F4J Target 'CBeebies' Katy Ashworth

Fathers’ Rights Group, Fathers 4 Justice, have announced that they have cancelled their planned protest calling for the BBC to suspend CBeebies presenter Katy Ashworth because she has now agreed to allow contact between her 4-year-old son and his father.

Katy Ashworth and Ben Alcott dated between 2011 and 2014 and had a son. She agreed to move to Australia but only stayed for three nights before returning to the UK on finding out that Mr Alcott was in a relationship with another woman. Mr Alcott then tried to have her prosecuted for child abduction under the Hague Convention but the judge ruled that Ms Ashworth could prove that the child was habitually resident in the UK and not Australia.

F4J claims that Ms Ashworth hasn’t been letting Mr Alcott see the child for years. However, he admits that it is only been four months since he saw his son, which considering he lives 30 hours away, isn’t bad! Mr Alcott does have a contact order which allows him to have contact with the child, but apparently he turned up without prior warning and demanded to see the child on the spot, which Ms Ashworth had a right to refuse as she had made plans.

From other comments by Mr Alcott, it is obvious that he expects to be able to control Ms Ashworth. He wants her to drop everything whenever he feels like turning up in the UK and demands to see their son. He also appears to be angry that she has moved on with her life, having a new partner and being pregnant again. This sort of controlling behaviour is domestic abuse even though their relationship has ended.

By getting F4J involved, Mr Alcott is using them to harass and abuse Ms Ashworth in his attempt to control her. He is trying to destroy the mother of his child with allegations that appear to be false. Why would a father not want to support the mother of his child? Why would he want to get her sacked from her job, if not to emotionally and financially abuse her?

Fathers’ rights groups have long been known for pulling stunts to highlight the so-called “bias against fathers” in Family Courts such as dressing up as superheroes and climbing up on to roofs or scaling a wall to get into Buckingham Palace. They use these stunts to push for policies that look fair and benign, such as “shared parenting,” and the involvement of both parents in the children’s lives. Many members of groups like Fathers 4 Justice have convictions for Domestic Violence and their methods often involve harassment and bullying. They see nothing wrong with intimidating behaviour if they can use it to get their own way.

Abusive fathers who approach these groups are encouraged, even when they haven’t been involved in their children’s lives and care, to seek custody. This is a tactic that can pressure the mother to return to her abuser or as punishment for her having left him, for having tried to escape his control.

Family Courts are now using the discredited Parental Alienation Syndrome because of the demands of Fathers’ Right groups. Mothers are being accused of alienating their children from their fathers when the children refuse to go to contact or being “hostile” if the mother raises concerns about abuse of herself or the children and custody is being changed to the father.

Because of continued harassment, CAFCASS, the court advisory service are allowing a Fathers’ Rights group, Families Need Fathers (FNF) to speak at their conferences. The Chief Executive of CAFCASS, Anthony Douglas, wrote an open letter to Fathers’ Rights Groups in 2005, stating, “CAFCASS acknowledges the important role groups like Fathers 4 Justice, Families Need Fathers, the Association for Shared Parenting, and Fathers Direct play in bringing the distress felt by men in private law proceedings to the attention of the wider public and into the political arena. We also recognise that these groups often do not solely represent the interests of fathers, but also mothers and other relatives who feel excluded from the lives of the children they love.”

This was written to groups that deny domestic violence, who accuse women of making false allegations to prevent fathers from getting contact with their children. FNF claim that "False and unfounded allegations poison proceedings when a non-resident parent is seeking parenting time with his children. Judges need to make findings of fact as soon as possible and to take false allegations into account when determining the best interests of the child." FNF also claim that "there is widespread abuse of men and boys in the context of the family courts" and accuse women of "making allegations" as "a motorway to obtaining legal aid."

Minimising domestic violence is a way of continuing to control and abuse women. False allegations of rape has been proved to be less than 1 percent and for domestic violence is less than 0.5 percent and with two women a week being murdered by their partner or ex-partner and one in four women being subjected to domestic violence in their lifetime, this is a very dangerous standpoint.

Because Fathers’ Rights Groups are allowed to form CAFCASS and Family Court policy 19 children in the UK were killed by their fathers during court ordered unsupervised contact. The patriarchal view of these groups which campaigns for even violent fathers to have the same rights as the mothers, who protect and care for the children, viewing the women and children as property, puts so many children in danger.

The most important role of a father is to support the mother of his children, both emotionally and financially. Dragging the mother through the Family Courts in a bid to continue to control her or by fighting for custody or shared parenting to punish her for leaving him does not make a good father.