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Family Court HELL
SYNOPSIS; This is one man's harrowing story of frustration and determination as he battled for access rights to his young daughters following the bitter break up of his marriage. Incredibly, his was a journey that spanned almost ten years, with 133 hearings before 33 different judges and which reportedly cost the taxpayer almost one million pounds UK Sterling. What should have been a 'simple child access dispute' somehow resulted in this innocent family man effectively being criminalized by the family courts, resulting in two stretches on the A Wing of London's notorious Pentonville Prison, which housed convicted murderers, terrorists, gun runners and drug dealers. Mark Harris eventually took his case public and the international campaign for fathers' rights took off-with the formation of Fathers 4 Justice. This is a shocking story that deserves to be told.
232 pages, Paperback
First published June 17, 2007
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November 14, 2023
Here's the kind of book that, truly, should be made into a movie. That, not only it isn't, but, far more tellingly, it went completely unnoticed when published should tell you all you need to know about the value accorded to fathers, fathers' rights, and fathers' right activism -at least in Britain! But (you might ask): who the heck is Mark Harris!? Well...
In feminist Britain, the guy is, obviously, as unknown (and deliberately kept so by 'a certain' establishment...) as, said, Erin Pizzey herself. And, like the censorship still surrounding Erin Pizzey herself (if you don't know her, I urge you to educate yourself...) there's a reason, too, for Mark Harris being (*cough*) conveniently ignored by the (*cough*) 'certain' establishment. The kicking off of the fathers' rights movement? That's him. Rubbished fathers climbing up on top of roofs to draw attention to their pleas? That's him too. The exposing of the appalling treatment of dads in the family courts, including when pitting themselves up against women who have been clearly proven as being abusive? Him again. Mark Harris, in fact, was the founder of of DADS (Dads Against Discrimination), the organisation that later became Fathers 4 Justice under the leadership of Matt O’Connor.
Now, true, his type of campaigning has been quite lampooned somehow, and since, for being a bit silly (think about their wearing of Batman/Spiderman/Santa costumes while hijacking public buildings...) but there's one thing that you cannot take away from them: the big SPLASH! that they made by bringing up issues no one would have, otherwise, dared to put forth. Many indeed, since then, have taken up the battle -and it's ongoing. Meanwhile, Mark Harris retold his story in here, by outlining what brought him to be a fathers' rights activist. Needless to say: it's a must read.
His case was quite infamous, but then again not quite isolated either: 10 years battling through the family courts, 133 hearings, 33 different judges including 2 presidents of the UK Family Division, in a masquerade that costed an estimated of almost £1 million to the taxpayer. Here's a guy who had expert testimonies in his favour yet lost his court case; a guy who had received death threats from his ex's new boyfriend, in court, yet had been legally denied contact with his own children (while said new boyfriend, who admitted to deprive them of meal and hit them was entrusted with their custody simply for being with their mum -go figure); or, again, a man who went to jail simply for waving at his kids in a street, while his ex boke multiple court orders in complete impunity and for years (don't be shocked, we still have grandparents having the police at their doors for sending cards to their alienated grandchildren, and breach of court orders is a very common occurrence in such cases...). And then what?
What is striking is that, the only person who finally put an end to such inanity would be one of his daughters, Lisa, who, when a teenager, ran away from her abusive mother and new boyfriend to go and live with her dad; triggering thus the whole case to end. In other word: it took a decade of a system smearing a father for being a father; rewarding, by the same token, an abusive woman and her partner simply because she was 'a mother' (and, doing so, contributing to child abuse being institutionally supported) for a case, that should never have reached such extremity had he be trusted in the first place, to finally close. His daughter, movingly, also wrote here the afterword; and it's an afterword that, in our days gripped by a fear moral panic of men, anyone ought to read -urgently.
In the end, then, here's a story of resilience, of courage, of hardship, of powerful activism. Here's a story, also, of our time, as, sadly, what Mark Harris went through is still what many fathers, to these days, still have to go through, within a gynocentric culture when it comes to parenting that treats them like second class parents, when not like downright 'wife beaters' and 'child molesters' should they dare taking their case to a court. Concerningly, as a story of parental alienation it is, also, the story of countless victims (including mothers, for mothers too can be alienated) those ordeal remains negated, as parental alienation itself, as a phenomenon, still remains firmly denied by our gendered cultural zeitgeist, thanks to an obnoxious brand of feminism (derailed into men-hating) which has been dangerously informing our understanding of domestic abuse. Let us remember, for instance, that, in Britain, it's Women's Aid that staunchly opposed (successfully) the including of parental alienation in the 2021 Domestic Abuse Bill... Sure, the tossing overboard of fathers ain't surprising coming from such lobbies; but their stance clearly shows that they have no care whatsoever for the countless Lisa out there either, and that, that should put us to shame as a society. An appalling story, but a must read.
