The Common Injustice

Tuesday, March 24th, 2015

‘A loving parent may go to jail today‘

Kids-Right recently published an article regarding how a father of two, Alex Haas had been mistreated within the courts to have the right to see his children. Alex Haas was told he would face imprisonment as he was behind on his family court order support payments. Read the full article here: http://goo.gl/3z6Yoa

1. Is this right?

No not at all, here at KNBP we pride ourselves in supporting separated families and use mediation as one of our therapies to reduce cost and avoid court. However, in many cases some parents do not want to co-operate which can leave injustice for one parent and the child or children. Alex Haas is only guilty of loving his children and has been unfairly treated. It seems as though the court is more interested about the money than the children, Alex Haas is paying what he can afford however, he states:

?The court uses an application for a mortgage I made in 2006 to establish my income, not current information. I’ve tried multiple times to get the amount lowered and based on current accurate information, but to no avail.?

                                                                             (Kids-Right, 2015)

Surely this cannot be allowed; there should be up-to-date information within courts so there can be a fair amount of money that is paid? Alex also reveals how he was ordered to pay the Mother?s lawyer fees; this has left him in debt and still desperately trying to fight for his rights as a father.

2. Is this all because he is a man?

Yes, the Family Rights Group state:

?All mothers automatically have parental responsibility for their child from the moment of the child’s birth, but as a father you will only have parental responsibility automatically if:

• you are married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth or you marry her after the birth: or
• you are registered as the child’s father on the birth certificate and the registration took place after 1st December 2003.?

(Family Rights Group)

It is not uncommon to see that the Mother automatically gets the rights over the children even if the mother and father were married when the child was born. The mother of Alex’s children left him and stopped contact immediately with the children, Alex tried reporting this to the police but:

“The police of the FBI couldn’t help because she was there mother and ?it was a civil matter?.

(Kids-Right, 2015)

However, if the father had taken the children and stopped all contact, would this case be handled differently? Alex has also been accused of child abuse, which is taken very seriously, and this either prolongs court proceedings or stops contact immediately. Father’s as a whole perhaps need more support in gaining access to their children and need more advice in doing so.

3. Should children have a voice?

Yes, most definitely, Alex’s case is one of many and children should have a voice in a family arrangement when it comes to parental separation. The child should have a right in the matter and should be listened to, by both the parents and courts. Children can be left with an unpromising childhood and could be mentally affected therefore, it is time to change this and create a better environment for them. Kids do need both parents.