LONDON, February4, 2012(AFP): Fathers separated from their families will get increased rights to see their children under reforms being unveiled in Britain next week, the government said on Friday.But it signalled there would be no change in the law to guarantee equal access, as sought by campaigners such as Fathers 4 Justice, who have scaled Buckingham Palace among other stunts to highlight the system’s unfairness. New rules for court cases will “make it much clearer that it is vital for children to have an ongoing relationship with both parents after separation or divorce”, except where they pose a risk, the Department for Education said. The measures will be outlined on Monday as part of the government’s response to a review of the family justice system published last year. Ministers will pledge an extra £10 million ($15 million, 12 million euros) for mediation services in an attempt to keep disputes out of court, but vow to protect fathers’ rights in the one in 10 cases that are brought before a judge. “There is a familiar picture in the UK of parental separation leading to thousands of children losing meaningful contact with the non-resident parent, usually the father,” children’s minister Tim Loughton said. “The state cannot create happy families, or broker amicable break-ups. But if children are having decent, loving parents pushed out of their lives, we owe it to them to change the system that lets this happen.” However, he questioned the value of a legal right to equal access, which last year’s review warned risked “confusion, misinterpretation and false expectations”. Loughton said: “Quite clearly, ordinary living and working arrangements make an equal division impossible, and undesirable, in all but a small minority of cases.” More than 100,000 children were caught up in divorces in England and Wales in 2010, official statistics show, and thousands more were likely to have been involved in the break-up of unmarried couples.
