Thursday 24 July 2008

Fathers 4 Justice back Dads fight

Fathers 4 Justice back Dads fight

Campaign group Fathers4Justice is to take up the cudgels on behalf of former Devizes man Tim Line, who has been barred from seeing his three daughters for a year.

Former soldier and international rally driver Mr Line has been separated from his wife of 18 years since June 2006 but last year a court denied him access to his daughters after they told a judge they no longer wanted to see him.

Mr Line, a former sergeant in the Royal Artillery who now lives in Hilperton, near Trowbridge, said all his efforts through the courts had done nothing but earn fees for solicitors.

He said: "It is horrendous to be on your own in the house. No noise. No children playing. It is like a living bereavement."

In May 2006 Mr Line came home from a trip away to be handed a summons to appear in court two days later.

He said: "Our marriage had not been going well but this came right out of the blue.

"My wife's solicitor told me, if I were you, Mr Line, I'd find a place to live in the next few days. I had a molestation order served on me, even though I had never been violent towards my wife or my children."

Mr Line found himself homeless, but worse was to come. He had been given access to his children aged 14, 13 and 11, who still live in the family home.

But the access gradually tailed off and a judge told him last August that his rights had been revoked after the girls said they no longer wanted to visit.

Mr Line said: "The judge said I could write to them and send them small gifts at the appropriate times of year."

He hasn't seen his two younger daughters since. He saw his eldest daughter briefly last Christmas, when he dropped off their presents.

He said: "We hugged and that is the last time I saw her. But since joining Fathers4 Justice I see I have been relatively lucky. Other fathers, like Mark Harris, who went to prison for ten months for waving to his children in the street, are much worse off.

"The law must be changed. Over 300,000 children are stopped from seeing one of their parents, usually the father. Only five per cent of fathers are allowed to see their children every day.

"But solicitors don't want things changed, because they make so much money out of it. They charge £185 an hour and each letter they receive or phone call they deal with costs you £18.50."

Fathers4Justice confirmed it would hold a protest in support of Mr Line, but would not say where and when it would take place.

Fathers4Justice South West co-ordinator Richard Adams said: "Tim Line served Queen and country in the Army for 24 years but as soon as his marriage broke down, this Government's family courts denied him access to his children."

Friday 18 July 2008

"COMMENT"

I purchased 4 books I thought might be useful:

Email from Mark to Tim Re: Support for Harriet Harman trial.

Hi Again, 

Nah, nothing in F4J is co ordinated! You just get an idea, spread the word and go with fingers crossed! 

Be a waste of time coming up on the 23rd, we're only entering pleas, any forthcoming trial might be better to come to, 

Mark

Email to Mark Harris offering support for Harriet Harman court case

Hi again Mark, 

I’d like to show my support for you and Jolly by coming up to London on 23rd

Is support like this co-ordinated?  Do you share cars etc? 

Tim

Some suggestions

Hello Mate, 

Don't know what part of the Country you are in, but if your kids are in Seend, are you near there too? 

There's a meeting taking place in Bristol on Mon 28 June if you fancy doing something. 

One thought that came to my mind which would put you in the very front of your kids minds would be to do a protest on the roof of Judge Thorpe's gaff in Seend. Quite high up, but a good ladder would get you up and you could take your time doing it. Might be able to find another one or two to join you. 

Have a couple of banners with messages to your kids, add something about Thorpe's courts not helping you or them. 

Need to be up all day/into the evening or more if you can, best go on a Friday as he'll be coming home from the RCJ to it and weekend papers are usually looking for stories, 

Mark

Thursday 17 July 2008

Bristol F4J Meeting

Was invited to an F4J meeting on 28th July in Bristol by Rich.

Re: Please, I need someone to talk to about my situation and what to do next

Hi Mark, 

Thanks so much for your reply.  I continued to read about your case last night and I am simply stunned. 

I am sorry that I initially came to the conclusion that I did.  

In the beginning, after my split I had a degree of faith in the justice system, that they would do what was fair and right.  I like yourself and thousands of others have found out that the opposite is the case.  Reading everything that I have in the last few days has given me very little in the way of hope, but has at the same time shown me that something has to be done to change this unjust system. 

I am heartened that your actions worked positively for your girls and especially that you and F4J are now actively supported by Lisa now. 

As you are the countries undoubted expert after all you have been through, you obviously know what works and what doesn’t.  What would you suggest my next step/s should be? 

I am more than happy to meet face to face, if you have the time and it would make things easier. 

Best regards, 

Tim Line

Re: Please, I need someone to talk to about my situation and what to do next

Hi, 

Seen your e mail that was forwarded by Richard Adams.

