Courts to consider making child access to both parents a legal RIGHT?

[HoudiniHissy]

www.telegraph.co.uk/family/8995395/Divorced-mums-and-dads-could-get-legal-right-to-see-their-children.html

Just look at the comments below! The misogyny!

This is BONKERS!

What about in abuse cases? The police, the SS, DV charities, HV are all screaming to get yourself and your children out of the abusive situation, and even now, when there is no legislation, the courts insist on contact with the perpetrator. sometimes even falling for their BS and awarding custody.

To make this a RIGHT means to trample all over the rights of the child and abused partner.

With rights come responsibility. It is all well and good expressing our right to free speech and all that (for example) but it denies the rights of others if we choose to use inflammatory or discriminatory speech.

Likewise, it's a great theory to enshrine equal access to parents in the event of a split, but when is the WELFARE of all involved taken into account. If we give perpetrators of domestic abuse rights they will use them to the letter of the law and beyond to inflict further damage.

Life as an ex partner of a violent/abusive person is hard enough, without giving these monsters a RIGHT to contact.

Abusers, IMHO, should have as little to do with their children as possible. Their poison should die with them, not pollute the next generation.

Yes, but we all know most women don't manage to breastfeed long in the UK. We have pathetic breastfeeding rates actually. Most contact disputes are not over babies anyway.

Well yes, don't disagree with you there.

Most women who manage to breastfeed to full term (or even just longer than six months), do so against a background of opposition from most of the public and subtle or not so subtle undermining from those people who should help them most, the HCP's and their own families. It's not that surprising that they'd be pretty committed to it. Seven months isn't actually that long if you're not returning to paid work.

I've no doubt though, that in the future babies will be deprived of breast milk and mothers will have to go and buy very expensive formula, just so that fathers can pursue their rights.