Parliament Workbench

Petition · PE01513 · Session 4

Equal Rights for Unmarried Fathers

Closed Submitted 4 Feb 2014 People & Communities
Signatures
214
Comments
24
Considered
5 meetings
in the Official Report

What it asks

Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to review the laws that govern parental rights and child access, and their implementation, to ensure unmarried fathers have guaranteed rights to be a part of their children's lives if they are deemed fit parents.

What the petitioner did first

I have contacted my local MSP and my list MSPs in the Scottish Borders, all of whom advised I raise a petition with the Scottish Parliament. I have been in contact with various national bodies across Scotland and the UK and from these discussion I have been made aware that there is an estimated 160,080 seperated fathers and 295,000 children in Scotland alone whose rights are unprotected under our current laws. Evidence of these figures comes from investigative journalism by The Scotsman newspaper and the organistation 'One Parent Families Scotland' website www.opfs.org.uk.

Where it was considered

Official Report
  1. 6 May 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    New Petitions
    1 mention
  2. 5 Aug 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    1 mention
  3. 30 Sep 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    New Petitions
    2 mentions
  4. 25 Nov 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    3 mentions
  5. 12 May 2015
    Public Petitions Committee
    Continued Petitions
    2 mentions

Signatures by country

214 online signatures
  1. Scotland163 76.2%
  2. United Kingdom23 10.7%
  3. England11 5.1%
  4. Canada7 3.3%
  5. Costa Rica5 2.3%
  6. United States2 0.9%
  7. Ireland2 0.9%
  8. Wales1 0.5%

Comments

24 comments, oldest first
  1. Gillian Lamarra 5 Mar 2014
    Men need all the support they can, especially from women
  2. Anne Sinclair 5 Mar 2014
    My sons ex partner does not allow my son to see his daughter even although he has never missed a payment. Also we as Grandparents have no rights.
    Please do something as our hearts are broken.
  3. Gemma Paterson 5 Mar 2014
    It's took my partner 4 years to get contact every other weekend and half of school holidays, he was faced with false allegations where there was no evidence of violence, but still courts choose to pussy foot around the mother. Men should not go through this
  4. Vishay 5 Mar 2014
    We are moving forward with so much and I'm so happy with that. Parenting is not a liberty, it's something not a single human being should be denied. Absent fathers have such a detrimental affect on our society and future generations. We need to make sure we are letting as many willing fathers who have shown no faults as much access to their child as the mother. It takes two to make a kid.

    Signed,
    Vishay Krishan
  5. Joan Davis 5 Mar 2014
    Every parent should have the right to see their child especially when they would make a good parents until otherwise proven differently. Ron would make a wonderful father, and should have the right to do so.
  6. nicola feeley 5 Mar 2014
    Men should have the same rights as the mum x
  7. Marc 5 Mar 2014
    To not be in a country were you are told what you can and cant do by law, sums the UK up. "You are a great father but your ex who hates you doesnt agree, therefor you will never see them".

    Never give up. And keep fighting.
  8. Ashley Mcilvenny 5 Mar 2014
    The law does have to change, my husband has been fighting the court for 7 years & at every turn he is always the one that's lost out. It's ok for his ex partner to withhold his son for no reason & nothing happens but if my husband was to withhold him he would be in jail. She has tried everything in the book to try & stop my husband from seeing his son but still happy to take his money every month. He has fought tooth & nail with the courts to get contact back each time this really need to change as it's not fair on the child or children.
  9. maureen Hughes 5 Mar 2014
    I have a nephew who is having issues with access to his son,after him and his partner separated
  10. Stacey Campbell 5 Mar 2014
    So far it's taken my partner 18 months of fighting to eventually be granted 4 supervised contact sessions and then go back to court to see what judge decides next. He has had to endure false allegations of violence and drug abuse from his ex with no evidence, along with false allegations about myself from his ex family members. Things definitely need to be changed as there is too many females using their children as weapons to hurt the dad while continuing to take money from them.
  11. Stuart Wallace 5 Mar 2014
    Im a father who has faught for past year and half to see my daughter. I have been faced with a false accusation which my ex and her mother mistakenly contradicted on two different legal papers. Even still i must wait. I pay every week from my wages and being the only clear thinking perent for my daughters future. Fathers should have more rights. Its been another four months since i last seen my daughter. One week was bad enough.
  12. Hearts Apart 5 Mar 2014
    This should include alienated mothers too. There is even less support for them than fathers. The law needs changing and quickly.
  13. June Murray 6 Mar 2014
    My son gets to see and keep his son 3 to 4 nights a week. He is working on minimum wage and is struggling, to buy him clothes and food when he has him, he can't afford to take him away days. The mother has a job an is getting all the benefits for their son. What rights has my son got?
  14. Jimmy 6 Mar 2014
    what we need is not more rights for each. We need equal rights.
  15. Lynn Anderson 6 Mar 2014
    Where parents are unable to agree over contact arrangements, there must be more legal protection allow both parents the ability to exercise their parental rights and responsibilities. All too often, the best interests of the child are forgotten whilst parents get caught up in emotional disputes. The law change suggested will recognise that fathers play an equally important role in the upbringing of children.
  16. hannah 7 Mar 2014
    Every father has a right to see there child! Any kother that stop the bond between child and father is sick!... A dad should always get a say no matter what.
  17. Lesley Rhodick 14 Mar 2014
    Every father should be allowed to see they're child as much as they possibly can :) good luck with the petition x
  18. Eleanor 16 Mar 2014
    Its time both parents were seen as important as each other!
  19. Brian Cowan 19 Mar 2014
    Family laws in this country are sub-standard & utterly incapable of protecting the best interests of the children whom they ought to protect.

