Our current family court system is not fit for purpose, because it gives the mother custody for the vast majority of the time. Studies have shown that shared custody is far more beneficial for the child.
We need a level playing field and to put fathers back with their children. Adopt shared custody as the norm and penalise parents who needlessly alienate the other parent. Reduce the costs of fighting to see your child. The costs of current system prohibit parents from fighting to see their children. Just as we need to get more women into boardrooms and close the pay gap, we need to empower men to be the fathers their children need. Latest data from the Office For National Statistics published this week shows that in 2015, divorced men were close three times more likely to take their own lives (27.4 per 100,000 compared to 9.6 per 100,000 divorced women).