Just writing to let you know that you are quite wrong re my F4J activity not helping me see my kids unitl they were 16. 

Throughout my years of protest over not seeing my kids, because I made the news on a regular basis, locally and nationally, each kid retained the knowledge that I wanted to see them, loved them and was fighting for them. 

Of course, I still dragged the ex to court on every single occasion, (133 times to be precise) just to keep that knowledge firmily in their minds too. 

My youngest was 11 when she ran away with the 16 year old. 

If you do nothing other than piss about with CAFCASS, MacKenzie friends, waiting for Judges to take your ex on for you, then the months and years of not seeing your kids that follow will turn into children that think you no longer care, are n't bothered about them and they get alienated. Then you are fucked. 

You won't get any form of justice in a family court, they won't enforce jack shit upon your ex., no matter how good a case you might have, so don';t go there with any false illusions. 

If you are genuine about becoming an activist, best get stuck in asap WHILE you go through the nonsense of the family courts. And of course, if you are up to protest, the ex will not be able to avoid talking about your antics in front of the kids, which helps keep your love for them fresh in their minds each day. 

Mark Harris.

RE: Please, I need someone to talk to about my situation and what to do next

Hi Rich, 

Thanks so much for your reply.  I have just spent several hours reading Mark Harris blog.  I agree there are certainly similarities.  I was also stunned to read about the protest that happened in the village of Seend which is where my wife and girls live in my former house.  This was right after the point that my wife refused to let me see the girls and just before my application for an order. 

I wish I had been involved with F4J back then. 

I have been a member for 2 days and yet already I am getting the impression that alone I do not have much hope of getting anywhere with regards to seeing my kids.  Nothing that Mark Harris did (although I greatly admire him for it) helped him to see his girls until one of them had turned 16. 

I am prepared to become an activist, become involved in direct action etc, but am new to this and would like some sensible advice on what my next step should be. 

For instance, my court fee for my application for an order is still active and the judge told me I could come back once I have 'had time to reflect', whatever that means.  Quite how things are supposed to improve though when I am unable to communicate with them - I don't know. 

Should I go back and try?  And if so, do it with  McKensie friend? 

I am not a quitter, I was in the military for 24 years, I am self-employed now and I will not give up fighting to see them.  I just want to channel my energies in the most effective way. 

Thanks for giving me your phone number.  With your permission, I'd like to give you and Jason a call on Friday evening. 

Best regards, 

Tim Line

Wednesday 16 July 2008

Re: Please, I need someone to talk to about my situation and what to do next

(This was a reply that I got to my 1st forum post, sent as an email off forum.)

Tim your case sounds so much like Mark Harris's case which if you do not know about can be read at -

http://www.f4jmarkharris.blogspot.com/

He will probably tell you that the best way of dealing with this is to get on a roof with a banner telling your daughters how much you love them and never give up hope. Your ex certainly seems to be turning your daughters against you

If you need help with direct action there is the infamous Jason Hatch who lives near Trowbridge. His number is ************ and he has always got spare banners including the ones from Buck House.

Good luck
Rich
F4J South West Coordinator
**********

Tuesday 15 July 2008

"COMMENT"

This response surprised me somewhat as I had previously thought of F4J as an active pressure group. However, I thought maybe there is a good reason and had plenty of other things to keep me busy like reading the excellent documents that you get access to after becoming a member.

RE: I wish to get actively involved

Dear Sir

We do keep records of everyone who wishes to be an activist. We do not have any plans at the moment to do anything. We will keep your name on file in the meantime, thank you.

Kidn regards
F4J Office

RE: I wish to get actively involved

Maybe you misunderstand me? I am interested in becoming an activist. The website said I needed to apply, as you now sensibly vet everyone.

Tim

Re: I wish to get actively involved

Dear Sir

Thank you for your email and interest in working with the F4J Team. We don't have any vacancies at the moment but we will keep your enquiry on file.

Kind regards
F4J Office

Application to become an activist.

Eager to DO something I sent this email:

Hi,

I would like to be considered for taking an active part in F4J. I have just rejoined and am a fully paid up supporter.

I have been separated from my wife for over 2 years now since being forced to leave my family home by the courts.

Very briefly, initially I was allowed to see my 3 daughters every other weekend and ½ the holidays. In practice the EOW worked but holidays did not. Eventually, my wife stopped me from seeing them completely. I have applied for a contact order, but CAFCASS after interviewing my girls told the court they didn’t want to see me.

I have not seen 2 of my daughters since 8th Aug last year and the other one I have only seen very briefly on the doorstep of my former home when I delivered her Birthday presents.

I have had no replies to any of my letters.