In feminist Britain, the guy is, obviously, as unknown (and deliberately kept so by 'a certain' establishment...) as, said, Erin Pizzey herself. And, like the censorship still surrounding Erin Pizzey herself (if you don't know her, I urge you to educate yourself...) there's a reason, too, for Mark Harris being (*cough*) conveniently ignored by the (*cough*) 'certain' establishment. The kicking off of the fathers' rights movement? That's him. Rubbished fathers climbing up on top of roofs to draw attention to their pleas? That's him too. The exposing of the appalling treatment of dads in the family courts, including when pitting themselves up against women who have been clearly proven as being abusive? Him again. Mark Harris, in fact, was the founder of of DADS (Dads Against Discrimination), the organisation that later became Fathers 4 Justice under the leadership of Matt O’Connor.
Now, true, his type of campaigning has been quite lampooned somehow, and since, for being a bit silly (think about their wearing of Batman/Spiderman/Santa costumes while hijacking public buildings...) but there's one thing that you cannot take away from them: the big SPLASH! that they made by bringing up issues no one would have, otherwise, dared to put forth. Many indeed, since then, have taken up the battle -and it's ongoing. Meanwhile, Mark Harris retold his story in here, by outlining what brought him to be a fathers' rights activist. Needless to say: it's a must read.
His case was quite infamous, but then again not quite isolated either: 10 years battling through the family courts, 133 hearings, 33 different judges including 2 presidents of the UK Family Division, in a masquerade that costed an estimated of almost £1 million to the taxpayer. Here's a guy who had expert testimonies in his favour yet lost his court case; a guy who had received death threats from his ex's new boyfriend, in court, yet had been legally denied contact with his own children (while said new boyfriend, who admitted to deprive them of meal and hit them was entrusted with their custody simply for being with their mum -go figure); or, again, a man who went to jail simply for waving at his kids in a street, while his ex boke multiple court orders in complete impunity and for years (don't be shocked, we still have grandparents having the police at their doors for sending cards to their alienated grandchildren, and breach of court orders is a very common occurrence in such cases...). And then what?
What is striking is that, the only person who finally put an end to such inanity would be one of his daughters, Lisa, who, when a teenager, ran away from her abusive mother and new boyfriend to go and live with her dad; triggering thus the whole case to end. In other word: it took a decade of a system smearing a father for being a father; rewarding, by the same token, an abusive woman and her partner simply because she was 'a mother' (and, doing so, contributing to child abuse being institutionally supported) for a case, that should never have reached such extremity had he be trusted in the first place, to finally close. His daughter, movingly, also wrote here the afterword; and it's an afterword that, in our days gripped by a fear moral panic of men, anyone ought to read -urgently.
In the end, then, here's a story of resilience, of courage, of hardship, of powerful activism. Here's a story, also, of our time, as, sadly, what Mark Harris went through is still what many fathers, to these days, still have to go through, within a gynocentric culture when it comes to parenting that treats them like second class parents, when not like downright 'wife beaters' and 'child molesters' should they dare taking their case to a court. Concerningly, as a story of parental alienation it is, also, the story of countless victims (including mothers, for mothers too can be alienated) those ordeal remains negated, as parental alienation itself, as a phenomenon, still remains firmly denied by our gendered cultural zeitgeist, thanks to an obnoxious brand of feminism (derailed into men-hating) which has been dangerously informing our understanding of domestic abuse. Let us remember, for instance, that, in Britain, it's Women's Aid that staunchly opposed (successfully) the including of parental alienation in the 2021 Domestic Abuse Bill... Sure, the tossing overboard of fathers ain't surprising coming from such lobbies; but their stance clearly shows that they have no care whatsoever for the countless Lisa out there either, and that, that should put us to shame as a society. An appalling story, but a must read.
September 21, 2007
Family Court Hell details Mark Harris' 10 year case to maintain contact with his daughters. That Mark could be sent to prison for breaking his contact order by waving at his children highlights the lunacy of the family courts. That Natural fathers requiring re-introduction to the children once contact has been broken by the courts whilst Mum's new boyfriend can move straight in is central to the questions Mark raises against the courts and the society that allows them to operate in secret.
That a fathers contact can be reduced because it appears the children are not happy at the mothers home or that an order of no contact can be made despite repeated statements from the children that they wish to see their father show a secret court failing to act in the interests of the children.
This is the case that ultimately led to the start of Fathers 4 Justice. What is incredible is not that it happened but that it didn't happen sooner. Family Court Hell shows the family courts are more Monty Python Sketch than legal system and that Justice is a concept only found outside the law.
That a fathers contact can be reduced because it appears the children are not happy at the mothers home or that an order of no contact can be made despite repeated statements from the children that they wish to see their father show a secret court failing to act in the interests of the children.
This is the case that ultimately led to the start of Fathers 4 Justice. What is incredible is not that it happened but that it didn't happen sooner. Family Court Hell shows the family courts are more Monty Python Sketch than legal system and that Justice is a concept only found outside the law.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews