Sometime ago the whole nation was moved by the story of a brave and resolute father who set out to find his little boy lost, or should I say, abducted? This same father cycled 6,500 kilometres through eight different countries throughout Europe to find his son. His son, who had been secretly abducted by his mother on 24th April 2008 and removed from Australia under false pretence. For 2½ years Ken Thompson, a former deputy fire commissioner, looked in vain for his long-lost son and set up a media and web trail that encompassed the world,
Ken’s dreams came true in Amsterdam when young Andrew Thompson met his father for the first time in almost three years. Ken told me on the phone at the time what happened. “My six year old came over to me and asked for help with this puzzle he was playing with. I was overjoyed because even though he had forgotten what I looked like, he remembered who I was. This will be slow work. I am letting him lead me because it’s all about building my relationship with him again. I am very emotional, but Andrew is being looked after well and I am confident things will work out alright.”
Ken Thompson is reported as saying in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald that he, “bears no malice towards his wife and while deeply anguished by the events of the past two and a half years, simply wants to be a dad to Andrew, to begin his life to love him and to give him back the human rights that were taken away from him”.
Speaking about human rights for fathers and their children seems to be a lost cause in modern media with the prevalent anti-male views. Thankfully Robin Bowles, Ken Thompson’s media contact is on the ball. This is what she had to say about an earlier Sydney Morning Herald article:
I have just phoned to complain about the story by Joel Gibson in the SMH today headlined “Found, but will he be a little boy lost in the court system?”
This story shows the reporter made no attempt to check the sweeping comments made by Ms Freda Briggs in regard to the mother’s attitude and the jurisdiction of the Family Court . . . Who brought this ‘trauma’ on Andrew? His mother, by taking him from all he knew and loved. By enrolling him in a school under a false name. By lying to him about his father.
Robin Bowles rightfully poses the question, “Who brought this trauma on Andrew in the first place?” Trauma is the correct name for it. That is what artificially induced fatherlessness causes. Its effects are well documented by the social sciences.
Since writing that article I came across an erudite article called Feminism and the Family by Dr Janice Crouse. This is what she had to say:
When there is no father in the home, there’s trouble. Often there is a boyfriend or a series of boyfriends, but even when there is not, regardless how heroic that mother is – and many are struggling heroically and try their best for their children –– the absence of the father in the home is a loss that has dramatic and serious impact on both boys and girls. Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania conducted a longitudinal study of the impact on boys ages 12-22 when there is no father living in the home with the boy. What they found is astounding. When boys that age grow up without a father in the home, they are 300 times more likely to get into trouble with the law than are boys whose fathers are in the home. Not having a father in the home is the single most important variable when it comes to a boy getting into trouble with the law. Father absence is a more significant predictor of outcome than ethnicity, poverty, religion, or socio-economic group.
It would seem that government departments are equally complicit in spreading lies and anti-male propaganda.
Thankfully as detailed in a Herald Sun article written some time ago, the South Australian Ombudsman was also on the ball. Journalist Laurie Nowell reported in an article called Feminists ‘Tilt’ Figures:
The issues of child protection and domestic violence have been hijacked by politically motivated feminist cliques, according to a coalition of men’s groups.
The claim came after an ombudsman’s report found bureaucrats guilty of “unreasonable and wrong administrative action” after failing to correct false and misleading information that promoted the idea men were overwhelmingly responsible for domestic violence.
South Australia’s Office for Women presented erroneous statistics, such as 95 per cent of domestic violence involves a male perpetrator and a female victim, the ombudsman found. Raw data shows that, overall, at least one in three victims is male. Full story here.
Space does not allow me to tell the stories of the father who was put in gaol for sending a birthday card to his daughter, or the father of good character who was banned from seeing his daughter for five years. Tragically most of these stories have taken place under the 2006 changes to Family Law which were supposed to bring equity for fathers and families. Nothing could be further from the truth!
Yes, this nation was moved at the time by the story of Ken Thompson and his heart- warming reunion with his son. Unfortunately, not everyone’s heart was as affected as it should have been. It would seem that, even to this day, our feminist friends in the media, the legal system and the commentariat are still in need of a heart transplant.
Lovework
Essentially the focus of this newsletter/blog is your wife, your children and your relationships. These are the relationships that we must constantly work on. These are the things that are of prime importance in our lives.
Having said that, there comes a time when we as fathers must speak up for others and for our children. When you get the chance, put your best foot forward and give it your best shot. If you don’t who will?
Yours for our children
Warwick Marsh
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