BOSTON, June 19 – An escalating campaign of non-violent, direct action is the only recourse left to the nation’s noncustodial fathers for whom justice has proved to be an unobtainable goal, according to Fatherhood Coalition Spokesman Mark Charalambous.

In a Father’s Day message, the Coalition affirms its support for a growing international civil disobedience movement emanating from England.  The father’s rights organization Fathers-4-Justice (F4J) has waged an escalating campaign of civil disobedience and flamboyant publicity stunts that, while causing civil disruption across the United Kingdom, have seized the public’s imagination and are forcing the British government to address the complaints of noncustodial fathers.

Supreme Court rules fathers are not parents

As if to underscore the futility of using conventional means to obtain social justice, the U.S. Supreme Court gave the nation’s noncustodial fathers an early, bitter, Father’s Day ‘gift’ on Monday.  Rather than addressing the core issue of the appropriateness of the words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance in the Newdow case, the nation’s highest court sidestepped the issue by ruling that a noncustodial father has no legal standing to come before the court on behalf of his daughter.

According to father’s rights attorney Jeffery Leving, “Evidently noncustodial parents are of such little concern that the court found it more expedient to undercut their rights than to decide the Pledge of Allegiance case,” he said.

According to Charalambous, “Leving’s observation underscores the extent of the fatherless crisis in our nation, and points to the only realistic solution in the face of over three decades of anti-father, anti-family, and anti-male indoctrination emanating from the cultural elites and now deeply ingrained in our legal and social institutions: An escalating campaign of civil disobedience.”

Violation of civil and human rights

The nation’s family courts routinely violate the civil and human rights of noncustodial fathers, in contravention of Constitutionally guaranteed rights. The list of grievances is long. A short list includes:

• Custody of their children is taken from them without due process of law.

• Access to their children (“visitation”) is often prevented by the mother, but the courts fail to hold women accountable and enforce visitation orders.

• The presumption of innocence is ignored and due process goes out the window when allegations of child abuse and domestic violence/abuse are made by women against fathers.

  "...the only realistic solution in the face of over three decades of anti-father, anti-family, and anti-male indoctrination emanating from the cultural elites and now deeply ingrained in our legal and social institutions: An escalating campaign of civil disobedience." - Mark Charalambous, Spokesman

• Crippling, exorbitant “child support” orders are systematically awarded to women, regardless of the facts of the case – often even when the fathers have custody of the children!

• Debtor’s prison is alive and well for fathers charged with failure to pay such “child support.”

• Flagrantly unconstitutional “abuse protection” restraining orders are routinely granted to women entering divorce or child custody litigation, virtually guaranteeing a favorable custody disposition in the final judgment.

• A blatant double standard favoring women exists in the application of both civil and criminal law.

Fathers-4-Justice from U.K. spreading overseas

Since December, 2002, F4J has waged an escalating civil disobedience campaign across the U.K, including London.  As of this date, they have staged dozens of aggressive protests and flamboyant publicity stunts designed to force the public’s attention on what Charalambous calls the “War on Fatherhood.”

So far this year, the focused strategy of civil disobedience by F4J has caught fire in Germany, Holland and Canada, and there has already been a preliminary F4J-inspired first strike in Alabama this week. They are planning the official launch in the U.S. soon.

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CPF / The Fatherhood Coalition
617-723-DADS

A non-profit, all volunteer organization of men and women advocating for fatherhood since 1994