    The current implementation of equal parental rights is wrong & flies in the face of common sense, it is devisive & ill-considered.

    Family law is not fit for purpose & is being further corrupted by lawyers who manipulate the system for their own gain...profiteering in the misery of loving parents & their innocent, helpless, voiceless children.

    A child needs & deserves the full & active involvement of both parents, they deserve alaw which enshrines & preciously guards these fundemental rights.
  20. John 27 Mar 2014
    I ve been through the courts and they are not father friendly. I have started a petition too for enforcement of child access orders. Fathers decent fathers do not deserve to be treated like this. Children needs fathers and mothers and it is proven if the child has father input they grow up more rounded and to say mothers are more important is rubbish fathers can do the same jobs as a mother in bringing up their children and fathers if able and fit should have equal time with their children too. This country interferes with other countries rights and laws and human cases but ignores their own peoples rights. Come on scotland lead the way lets give fathers equal rights and time. Fix this instead of trying to fix other countries society defects
  21. Caroline 29 Mar 2014
    I know a few dads who get a raw deal in the courts and I feel this should be stopped. I feel that once an order has been set by the court if not followed the parent stopping it should be charged.

    At the other side of it I think a parent who has been convicted of serious crimes i.e. rape, attempted murder, serious assaults to danger of life and domestic violence these parents should be stripped of their rights.

    Children are always in the middle of it and its about time the courts reconise this and not just say it.
  22. Lydia Reid 31 Mar 2014
    A Child has a right to both parents

    A child has the right to know and love both parents

    A Child has a right to direction, love and care from both parents

    It is time the right of the child became uppermost in law.

    It is time the best interest of the child is truly enshrined in law

    It is time the right of a child to both parents in their life is enshrined in law

    If a parent whether that be a mother or a father is a bad parent then any child is better of without that parent but if they are a loving parent then the child has a right to equal time with that parent.

    For too long our laws have been influenced by the current and "trendy" campaign groups that leave fathers feeling they have no right to spend time with their children

    Very often fathers are made out to be uncaring and unloving and people who leave their children.

    The truth is that often they are pushed out of the lives of their children.

    A law that says a child has a right to know and love both parents would change the lives of children in Scotland

    All it needs is a group of MSPs that see what is needed
  23. John 1 Apr 2014
    I have just read the other two posts above mine and I couldn't agree more. I am lawful I am a nurse I have a pay freeze but went into debt as I can't get legal aid to obtain an order and the mother changes it when I contacted the law they said they can't do anything to enforce it. I have since started a petition to change the law which I am waiting for them to approve so you can all see it. I have also contacted all msp members and got replies today saying their going to take it to parliment to ask the law to be changed so let's hope it does as I am now having to go into more debt to go back to court to have my order enforced which is unbelievable as an order should be enforced from the get go. But I am willing to get broke so I have my daughter in my live. Ironically if I were a drug addict or that I woukdnt need to pay a penny to go to court as legal aid would cover them. Where is the justice in this country. We stick our beaks into other countries here's a hint to the scottish parliment. FIX YOUR OWN COUNTRY FIRST BEFORE PREACHING TO OTHERS....
  24. Pauline 10 Apr 2014
    It is totally unacceptable for a father to be denied parental rights under any circumstances (unless he is an unfit parent)

    I speak from personal experience. As a child, I was not allowed to see my father. My mother denied him his rights by denying that he was my father even though she continued for many years to accept financial support from him.

    Both my parents are dead and I only ever got to meet my father once as a young adult. it was too difficult to develop a relationship due to all the anger and rejection felt by both of us.

    I pray that this legislation will be changed so that no other child has to deal with the pain of 'rejection' for no reason other than spite of the other parent.