By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
Lucy Ward, Social Affairs Correspondent
The Guardian
Lauren Gelfond Feldinger
The Jerusalem Post

Seeking a professional, licensed child, family psychologist in Israel
- contact Sara Silber

Jerusalem----June 16......Fathers4Justice in England, a well respected civil rights group speaking out for father's and children's rights through the use of highly visible public events, is achieving much success through its public awareness campaign.

Strengthened powers for family courts in the UK to enforce child contact orders will stop short of electronically tagging or imposing curfews on parents who deny their former partners agreed access to a child after divorce or separation.

However, while some of the toughest sanctions originally floated by UK ministers in January have been quietly dropped, a bill published yesterday will give courts other new powers to enforce orders, including compelling parents to undertake community service while their former partner sees the child.

Under the child contact and inter-country adoption bill, published by the children's minister, Beverley Hughes, courts - which can currently only fine or jail parents in breach of orders - will also be able to order parents to pay financial compensation to their former partner to cover any losses incurred because they unreasonably withhold access. They will also be able to instruct parents to take part in activities that "promote contact" such as meeting a counsellor or attending information or guidance sessions about contact arrangements.

However, though courts will have powers to send parents to information sessions about mediation, they will not be able to compel them to attend mediation itself as happens in parts of the US - to the frustration of some fathers' groups.

The issue of equal parental access to children after separation has been increasingly highlighted by campaigners, most prominently by the fathers' civil rights group Fathers4Justice. The group wants family courts to have a presumption of equal access rights for both parents. Pre-legislative scrutiny of initial proposals by a committee of MPs argued that proposals to electronically tag mothers refusing to grant access went too far.

In Israel, Fathers4Justice Israel, an offshoot of Fathers4Justice England, Canada and in the US is about to launch their Website.

There are thousands of men across Israel working with divorce lawyers and affiliating with a new crop of men's rights organizations that are trying to bring the issues of divorced and separated fathers to public attention. These fathers and activists argue that the law, as well as the public, is gender-biased in favor of mothers and against fathers, and that mothers are taking advantage of the law. This not only hurts fathers, they charge, but more important, it hurts the children.

Compared to other western countries, the Israel fathers' movement is relatively quiet and, some say, behind the times. Fathers-4-Justice, a largely European group, has made headlines over the last year for stopping traffic. In a public awareness campaign launched in 2004, members dressed as Superman, Batman, Robin and Spiderman climbed a suspension bridge in England at rush hour, flailing a banner reading "Superhero Fathers 4 Justice Fighting for your right to see your kids." The organization apologized to backed-up commuters for denying them access to the bridge, stating in a press release that like the commuters, "thousands of fathers are denied access to their children every day by this country's archaic family laws."

In 1979, the Hollywood film Kramer vs. Kramer highlighted the subject of gender bias in the family courts through the re-telling of a real-life, precedent-setting case. Though the movie won numerous awards, law professionals said the film exaggerated the legal issues, which had already been partly and previously redressed in the courts. The US and many European countries have already reconsidered the legal benefits granted to mothers after divorce, in favor of gender-neutral language that gives both parents equal legal opportunities. But even in these countries, men argue that mothers are still overwhelmingly, and often unfairly, granted rights denied to fathers. In Israel, by contrast, the public outcry over such issues has been more like a squeak.

Two months ago, the Israel Fathers' Rights Advocacy Council and Fathers4Justice Israel sent announcements to its 8,000 members to flood the Kfar Saba Family Court for a mass public protest against gender-biased custody laws. Israel Custody Laws which date back to 1962.

Last week an Israel family court judge ordered a well respected Israel journalist to take psychological tests for writing new stories critizing the Israel Knesset Custodian law of 1962 and Israel's gender biased court and welfare systems. The journalist, who serves as an advisor to Israel's Foreign Ministry and the Israel Defense Forces, was told that if he did not take the tests, then he would have to accept his present two afternoon visits per week with his young son. The veteran journalist questioned why he was able to have unsupervised visits for two days per week but if he wanted more time with his child would need to take psychological tests.
His attorney stated that this was a direct infringement on freedom of speech and the journalist's means of employment.

Two weeks ago, Fathers-4-Justice Israel and Horut Sheva demonstrated for basic reforms in family law at the Tel Aviv courthouse with "superdad" Batman joining over two dozen divorced and separated dads demanding equal access with their children. Fathers4Justice Israel is stepping up its public activity as it announced recently that they were nearing the completion of their Website designed to educate the Israel public, members of Knesset, Israel welfare system and family court judges as to the suffering that children of divorced couples experience.

On Friday, June 17th, Members of Fathers-4-Justice US and supporters will gather in Concord, NH and Boston, MA to raise public awareness of the plight of fathers and children within inequitable state family court systems. The cities are two of several in the nation hosting demonstrations on "Fatherless Day." The event will be conducted in the flamboyant style of F4J demonstrations that have been so successful in raising public awareness.

The American Psychological Association, the world's largest psychological organization, advocates joint custody for lowering conflict between divorced parents, reducing Parental Alienation Syndrome (PAS) and states that children need to see their fathers at least three times per week for the child to develop in a healthy mental and emotional manner.

Children from fatherless homes account for: the majority of youth suicides, teenage pregnancies, homeless and runaway children, juveniles in detention, children with behavioral disorders, high school dropouts and adolescents who abuse drugs. They are the same statistics that have been rolled out for years by those trying to change a court system that gives a great deal of power to the custodial parent (usually the mother), and a welfare system that initially demanded fathers be absent before benefits would be paid. Add to those barriers built-up frustration on the part of the non-custodial father and you have a recipe for father absenteeism.

The importance of a father's relationship with his children has been minimized, and the people who suffer the most are the children.

ISRAEL NEWS AGENCY