be reached at swiss.socialwork@web.de.

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Save the Males

With Special Guests:

• Kathleen Parker and
  
• Peter Burns

Author Kathleen Parker has created a furore around the world with her new book Save The Males. Don’t miss this fascinating interview. So disenfranchised have men become, that only a woman can state the bleeding obvious, that the extreme sexism of gender feminism has done a great deal of harm to men, women, children, and society as a whole.

One person who knows all about the brutality of the modern state is Peter Burns, one of the leading members of the fathers’ rights movement in NZ, he hosts a very successful website http://dad4justice.blogspot.com/ where he dispenses a wealth of information from around the world to do with fatherhood issues.

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Social Justice: Think Twice

With Special Guests:

• Angela Conway
• Toni McLean
• Richar’ Farr
• John Flanagan.

The Australian Family Association is campaigning against the proposed changes to NSW legislation that would remove the word ‘father’ from birth certificates and get rid of the term ‘paternity leave’. We are pleased to have their spokeswoman Angela Conway on the program. “We oppose the change, it is part of the national and international picture of eroding the traditional family and the concept of a natural parent,” she said. “The social science evidence is pointing us in the other direction; that natural parents, both mothers and fathers, are vital to their children.

We are also delighted to have domestic violence counsellor and expert Toni McLean on the show. She has had the courage and integrity to genuinely think outside the square when it comes to violent couples and the best way to promote healthy relationships. Together with supportive and experienced group facilitators, her Think Twice program offers a complete range of options for individuals and couples experiencing difficulty in their relationships from normal conflict through to all forms of abuse, as well as physical violence.

We close the show with the ever entertaining Richar’ Farr, a leading figurehead in the international fatherhood movement. He is the founder of KRights Radio and the nationally syndicated program The Message. Richar’ describes his new internet radio station as “a town hall meeting on radio.” He calls it Kids’ Rights Radio - KRights for short. The unique station began its unusual and compelling broadcast on Aug 1, 2004, and is now on the air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We also talk with John Flanagan about the upcoming Dads4Kids Rally at NSW Parliament House to protest the removal of the word ‘father’ from birth certificates.

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Women Who Speak Out For Men

Barbara KayWith Special Guests:

• Barbara Kay and
• Malia Blom.

Barbara Kay is a columnist for the National Post, Canada and the author of such courageous and widely-circulated male-friendly articles as On domestic violence, no one wants to hear the truth, The plight of divorced dads and The last white ribbon.

Malia Blom is executive director of the Boys and Schools program in the USA. Boys and Schools is dedicated to improving the lives and futures of boys. Their outreach efforts focus on raising public awareness regarding issues related to boys’ health and achievement. The Boys and Schools program is a project of the Men’s Health Network, a non-profit educational organization committed to improving the health and well-being of men and boys.

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Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men?

With Special Guests:

• Dr Warren Farrell
• Warwick Marsh and
• Kay Knight

This week we interview Dr Warren Farrell, world renowned author of countless books on gender, including The Myth of Male Power, Why Men Earn More and Father and Child Reunion. With women’s and gender studies courses dominating our universities; where the next generation of leaders learns contempt for men and their traditional roles and are taught to hate males and fathers and the so-called patriarchy, Warren Farrell has set out to address exactly this audience with his new book, produced by leading academic publishers Oxford University Press, Does Feminism Discriminate Against Men? A Debate.

Next up we will talk with Warwick Marsh from the Fatherhood Foundation and Greg Andresen (from DOTA), who organised the recent Men and Fathers’ Health Forum in Canberra. We close today’s show by talking with Kay Knight from the Thanks Dad Photos competition, run by a group called Community Connections on the NSW North Coast.

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The Woman Racket

With special guests:

• Steve Moxon and
• Sue Price.

Steve Moxon is the English author of a new book called “The Woman Racket - the new science explaining how the sexes relate at work, at play and in society”. Notwithstanding its provocative title, The Woman Racket is a serious scientific investigation into one of the key myths of our age - that women are oppressed by the “patriarchal” traditions of Western societies. Drawing on the latest developments in evolutionary psychology, Moxon finds that the opposite is true - men, or at least the majority of low-status males - have always been the victims of deep-rooted prejudice. As the prejudice is biologically derived, it is unconscious and can only be uncovered with the tools of scientific psychology. The book reveals this prejudice in fields as diverse as healthcare, employment, family policy and politics: compared to the long and bloody struggle for universal male suffrage, women were given the vote “in an historical blink of the eye”

Also Sue Price, from the Men’s Rights Agency joins us to talk about the new Child Support Agency scheme to go through old income tax records in an attempt to bring some additional pennies into its coffers.

