P-04-588 Charter for Children and Fathers
P-04-588 Charter for Children and Fathers
We
call upon the National Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to adopt
all six points in the Charter for Action for Children & Fathers in Wales.
1.
All Welsh Government funded programmes to record gender of parents / carers
they work with.
2.
Set S.M.A.R.T. targets to increase participation of fathers and all other Non
Resident Parents with Welsh Government services.
3.
First Minister to make annual statement on the importance of fathers AND what
the Welsh Government has done to help them in the past 12 months.
4.Encourage
improved shared care of children to allow more parents (particularly single
parents) to take up training or employment programmes.
5.
Recognition of Parental Alienation as a form of emotional abuse of children.
6.Establish
a work group under the Family Justice Network for Wales to co-ordinate improved
collaboration for those organisations who hold the DWP’s Help and Support for
Separated Families (HSSF) Mark in Wales
Additional Information
1.
Welsh Government has confirmed family support services are not currently asked
to record the gender of the parents they work with.
2.
Our research with parenting initiatives in Wales shows the average engagement
level is between 3 and 11% of service users being male.
3.
The precedent is from the USA:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/14/weekly-address-celebrating-fathers-day-weekend
4.
Several US states require the ’right of first refusal’ to non-resident parents
and grandparents for them to undertake child care: http://ilfamilylaw.com/new-law-right-first-refusal-child-care/
In Illinois they equate ’the best interests of the child’ with ’maximum time
with both parents’.
5.
The Family Justice Network for Wales rejected our call to recognise Parental
Alienation as a form of emotional abuse of children in May 20146.The DWP have
confirmed their support for this proposal and Albert Heaney Chair of the FJN
has also indicated his support.
Petition raised by: FNF Both Parents Matter
Cymru
Date Petition first
considered by Committee:
23 September 2014
Number of signatures: 653
The Committee considered
this petition on 23 February 2016 under Agenda Item 4 – Petitions
Proposed for Closure, and agreed to close the petition.
Business type: Petition
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Status: For consideration
First published: 17/09/2014