I feel incredibly frustrated and let down and just want to feel as though I am doing something positive to help both my own situation and others.

I live in Trowbridge, Wiltshire and would be more than happy to meet the F4J Team.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards,

Tim Line

PS – My contact details ect are as follows:

Tim Line
*********
*********
Trowbridge
Wilts

My 1st Forum post - Please, I need someone to talk to about my situation and what to do next.

Please, I need someone to talk to about my situation and what to do next.

On 8th August it will be a year since I last saw 2 of my 3 daughters
and I have only very briefly seen my other one on her birthday on the
doorstep of my former home.

I was forced out of my family home by the courts way back in June 2006.
I was initially allowed to see my girls every other weekend and 1/2
the holidays. I felt this was unfair and wanted to see them for 1
evening a week mid week, but this was denied me. The EOW worked OK,
but the holidays were another matter.

There was no communication between my wife and I directly because
there was simply no reasoning with her. I attempted to sort out
arrangements via my solicitor, but this proved to be impossible,
because we rarely ever got a reply. I don't want to go into too much
detail here, but despite me only wanting to see my girls for a fair
share of the holidays and even offering my wife the choice of dates as
long as I had a bit of notice, every holiday was ruined.

The 1st Xmas all my attempts were futile and out of desperation, I
telephoned her and tried to reason with her. She suddenly started
shouting down the phone (so the girls could hear) "You're threatening
not to bring them back are you??" I was of course saying "No, of
course not etc etc". She continued to shout sentences of similar
meaning and I ended up ending the call. I contacted my solicitor who
tried every way possible to speak to hers, to no avail. They sent a
letter, phoned the practice numerous times and were promised a call
back, left messages on his answerphone etc but nothing. Then 4
minutes before he left his office for his Xmas holiday with his family
he sent a fax which basically said that due to my threats to keep the
children, his client was only prepared to let them see me for 3 days,
the 27-29th Dec.

Although that was the worst case - every holiday after that, something
would be agreed and she would break it.

Then last summer in an attempt to keep the escalating costs down I
asked my eldest (14) to ask her mum when I could have them for the
summer holidays. The next time I saw them, they didn't have an answer
so I asked her to ask again. Despite asking many times for a bit of
notice (I am self employed) 3 days before the holiday started I got a
letter from her solicitor saying that I could have them for 2 weeks
starting the 1st day of the holidays.

This was simply impossible because I was committed work wise by then,
so I replied saying this and suggesting that I had them for 17 days
starting a week later. We got no reply. The girls came to me on the
day I had suggested but I still had no idea if the 17 days had been
agreed. When I asked the girls when they though they were going back,
they just said "Mum said her solicitor has written to you" and were
obviously under instructions to say nothing else. My solicitor tried
chasing up the matter, but as usual met with the usual lack of
communication. Eventually several days later my solicitor came back
to me with the answer that my wife would not agree to 17 days and that
I could only have them for 14. I left it at that and made a number of
plans to take them out on various trips. On the evening of 8th Aug, I
told them what we were going to do the following day (trip to London)
and my eldest said "we're not getting back too late are we?". I said
"It will probably be quite late. Why?"

She then told me that they were going back to their mum the next evening.

I had had them for 6 days.

My girls had never ever to my knowledge ever told lies to either me or
their mother, but it was obvious that they had all known exactly what
day they were going back, but had been told not to tell me. I then
found out she was taking them to Denmark for 4 weeks 3 days later.
I was distraught, it got very tearful and I ended up saying that they
might as well go back to her that night. They rang their mum and
within a few minutes she had picked them up.

I did not know when they got back and attempts to contact them failed.
Eventually I phoned their school to see if they were back at school
and found that they were. I kept trying to phone my daughters and
eventually got hold of one of them. The previous weekend they should
have been with me, so I asked my daughter if they wanted to see me and
she said yes. So I made arrangement to pick them up as usual the
coming weekend.

A few minutes later, my wife phoned me and simply said - You're not
seeing the girls. Simple as that. I asked her why and she just kept
repeating that I wasn't seeing them. Eventually she said she wasn't
having me upset them like last time.

I then contacted my solicitor and she started an application for an
order for contact.

This hearing was in Trowbridge and it wasn't until we were in front of
the judge, that the judge said he couldn't hear the case because he
either knew or his children knew my children. We had already been
waiting several hours and I could just see this as another frustrating
and costly exercise, so taking advice, I allowed the hearing to continue.

The judge said that he had been trying to streamline the usual system
and said that the hearing would take place in Bath and that the girls
would come to court the same day, so that CAFCASS could interview them
and it could all get sorted out on the same day.

