DR Marsha Scott (Letters, September 4) rightly mentions domestic abuse as a factor in many child contact disputes between separated parents. But her letter omits the crucial word "alleged".
A recent study of 72 Scottish contested family law cases by Professor Tommy MacKay found allegations were made in 35 per cent of cases. More than two-thirds of these allegations were found in court or judged on the best available evidence to be false. Eighty-nine per cent of the allegations were made by the resident parent, almost always the mother.
Dr Scott tells your readers that the examples of mothers using control of parenting time with their child by her former partner are “very, very rare”. Our caseload reveals a very, very different picture.
In promoting the importance of children in separated families having significant contact with both parents, Families Need Fathers Scotland does not dispute that many Scottish children and their parents suffer from domestic abuse.
Our experience, confirmed by research such as Professor MacKay's study, suggests that the family breakdown picture is far more complex than the "gendered analysis" suggests. Both men and women tend to behave badly during family separation.
However, we also know from the involvement of our two organisations in a range of recent working groups and consultations that there are significant areas of agreement between Scottish Women's Aid and Families Need Fathers Scotland.
Sometimes we seem to be the only voices arguing for transparency and changes, such as the need for the new child welfare reporters to have adequate training in both domestic abuse and parental alienation. Although other aspects of the family court reporting system were changed in October 2015. the training scheme we both supported has never been started.
We have offered to meet with Scottish Women's Aid to discuss areas of common purpose rather than exchange broadsides in the press. Our offer remains open.
Ian Maxwell,
National manager, Families Need Fathers Scotland / Both Parents Matter,
10 Palmerston Place, Edinburgh.
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