13th-September-2008
|
| |
Dateline: UK, EU By: Steve Bayliss From: Ration Shed New Zealand Via: The Honor Network FNF Friend of Foe? Priority News Exchange Program News Item (PNEP) What follows in a news item which states that FNF (UK) leaked information to weaken a fathers’ case in a closed courtcase. When a man on the FNF board told of this fact he was confronted and told to be silent and then banned. Some have called for FNF members to confront their leadership and if not given satisfactory answers to leave the group. Below is what has transcribed to date: Quote: September 13, 2008
Fiona Hamilton, London Correspondent
Britain’s leading fathers’ rights charity is in turmoil after it emerged that one of its senior figures used the organisation to influence a child custody hearing against a father, The Times has learnt.
Families Need Fathers (FNF) is to pay tens of thousands of pounds in damages and legal costs after one of its officials admitted writing a defamatory letter to a judge in an attempt to undermine the father’s custody case.
Steve Stephenson, FNF’s London branch organiser, admitted that he should not have made the “false and defamatory allegations”, which were vetted by the head office of the government-funded charity.
The case has highlighted the secrecy in which the family justice system is shrouded, because the father – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was unaware of the allegations against him for several months.
It was only when the father, a working professional in his fifties, requested correspondence from his file that it came to his attention and he refuted the allegations. Three court hearings had taken place in the meantime.
News of Mr Stephenson’s intervention, which was written on an FNF letterhead and incorrectly alleged that the court had been deceived by the father, ignited a fierce reaction. On an online forum for FNF members one wrote: “Does anyone know why he would represent something detrimental to children and against FNF’s main aim? Has he lost the plot?”
The charity receives a government grant of more than £300,000 a year and David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, is one of its patrons. Bob Geldof is also a supporter.
Mr Stephenson wrote the letter in July last year. He was assisting the ex-wife in the hearing by acting as her “McKenzie Friend” – an aide for litigants without legal representation.
The father said: “FNF’s role in this matter is especially surprising because it is an organisation that campaigns against injustices in the family courts.”
Jon Davies, the chief executive officer of FNF, said that a mistake had been made and an apology made. He said new policies had beeen drawn up, and distributed to all staff and officers within FNF, to ensure that such actions were not repeated.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4743750.ece
| Quote:
Email from a member of the FNF forum:
Please can you cancel my subscription entirely, including the fnf help forum as i've already been expelled from fnf chat for titling headings 'CORRUPTION' please ruth, i don't want to be a part of FnF no more. Please can you forward this to the representing party please.
Kind Regards
Steve Bayliss
| ----- Original Message ----- From: JoetheToad@... To: s_bayliss@... Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 8:21 PM Subject: FNF Forum Subscription Quote: Steve,
Your posts in recent weeks have become more and more derogatory of the work of FNF and the work of the volunteers or employees. You have made suggestions that these people have been bought off in some way which is deeply insulting, unfair and untrue.
I would not expect F4J to tolerate FNF members going onto their forums and criticising F4J’s integrity or motivation. The two organisations have different ways of working, but the motivation of the people has never been questioned by anyone in FNF. I think FNF have been exceptionally tolerant for months in allowing your posts and explaining again and again why FNF work in the way that we do.
I said in a post that I will not see the forums used to make unfounded allegations that demoralise the volunteers and workers within the charity.
Following Jon Davies' email, I again posted publicly on forum saying that the forums are not to be used in this way and explained why.
This has been the subject of discussion between the moderators of the forums who have agreed that due to the repeated allegations made in your posts, we feel there is no option now other than to revoke your subscription.
It is with deep regret that I have unsubscribed you from the forums.
Michael (Moderator)
| Whether the allegations are real or not the FNF leadership must be answer for these reported actions. As a moderate father organization (or soft group) FNF shouldn’t be silencing or banning members who disagree with the leadership in helping to undermine fathers, when it is supposed to be an organization that purports to help fathers. If this is a smear campaign against FNF they need to open up what has happened and fire anyone that was responsible and not ban questioners and demand silence. If these steps are not taken one can only surmise that the leadership of the FNF may be compromised as has been claimed by many former members. Moderates organizations must not distance themselves from radical organizations in the hope of getting special treatment by the establishment. Yet to covertly cooperation with the estblishment to destroy men says that the whole organization may be under the thumb of the government, despite the well meaning & ignorant members in the ranks of the FNF. For more click: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rationshed/message/640
The good men may do separately is small compared with what they may do collectively -
Benjamin Franklin
None of us is smart as all of us-
Old Japanese Proverb
|
|
|