This seemed like a good idea as things were already dragging on and I
hadn't seen the girls for 4 months or had any contact with them
whatsoever.

The judge explained that there were a number of procedures that had to
be followed and one of them was that the girls were to be taken to
court separately, by a mutual friend and that they would have no
contact with either of us until after the hearing.

However - what was not made clear was that the hearing in Bath was
just a hearing to set a date for all this to happen. I only found
this out the day before when my solicitor told me. I was baffled and
couldn't understand why. It seemed crazy. She tried to contact my
wife's solicitor to see what his understanding was of what was
happening, but as usual we got no reply.

We turned up in court to find that my wife and her solicitor had come
to the same conclusion as me, and that they thought the process was
going to happen that day too.

We went in to see the judge and incredibly it was the same judge as we
had had in Trowbridge. He apologised for the confusion, but said that
as the girls were there anyway, he would see if CAFCASS were able to
speak to them. It then came to light that my wife had ignored what
the judge had said and had travelled to court in the same car as them
with the mutual friend. The excuse was that 'She didn't want to drive
in Bath on her own'.

Despite this being one of the rules the same judge had told us, he
just accepted the excuse and continued.

The children were interviewed by the CAFCASS officer both individually
and together, but neither me or my wife were given the opportunity to
speak her before this happened. Quite how someone is supposed to be
able to make judgments purely based on what the children say without
getting the background I don't know.

The next thing that happened was the CAFCASS officer got my wife and
me and our solicitors in the same room and told us her findings.

This was extremely distressing. She reported that my 14 yr old didn't
want to see me at all, that my 13 yr old would just do what the 14yr
old did and my youngest (11yr old) didn't have much to say. She then
told me why. All the reasons they had given had obviously come from
their mother. I tried to argue with the CAFCASS woman but every time
she answered in her sweetest voice "Well that's their perception Mr
Line". She seemed to take no consideration of the fact that they had
been solely in their mothers care for 4 months and that I had not even
been able to speak to them in that time.

We then went back in front of the judge and based on the CAFCASS
testimony, he said the girls were old enough to make up their own
minds and said he would not be making an order for contact, but that I
was 'allowed to write to them and send them small gifts at appropriate
times'. I was also advised to keep the letters short as children had
short attention spans!!!!! My girls are all very intelligent and
devour huge novels at an incredible rate.

The judge then addressed my wife and said "I assume that you want the
children to have future contact with their father?", She replied, Yes
of course. He further instructed her to encourage the children to
reply to my letters, to which she replied "Oh yes of course I will".

Since November last year, I have delivered Xmas presents, Birthday
presents and written almost every month. With the exception of my
middle daughter agreeing (by text) to let me deliver her presents face
to face and her thanking me by text for them, I and absolutely no
communication from the other 2 at all with the exception of a very
hateful text message from my eldest on the same day that my wifes
application for costs was denied.

Is there anyone out there that has been in the same situation and can
offer some good advice?

Everyone I speak to who know me and the girls just say "Don't worry,
they will realise what is going on one day and they'll always love you"

But these years are special and you can't get time back - once its
gone its gone. I am desperate to see them again - I just don't see how.

Judge back in November said that the fee I paid for the order is still
there so I can try again in the future, once "I have had time to
reflect" - but how? and what good will it do?

All I feel is grief and anger towards my wife and the system that
allows this to happen.

Sorry if this all seems a bit disjointed, but so much has happened, I
cannot possibly write it all here.

I have spent a small fortune on solicitors and have got the message
loud and clear that I should have done this on my own. I feel I am
losing the fight and I just need some help to take the next step.

Tim Line

Monday 14 July 2008

The day I joined Fathers 4 Justice

It was nearly a year since I had last seen my 3 girls. I had got nowhere since the day my wife suddenly announced that I could no longer see them. An attempt to get a Contact Order had resulted in the judge generously allowing me to write once a month and to send small gifts at appropriate times. He said that any contact was meaningful contact. I am not sure how this can be, when I have not had one reply to any of my letters.

I felt helpless, depressed, heartbroken and was beginning to feel a complete failure. I looked for a vehicle that could help and after looking at various organisations I decided to join Fathers 4 Justice.

I had looked at F4J back in May 2006, but there seemed to be a fair amount of controversy surrounding the group and it had recently been shut down by it's founder, Matt O'Connor because of an apparent plot to kidnap Tony Blair's son Leo.

But now their website looked professional, their presentation was good, they offered some helpful looking documents and access to their forum as well as being a group actively involved in direct action and campaigning to get our outrageous laws changed. I thought the £30 joining fee would be a small price to pay if they could help me see my kids again.