Fathers 4 Justice began as a fathers’ rights organisation in the United Kingdom. It became prominent and frequently discussed in the media following a series of high-visibility stunts and protests often in costume. It was temporarily disbanded in January 2006, following allegations of a plot by members to kidnap the youngest son of then-Prime Minister
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
. Four months later, in May 2006, the group reformed and protested during the live broadcast of the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
lottery show
The National Lottery: Jet Set.
History
Fathers 4 Justice was founded in the UK by
Matt O'ConnorMatt O'Connor is the founder of the fathers' rights group Fathers 4 Justice in the UK. Denied access to his children by the Family Courts, O'Connor created Fathers 4 Justice to demand reform of the family courts and government policy on parental access.In his GQ magazine feature on O'Connor in...
, a marketing consultant and father. Following separation from his wife in 2000, O'Connor became a prominent critic of UK
family lawFamily law is an area of the law that deals with family-related issues and domestic relations including:*the nature of marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships;...
after a court barred him from seeing his young sons outside of a contact centre.
F4J's stated aim is to champion the cause of equal parenting, family law reform and equal contact for divorced parents with children. It is well-known for its campaigning techniques of
dramatic protest stuntsFathers 4 Justice is a fathers' rights pressure group based in the United Kingdom, who have staged many protests which have received national news coverage because of their circumstances.-Tower Bridge protest:...
, usually dressed as comic book superheroes and frequently scaling public buildings, bridges and monuments.
Stunts have included supporters storming courts dressed in Father Christmas outfits, clapping the Government's ‘Children’s Minister’ in handcuffs, and most notably group member Jason Hatch climbing onto
Buckingham PalaceBuckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
dressed as
BatmanBatman is a fictional character created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger. A comic book superhero, Batman first appeared in Detective Comics #27 , and since then has appeared primarily in publications by DC Comics...
. They have also protested by handcuffing two government ministers.
2002–06
On 17 December 2002, O'Connor and a small group of supporters staged their first protest by storming the Lord Chancellor's Office dressed as
Father ChristmasFather Christmas is the name used in many English-speaking countries for a figure associated with Christmas. A similar figure with the same name exists in several other countries, including France , Spain , Brazil , Portugal , Italy , Armenia , India...
. In January 2003, O'Connor officially founded
Fathers 4 Justice. The group targeted the homes of
family courtA family court is a court convened to decide matters and make orders in relation to family law, such as custody of children. In common-law jurisdictions "family courts" are statutory creations primarily dealing with equitable matters devolved from a court of inherent jurisdiction, such as a...
judges and family lawyers' homes and offices with traditional protests.
On 21 October 2003, campaigners Eddie "Goldtooth" Gorecki and Jonathan "Jolly" Stanesby scaled the
Royal Courts of JusticeThe Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is the building in London which houses the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and the High Court of Justice of England and Wales...
, dressed respectively as Batman and Robin. The following day, the group’s members rallied through London around a military tank in solidarity with Goreckwi and Stanesby.
Nine days later, group member David Chick scaled a 120 feet (36.6 m) crane near Tower Bridge, London dressed as
Spider-ManSpider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...
. The
Metropolitan PoliceMetropolitan Police is a generic title for the municipal police force for a major metropolitan area, and it may be part of the official title of the force...
set up a cordon around the area that disrupted traffic through some of East London for several days. Chick was subsequently cleared and published a ghost-written autobiography in February 2006.
On the morning of 22 December 2003, four campaigners – Eddie Gorecki, Jolly Stanesby, Michael Sadeh and Steve Battlershill – dressed as Father Christmas and climbed on top of Tower Bridge. They hung up a banner calling for the resignation of then Minister for Children Margaret Hodge, who they held responsible for perceived inequalities in family law. The four were charged with conspiracy, but the charge was dropped at the start of the trial a year later.
