Despite losing one speaker through rail delays, our meeting on 7th December to promote FNF work in Aberdeen resulted in a very useful discussion on a range of issues.  It also highlighted the strong interest in collaborative law amongst Aberdeen family lawyers.

Karen Woodall from the Centre For Separated Families would have talked about their work in supporting the whole family, gender inequality and with high conflict families if her train had made it north of Edinburgh - we hope to invite her back next year, maybe to support our work in Stirling.

Instead, our audience of fathers, family lawyers, educationalists and family support staff (including two people from the newly renamed Avenue mediation, contact and counselling service) heard from Ian Maxwell about how FNFworks to support individuals and also campaigns to change the system.

John Forsyth spoke about "Equal Parents"- the new report from FNF Scotland about clearing the obstacles to involvement of non-resident parents in their children's education. 

Many fathers have contacted FNF Scotland about problems in getting hold of school information about their children, such as the wrongful refusal to release school attendance information to a father because he didn't have parental rights.

John sent a Freedom of Information Request to all Scottish local authorities in mid 2011, asking about their policies on the right of non-resident parents to information about their children, how they collect contact details for non-resident parents, how they make school information available to non-resident parents and whether they know what proportion of their school roll had parents living apart.

The results of this survey, together with an account of the relevant law and examples of good and poor practice are included in the report, which will be modified for publication following further consultation. 

Anyone who has comments on this draft or who can contribute further experience relating to contact or involvement with Scottish schools should contact  [email protected].