Virtually every major social pathology has been linked to fatherlessness: violent crime, drug and alcohol abuse, truancy, teen pregnancy, suicide – all correlate more strongly to fatherlessness than to any other single factor. The majority of prisoners, juvenile detention inmates, high school dropouts, pregnant teenagers, adolescent murderers and rapists all come from fatherless homes. The connection is so strong that controlling for fatherlessness erases the relationships between race and crime and between low income and crime. Many commentators, including the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, have laid the blame for the recent UK riots at least partially on the fact that many of the rioters were raised in homes without their fathers present.
Men’s Health Australia spokesman Greg Andresen said today, “The Labor government is set to pass a bill over the coming weeks that will raise already high levels of fatherlessness to record levels with untold impact not just on vulnerable children denied the right to see their fathers; not just on fathers who will most likely end up depressed and suicidal after being denied the right to see their children; but on the greater fabric of Australian society.”
Mr Andresen went on to say that the Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011, if passed in its current form, would:
- increase child homicide rates (in NSW child homicide had reduced by almost 50% since the introduction of the soon to be reversed 2006 reforms)
- give an open license to parents – mostly mothers – who wish to fabricate allegations of violence and abuse as a legal strategy to remove fathers from their children’s lives (by removing the penalties available for the court to discourage false allegations)
- facilitate the practice of parental alienation, whereby one parent – mostly mothers – alienates the child(ren) from the other parent (by removing the law’s “friendly parent” provisions)
- facilitate and reward family violence by increasing the serious social abuse of denying children and one of their parents the right to a relationship
- fail to protect children from abuse and neglect by defining only “serious” psychological harm or neglect as being against the law
- increase litigation and costs for separating families and taxpayers (the soon to be reversed 2006 Family Law changes had led to a 20% reduction in litigation).
The message from the Labor/Green government to fathers and children this father’s day is clear: your relationship doesn’t matter. Happy father’s day!
Media contacts:
Sue Price | admin@mensrights.com.au | 0409 269 621
Warwick Marsh | info@fathersonline.org | 0418 225 212
Greg Andresen | media@menshealthaustralia.net | 0403 813 925
Source: A father’s day gift from Labor and the Greens: increased fatherlessness (http://mhaweb.squarespace.com/storage/files/MHA_Media_Release_FL11.pdf)