In 2004 Stanesby carried out a "citizens arrest" of
Margaret HodgeMargaret Hodge MBE MP, also known as Lady Hodge by virtue of her husband's knighthood, is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Barking since 1994. She was the first Minister for Children in 2003 and was Minister of State for Culture and Tourism at the Department...
at a conference, handcuffing himself to her and stating "Margaret Hodge, I'm arresting you for covering up child abuse." Both Stanseby and Jason Hatch (who had also attempted to handcuff himself to Hodge) were later cleared by a jury of charges of false imprisonment.
On 19 May 2004, a major alert was caused when two members of the group threw purple flour bombs at
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
during
Prime Minister's QuestionsPrime minister's questions is a constitutional convention in the United Kingdom that takes place every Wednesday during which the prime minister spends half an hour answering questions from members of parliament...
at the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
.
Following the House of Commons incident
The TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
wrote that the group "has succeeded in becoming the most prominent
guerrillaGuerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
pressure group in Britain ... within eighteen months of its founding."
In September 2004 the group made headlines around the world when member Jason Hatch scaled the walls of Buckingham Palace dressed as Batman. All charges relating to his protest were later dropped.
Also in September protester David Chick scaled The London Eye, forcing the attraction to close. He was found not guilty of charges of causing a public nuisance.
Protester Ray Barry scaled St Peter's Church in
WolverhamptonWolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
on Fathers Day in 2005. He was cleared of a charge of a public order offence and then repeated the protest on Christmas Day.
On 27 September 2005, protester Guy Harrison scaled
The Houses of ParliamentThe Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, is the meeting place of the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom—the House of Lords and the House of Commons...
unveiling a banner stating "Does Blair care? For Fawkes sake change family law." A jury acquitted him of the charge of committing a public nuisance offence.
In November 2005, the group received negative publicity when the prime-time ITV programme
Tonight With Trevor McDonaldTonight is a British television newsmagazine, produced by ITV Studios and ITN for the ITV network. Since 1999, Tonight replaced the long-running investigative series World in Action...
appeared to expose some of its members as violent and obnoxious in their behaviour. However, counter-claims have been made that these were never members in the first place and that the programme gave no right to reply.
Some members were expelled but the organisation defended its position and attacked the documentary. On 23 November 2005, Fathers 4 Justice ended its truce with the
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support ServiceThe Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service is a non-departmental public body for England and Wales set up to safeguard and promote the welfare of children involved in family court proceedings...
(CAFCASS) and the
Child Support AgencyThe Child Support Agency is a delivery arm of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission in Great Britain and the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland...
(CPS), calling for a public inquiry into family law.
During January 2006 the British newspaper
The SunThe Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
published a story in which it claimed fringe F4J members planned to kidnap Leo Blair, the young son of former
Prime MinisterA prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Tony BlairAnthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
'for a few hours as a symbolic gesture'. The police said they were aware of such a plan, but added it had probably never progressed beyond the "chattering stage".
Downing StreetDowning Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...
refused to confirm or deny the existence of a plot as it does not comment on matters concerning the Prime Minister's children.
Founder O'Connor condemned the alleged plot and threatened to shut down the group because of it. Within days, Fathers 4 Justice had been disbanded.
On 20 May 2006, Fathers 4 Justice protested during the showing of the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
lottery show "The National Lottery: Jet Set". The show was taken off-air for several minutes after six Fathers 4 Justice protesters ran from the audience onto the stage displaying posters. The protesters were soon removed from the studio and the lottery draws were hurriedly finished in order to start coverage of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. A group spokesman stated afterwards that the incident marked a "dramatic return" of Fathers 4 Justice.
2007–present
In July 2007 F4J member and barrister Michael Cox was jailed for refusing to pay money he owed to the
Child Support AgencyThe Child Support Agency is a delivery arm of the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission in Great Britain and the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland...
. Cox told a hearing in Southampton he refused to pay on principle, as he had joint custody of his children, and his former wife wrote to the court in support of him.
On 8 June 2008, two fathers from Fathers 4 Justice climbed onto the roof of Labour deputy leader
Harriet HarmanHarriet Ruth Harman QC is a British Labour Party politician, who is the Member of Parliament for Camberwell and Peckham, and was MP for the predecessorPeckham constituency from 1982 to 1997...
