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A pledge might sound like a worthless, outdated and contrived commitment, but at F4J we are driven by a sense of duty, responsibility and and the need to create change and bring about justice on behalf of the thousands of children and parents whose sacred bond has been broken by the Family Courts. Day in, day out, Fathers 4 Justice is hoovering up the wreckage of peoples lives, broken by the policies of the government and the Lord Chancellor's Department. For years many fathers have been struggling to overcome the debt, poverty and childlessness forced upon them - what we call a bereavement - to fight the system. They have effectively been exiled to a Siberia of the broken. Fathers have struggled to adapt to a brave new world where they have effectively been replaced by the state as the protector and provider to their children. Too often they said the right things, but in the wrong language. Until now.
The press have described F4J as 'The Outlaw Fathers' and 'The New Militant Men's Movement.' Whatever you think of these labels, for the first time they are now writing about the fathers who are fighting back. And if we won't fight for our kids, just what will we fight for? This has become a Herculean struggle against the most powerful government department and an oppressive, suffocating legal system. As individuals we have been crushed by that system. Together though, united under the F4J banner, we can create the camaraderie, spirit, strength and momentum necessary to bring about meaningful change. Recently at meetings I have heard supporters talk about faith, hope, new beginnings and new ways forward. People ask how long it will take, how long will it be before they see their children again? There is no easy answer but we now have a vehicle that I believe, will deliver justice, hope, help and maybe even healing to broken families. Like never before fathers, mothers and grandparents will need to make great sacrifices to help each other. We need to rise up, perhaps risk arrest, even jail. We have drawn a line in the sand and declared that we will no longer tolerate the breaking of the sacred bond between parent and child by the state. Our pledge to you is that we will not stop until our work is done, whatever the sacrifice. We will finish, what we have begun. For our children.
MATTHEW O'CONNOR, FOUNDER, FATHERS 4 JUSTICE
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