Plus the 5th and final instalment of the radio drama Hero Joe, produced especially for Dads on the Air.

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The Best of 2007 - Part 1

With special guests:

• Sue Price: founder and spokesperson for the Men’s Rights Agency
• Dr Ludwig Lowenstein: world expert on Parental Alienation Syndrome
• Maggie Hamilton: author of What Men Don’t Talk About
• Andrew Denton: TV personality from many shows including Enough Rope
• Erin Pizzey: founder of the world’s first refuge for battered women
• Tony Coe: president of the UK’s Equal Parenting Council
• Ann Bressington: outspoken South Australian MP, who is calling for better Child Protection
• Mark Harris and Jolly Stansby: Fathers4Justice UK activists. Mark is also the author of Family Court Hell
• Jim Bailey: New Zealand father’s activist.

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International Comment

John Waters

With special guests:

• Dean Tong - internationally known family rights and forensic consultant on child abuse, domestic violence and child custody cases. He is also the author of a number of books including “Don’t blame me Daddy: false accusations of child sexual abuse - a hidden national tragedy” and “Elusive Innocence: survival guide for the falsely accused”
• John Waters - well known Irish journalist and social commentator, who calls a spade a spade. John speaks his mind at the Amen conference in Dublin, attacking the authorities for ignoring their duty of care to fathers and their children and refering to this scandal as being a gross violation of human rights

Plus the lastest news items from Australia and overseas affecting dads and their children.

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Abused Men

With special guests

• Joshua Key, subject of the book The Deserter’s Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq. Key, a young husband and father from Oklahoma, enlisted in the US Army in 2002 to lift his family out of poverty. Key tells of the human rights abuses he witnessed in Iraq: civilians beaten and shot, killed or maimed after little or no provocation. After seven months in Iraq, Key went home and knew he could no longer serve his country.

• Mary Cleary from AMEN, Ireland. AMEN is a voluntary group, founded in December 1997, which provides a confidential helpline, a support service and information for male victims of domestic abuse. Thousands of men and supportive members of their families have contacted the helpline since it was set up. She is also co-author of a new book That Bitch: Protect Yourself Against Women with Malicious Intent.

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Examining Misandry

With special guests:

• Dr. Paul Nathanson and Dr. Katherine Young, authors of two very important books that uncover the underlying contempt for men and boys in our culture today: Spreading Misandry: The Teaching of Contempt for Men in Popular Culture and Legalizing Misandry: From Public Shame to Systemic Discrimination Against Men.
• Simon Hunt, from Parents Against Institutionalised Child Abuse. A unique voice in the Australian Fatherhood movement by dint of refusing to shut up. Hunt has distilled the problems with the Family Law system down to one key issue: equal time parenting after separation - the solution that removes the problem.
• Sue Price, from the Men’s Rights Agency, talking about the bizarre news that the Child Support Agency has been given an award for it’s work in the area of suicide prevention!

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Family Court Hell

With special guests:

• Mark Harris, jailed for waving at his daughters as they drove past in the family car, and author of a new book Family Court Hell, a rare insight into the closed British family court system
• Jolly Stansby, activist from the UK’s Fathers 4 Justice, most famous for dressing up as a superhero and scaling public buildings to bring awareness to the injustice in the British family courts. Jolly was most recently arrested in the USA for scaling the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC
• Damon (not his real name), an Aussie dad who has been fortunate enough to receive 50-50 shared care of his children
• Ted Donnelly, from Lane Cove Community Men’s Shed talking about the 2nd National Community Men’s Sheds Conference.

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Fathers' Day Special

With special guests:

• Eric Burch, US serviceman and musician
• Matt O’Connor, leader of Fathers 4 Justice UK
• Jacinta Hawgood, from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention, at Griffith University
• Warwick Marsh, from the Fatherhood Foundation
• Colin George, from the Fatherhood Festival in Bangalow (Northern NSW).

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Welfare, Debt, Credit, Bureaucracy and Betrayal: the Howard Years

Julie Owens MP

With special guests:

• Peter Saunders, senior researcher, Centre for Independent Studies
• Scott Garman from New Hampshire Commission on the Status of Men, the only Commission for Men anywhere in the world
• Tony Miller, founder of Dads In Distress
• Tom Mok on Child Support Agency’s misleading data and
• Julie Owens, Labor MP for Parramatta.

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New Zealand Special

With special guests:

• Celia Lashlie, author, He’ll Be Okay: Growing Gorgeous Boys into Good Men
• Jim Bailey, outspoken critic of the government-promoted mistreatment of fathers at the hands of the judiciary and the bureacracy
• Jim Bagnall, chairman of the Separated Fathers Support Network

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