A welcome new addition to the pantheon of groups supporting men is the Fatherhood Institute (link) which came into being came into being on 7 January 2008, a successor organisation to Fathers Direct. It is part funded through a £300,000 grant from the Government.
To quote from its site its aim is "to promote good practice in public services and industry, in recognition of the aspiration of fathers to be more involved in their children’s lives and in response to the increasing body of research that demonstrates the importance of father-child and mother-father relationships to children."
At its launch, it also produced a report "The Difference A Dad Makes" (link) that will dismay the anti-male feminist fundamentalists who want to relegate men to the outer sphere of society.
"7 out of 10 mums (68%) believe dads are as skilled at parenting as they are, yet the father role is seen as still secondary by much of society, according to new ICM research launched by the Fatherhood Institute today.
The new institute says involving fathers has a major impact on child welfare yet they spend on average a month less with their children than mums every year, mainly because of unsocial hours and inflexible working."
Full press release available at (link) and the launch was covered in The Guardian (link) and Daily Telegraph (link).
The organisation has been campaigning for a fairer Child Support Agency institution and also for the family courts/CAFCASS to be reformed. Two areas that the female fundamentalists have used to undermine the male role in bringing up and supporting their children.
Harriet Harman, one, if not the, biggest enemy of UK men, launched the new organisation probably as a sop to her conscience and to enable her to say "Look, the Labour Government does support men". Do not believe it.
Let us hope the Institute is successful but hope that because it is reliant on Government for its funding, it is not captured by the Government (Classic New Labour tactic of funding groups that oppose it, thereby effectively gaining control of them) and still and must remain an independent voice.
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