's house wearing superhero-style costumes dubbed "Captain Conception" and "Cash Gordon". One of the pair, Mark Harris, said he wanted fathers to have the same right as their mothers' new partners. He also said they would not come down unless Harman read his book, "Family Court Hell".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7442435.stm Harris later received a conditional discharge while his colleague Jolly Stanesby was jailed for two months.
In the same month, Bristol Family Court was evacuated after a protest by around 30 F4J supporters.
On 9 July 2008, another set of fathers who were not part of the F4J organisation, this time in Spider-Man and Batman outfits, scaled Harman's roof and draped a banner emblazoned "Stop The War On Dads".
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kqsLwV-rDe0 Nigel Ace, the Spider-Man character, called for legal reforms through a loudhailer on the roof. Harman claimed the group had never sought democratic dialogue with her, but O'Connor claimed he had been ignored after trying to get in touch through his MP
Mark OatenMark Oaten is a former British Liberal Democrat politician. He served as the Member of Parliament for Winchester from 1997 to 2010, and was his party's Home Affairs spokesperson from 2003 to 2006...
.
Criticism
Members of the group are alleged to have conducted intimidating attacks in order to upset court staff and family lawyers. These attacks include throwing purple paint – the group's colour – on the outside of
CAFCASSThe Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service is a non-departmental public body for England and Wales set up to safeguard and promote the welfare of children involved in family court proceedings...
buildings, pushing rotten meat or fish through letterboxes, sending fake bombs, hate mail and verbal abuse. Fathers 4 Justice has admitted to incidents involving CAFCASS property but deny harassing individuals. During protests outside CAFCASS offices, individual case workers were identified by name in a similar style to animal rights protesters. One office was invaded by F4J members and detained an unnamed employee, (however, no criminal proceedings are known to have resulted).
Impact
Fathers 4 Justice's main impact remains upon media coverage and legal treatment of fathers' rights issues in the UK. The use of high-profile and disruptive stunts has garnered significant UK media coverage.
The political aims of the group are as yet unachieved, but one of its central aims – the removal of secrecy surrounding family courts – is the subject of active political debate. In 2006, the Court of Appeal set a precedent allowing adults to discuss secret cases after they had finished. This resulted in a number of high-profile scandals, chiefly concerning adoption. In February 2009, Justice Minister Jack Straw announced plans to reverse this ruling.
A significant, unintended result of the F4J campaign has been the exposure of flaws in security at high-profile British institutions, resulting in security enquiries or reviews at
Buckingham PalaceBuckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...
and the
House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
.
See also
- Child custody
Child custody and guardianship are legal terms which are used to describe the legal and practical relationship between a parent and his or her child, such as the right of the parent to make decisions for the child, and the parent's duty to care for the child.Following ratification of the United...
- Fathers' rights movement in the UK
The fathers' rights movement in the UK consists of a number of diverse pressure groups, ranging from charities and self-help groups to civil disobedience activists, who started to obtain wide publicity in 2003. The movement's origin can be traced to 1974 when Families Need Fathers was founded...
- Parental alienation
Parental alienation is a social dynamic, generally occurring due to divorce or separation, when a child expresses unjustified hatred or unreasonably strong dislike of one parent, making access by the rejected parent difficult or impossible...
- Parental alienation syndrome
Parental alienation syndrome is term coined by Richard A. Gardner in the early 1980s to refer to what he describes as a disorder in which a child, on an ongoing basis, belittles and insults one parent without justification, due to a combination of factors, including indoctrination by the other...
- Pressure groups in the United Kingdom
This is a list of pressure groups in the United Kingdom. These pressure groups, based on their relationship with United Kingdom policy makers, can be divided into insider groups, who have high degree of involvement and influence and outsider groups, who have little or no direct involvement or...
- Shared parenting
Shared parenting refers to a collaborative arrangement in child custody or divorce determinations in which the care of the children is equal or more than substantially shared between the biological parents.- Nature and History :...
External links