Families Need Fathers Scotland welcomes the Equal Opportunities Committee report on Fathers and Parenting in Scotland. The report may in time be recognised as a notable milestone in challenging some of the institutional and attitudinal obstacles placed in the way of both fathers and mothers who want to share parenting of their children.

It is our experience that the obstacles the Committee has identified become steeper for fathers when the marriage or relationship breaks down. The acknowledged advantages for the children of the full involvement of both parents while the parents are together somehow gets sidelined on separation.

There is a raft of research that demonstrates children do better in all aspects of their life and emotional involvement when both parents are involved even after separation.

It is estimated that in the region of 30% of children in Scottish schools have parents who live separately.

It is evident that parents themselves are some way ahead of many professionals and politicians in establishing genuine shared parenting after separation. Perhaps that is as it should be. Unfortunately it is also our experience that even the phrase “shared parenting” still induces passive resistance or active hostility among some professionals and some family court sheriffs. While parents should lead, professionals should not be so far behind.

The Committee noted a “data deficit” in the extent of shared parenting. FNF Scotland will write to the Committee to offer our assistance in finding ways of gathering statistics and case studies that will present a fuller picture for future policy development.

FNF Scotland has submitted its contribution to the Scottish Parliament Equalities Committee enquiry into Fathers and Parenting.

We are calling for equal recognition of the contribution that fathers can make in parenting their children after separation.

Examples are included, drawn from the experience shared at our groups or through direct contact with the office in Edinburgh of institutional and professional obstructions placed in the way of non resident fathers in schools, health services, policing, family court proceedings and child maintenance.

We wrote: "We believe Scotland has drifted into a situation where the contribution of fathers, including non-resident fathers, is undervalued. Individual fathers are subjected to suspicion and resistance that is undermining and disempowering to them and disadvantages their children. In attitudes and practice non-resident fathers in particular are subjected to questions about their motivation and worth as parents that are discriminatory."  

The submission makes five recommendations:

1) Legislative change, including a review of the Children (Scotland) Act;

2) Political Leadership that can speak up unequivocally for fathers; 

3) More inclusion, especially in the practice of health providers and social workers in keeping fathers involved in the information they hold/withhold about their children;

4) Better school engagement with fathers, including non resident fathers, in terms of their obligations set out in the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act;

5) Action on abuses of the joint Police/Crown Office domestic abuse protocol that has lead to the 'doorstep ambush'. Wilfully breaching of agreed and court ordered contact arrangements should be a recordable incident of domestic abuse.

The Scottish Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee is keen to hear about the experiences of single fathers and fathers with shared residence of children. They wish to identify the key challenges they face in day-to-day life and the quality of support currently available to them. 

Amongst the members of the Committee are John Mason MSP who supported the member's debate on Families Need Fathers Scotland last year, and Christian Allard MSP (pictured) who raised his children after becoming a widower.

The committee have expressed particular interest in the provision of services and support groups, societal attitudes towards lone / unmarried fathers, and issues around parental responsibilities and rights for fathers.

Submissions should be made in writing, by Friday, 21 February 2014 to [email protected] or by post c/o the Clerk, Equal Opportunities Committee, TG.01, The Scottish Parliament, EDINBURGH, EH99 1SP.  When preparing a submission, remember that details of an ongoing court case or other personal information should not be included - if in doubt about this or how best to get your pint aross FNF Scotland are happy to advise.

Families Need Fathers Scotland will be submitting evidence, and we would be very interested to hear your views and receive copies of your submissions.