I am a father who has spent years maintaining connection with my children during periods of separation due to family breakdown and long legal processes. I’ve seen first hand how challenging it is for children to feel secure and reassured when regular contact is limited and suitable resources to facilitate bonding are scarce. It is critical for children, especially during formative years, to maintain a consistent emotional connection with their parents.

In my personal journey, I’ve used simple activities, games, colouring and photo's to support my children to stay calm, engaged, and emotionally connected during these trying times. These child-focused tools have been instrumental in providing emotional reassurance and maintaining a bond that fights against the tide of physical separation.

When children are separated from their fathers due to child protection involvement, court processes, incarceration, or unresolved family disputes, the separation itself can cause significant emotional distress.

In many cases, this separation may not be because the father has harmed the child, but because systems are responding to conflict between adults, interim risk concerns, or unresolved legal processes. During these periods, children are often left with limited to no means of maintaining connection with their father sometimes for months or years.

At present, there are no practical, child-safe resources offered to children to help maintain this connection. In many institutional settings, fathers are not permitted to provide simple activity or connection materials, and children are rarely offered anything designed specifically to preserve the father–child relationship during separation.

The Dad’s Book is a child focused activity and connection book created for this exact situation. It is designed to be safe, calm, and non-instructional, allowing children and fathers to do shared activities, colouring and enjoy moments over time, creating a tangible record of positive interaction and ongoing relationship.

The book contains no court, legal, or adult conflict content. It does not instruct children on what to say or think. It can be used during visits or while apart, and provides continuity during long periods of separation by keeping all shared activities in one place.

When a father and child have been separated for a long period including due to incarceration or extended system involvement their time together can be awkward, unfamiliar, or difficult to navigate. Sitting together in a plain room without shared activities can place pressure on both the child and the father, particularly when the relationship has been disrupted.

The Dad’s Book helps reduce this awkwardness by providing ready-made activities, prompts, and shared focus, giving the child and father something natural to do together. It also serves as a record of positive engagement over time, allowing progress, participation, and growing familiarity to be reflected on paper rather than relying solely on conversation.

Where a father is assessed as presenting a risk, The Dad’s Book can also serve as a structured, safe way to support positive steps forward in the father child relationship while the father is undertaking rehabilitation, programs, or supervision. In these circumstances, the book allows interaction to remain child focused, contained, and appropriate, while supporting gradual rebuilding of trust and familiarity under professional oversight.

The book is designed to be used over a six to twelve month period. It begins with a page for a photo of Dad, helping the child anchor the book to their own father from the outset. Partway through the book, there is space for a photo of the child and father together, marking growth in comfort and shared experience. At the end of the book, there is a final space for the child’s favourite photo of themselves and their dad together, reflecting the journey completed through the books activities.

By the end of this period, the book becomes a physical record of shared time, participation, insight, and relationship development between a father and child.

The book is called The "Dad’s Book" intentionally. Giving the book that name supports the child's sense of ownership, pride, and stability with Dad. It becomes something the child can keep, take home, and return to a consistent reminder of connection with their dad during times of uncertainty.

This petition calls on Australian Corrective Services, child protection agencies, family support services, supervised contact providers, and related institutions to:

Accept The Dad’s Book as an appropriate child support resource
Allow it to be used during supervised contact, correspondence, and care arrangements
Offer it to children when separation from their father is unavoidable and ongoing.
Ensure children are not left without any structured means of maintaining connection.
This petition is not about minimising risk or overriding professional judgement. It recognises that separation itself carries harm, and that children deserve safe, practical tools to preserve or grow meaningful relationships wherever possible.

What signing this petition does
Signatures on this petition demonstrate public support for making The Dad’s Book available to children affected by separation through systems, not just private circumstances. The petition will be used to support engagement with corrective services, family services, and child protection agencies to show the public accepts the Dads book is a positive step forward and should be accepted and offered rather than excluded by default.

By signing, you are supporting children’s right to connection, continuity, and reassurance during times when systems control access.

Examples of the pages referenced in this petition can be viewed here:
👉 https://www.fathersunion.org

If you have experience with separation through child protection, courts, incarceration, or supervised contact, we invite you to share your perspective in the comments.

Personal experiences help show why access to child-safe connection resources matters during long periods of separation.

Thankyou