Dads in Distress
Father pleads for return of stolen ashes
The stolen urn
A FATHER has issued a desperate plea to the community to assist him in tracking down the stolen ashes of his little girl.
Ralph Hooper was alerted to a break-in at his home in Ormeau, south of Brisbane, by his step-daughter at 3pm yesterday.
Rushing home, he was devastated to discover the ashes of his little girl Elizabeth June Hooper were missing from his bedside.
Elizabeth Hooper died from a brain tumour three years ago when she was five years old.
“I saw red, I felt so betrayed that someone would stoop so low,” he said.
“It cut me very deep and there was a feeling of numbness that I had lost all I had left of her.
“We are all very distraught.”
Mr Hooper said his great-grandmother’s engagement ring was also stolen in addition to other valuables around the house but the ashes were the one thing he wanted returned most.
“If they could just be returned to the house, the police, a local school, anything,” he said.
Youth To Pay For Sexual Contradictions
I have just had the privilege of taking my 9 year old son and 7 year old nephew to a carnival in Sydney, Australia.
The boys are on Easter holiday break and always look forward to their annual visit to the Easter show, and going together, given their proximity in age, makes this enjoyable event all the more special for them.
With all the rides, show bags, walking and carrying, along with the sometimes chaotic behaviour of excitable boys, I am typically ‘spent’ by the end of the day, although with a quiet sense of satisfaction that I have been able to give the boys another positive little memory, hopefully one more small piece in a happy and fulfilling childhood.
However this evening I did not feel this typical sense of satisfaction, in large measure I suspect because of what I and the boys were so noticeably confronted with as we mingled with the tens of thousands of other Australians while at the carnival.
To my utter despair, on a very cold autumn day in Sydney which required winter clothing for me and the boys, one of the earliest sites we saw while waiting in the queue for our tickets was countless young girls, aged between eight years up to their mid-teens, with skimpy-sized, ‘Daisy Duke’ cut-off jeans, not only exposing the length of their legs, but their buttocks too…
written by Ash Patil
Read the full original article as published on Ezine4Males.com
Read the full edited article as published on Sunshine Coast Daily
Read a related editorial as published on Sunshine Coast Daily
A study into the Post-Divorce Experience of Australian Men
We are conducting a study into how Australian men adapt to life after divorce in cases where children were both present and not present in the relationship when it ended.
We are looking for Australian men willing to take part, between the ages of 18 and 60 and who have experienced divorce or a common law (de-facto) relationship breakdown.
If you choose to participate, you will be required to complete three internet based questionnaires that take approximately 20-30 minutes to complete.
All answers will be recorded anonymously and confidentiality of data will be maintained.
Where Good Men Don’t Count: The Dire Repercussions of Ignoring Men’s Welfare – Story Bridge Murder/Suicide
In another case reflecting the lack of support experienced by separated fathers in this country, many Australians are now questioning the wisdom of Australia’s family support services which have focussed almost exclusively on the welfare and support of women, while ignoring  the needs men, resulting in a culture of vilification that has driven some men over the edge, with dire consequences for the innocent children of separated families.
IT WAS dark outside when Danielle Lees woke and reached for her mobile phone. It had only been hours since she last saw him, but something made her dial her husband to see if everything was OK.
By the time the call connected with Jason Lees’ mobile, both he and their son, Brad, were already dead.
Danielle, a psychologist, had been staying with her parents on the Gold Coast.
Neighbours say the couple appeared to have separated, but Jason, a teacher at Brisbane’s “Churchie” and a former rugby union referee, drove to meet her for lunch on Sunday.
He left again for home in the afternoon, taking Brad with him – the two-year-old attended his school’s kindergarten.
It was about 2am when Jason strapped Brad into the car, loaded his bike and drove from their Seven Hills home in suburban Brisbane to Kangaroo Point.
New Bill to add Non-Discrimination Provision to Child Custody Law
SALT LAKE CITY-USA — Julie Anderson gulped back tears to explain to state lawmakers why they need to amend Utah’s child custody statute.
The Andersons believe had their son, Jared, had been awarded custody of his 3-year-old daughter Aubree Jo, the child would not have died in a car accident with her impaired mother behind the wheel. Toxicology tests found Oxycontin and marijuana in Brandi Stilke’s system when the single-car accident occurred on Feb. 23, 2011, in Harrisville.
“If we had been a bit more diligent, perhaps, it wouldn’t have happened,” Anderson told members of House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Standing Committee Tuesday afternoon.
Anderson testified on behalf of HB88, which would add to Utah’s divorce statute a statement that the court may not discriminate against a parent based on age, race, color, national origin, religious preference or gender.
Mother Murders Children – Sole Custody Takes Three More Children’s Lives
THE heartbroken Hobart father of two children killed by their mother in murder-suicide in Melbourne will always be haunted by the knowledge he missed out on their final years.
Dominic Maher yesterday said he felt let down by a system that had prevented him from seeing son Matthew, 11 and daughter Melanie, 13, for three years before they died.
Police believe mother Kylie Fowler, 36, argued with the children’s older half sister Sammantha Fowler, 18, before killing all three children, setting fire to the house and committing suicide.
Mr Maher, of Chigwell, said he had spent years locked in court battles with Ms Maher, but when it consistently decided in her favour, he eventually moved to Tasmania.
He been preparing a video for his children explaining why he had lost contact with them which he planned to hand to them on their 18th birthday.
‘We don’t care about Family Violence against Men’ – Service providers betray their Charter
Editors Note: A F4E member recently received an email from Relationships Australia, presumably because  he was a client of their service at some point during his separation.
This email highlighted a new program made available at Relationships Australia – Westmead NSW, called “Family safety – Women’s Choice and Change”.
Given this member’s history, it comes as no surprise that he was infuriated by this email, and has written back to Relationships Australia challenging them on why such services are evidently not available for male victims of abuse.
This member was in fact a victim of abuse and violence from his ex-wife, and has complained bitterly in the past at the lack of services available for male victims of abuse, and the completely dismissive disinterest in ‘male pain’ as he calls it, by organisations established to protect victims of abuse.
This man eventually won full custody of his young child, but only after the child was seriously injured by the mother. Up until that point, this man claims to have been criminalised by a system that only supported and believed women.
Below is his email to Relationships Australia.
Another Bridge Protest Against Disgraceful Child Custody laws
A un-named man who was charged over a risky protest against Australia’s Child Custody laws on Brisbane’s Story Bridge, has walked free from court on bail.
Police sought to have bail conditions imposed on the 31-year-old Ormeau man, who was charged with performing an unregulated high risk activity, but the request was denied.
Lawyers acting for the man said he had made his point through the high-profile protest against Australia’s discriminatory child custody laws, however he did not intend to repeat the activity.
The man was bailed to appear again in court on December 19.
According to statements made by the man, a father of 3 who has spend over $88,000  to gain visitation to his children, his protest was against the Australian Family Law Courts and their complete disregard for the rights of children.
Labor’s Male-Hate anti-Family Law amendments become LAW
Knowingly false allegations of child abuse will now become a legitimate reason to deny children any contact with their father in the event of separation, under controversial new laws passed by parliament today.
The government has made changes to family laws compelling family law courts to consider all allegations of family violence, even irrational, malicious and knowingly dishonest allegations.
The law rolls back reforms made under the Howard government that encouraged shared parenting responsibilities.
The legislation also aims to change the definition of family violence and abuse under the act to include a host of alleged behaviours, that are now to be determined by what the alleged victim claims to have feared, rather than what occurred, was witnessed or can be proven.
It will allow the court to deny contact, in most cases with the children’s father, based on nothing more than a claim that the mother “fears” abuse, whether or not there is any history of abuse, or whether any threatening behaviour occurred or is likely to occur.
Help for Penrith fathers going through divorce or separation
FOR almost 40 years, Barry Williams has helped Australian families through the murky waters of divorce and separation.
The national president and founder of Lone Fathers Association of Australia (LFAA) became the first father under the Family Law Act of 1975 to win custody of his four small children after his wife walked out on the family.
In those days, no support was available to single fathers, so Mr Williams staged a hunger strike at Parliament House for five days.
The then prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, agreed to meet him and ended up changing the single mother’s benefit to the single parent’s benefit.
Mr Williams and his organisation have been championing single parents’ rights ever since.
