Working-class fathers are disproportionately affected by “gender vigilante domestic violence agencies” that act as the gateway to family courts, according to Vincent McGovern.
The author, shared parenting campaigner, and family court Mckenzie Friend of 11 years told NTD’s “British Thought Leaders” programme about his own experience of being barred from seeing his children over evidence of domestic violence that he had not seen, and that “very few” fathers who find themselves in the same situation are able to get the evidence brought out as he managed to do.
“And when the evidence is brought before the court, it is normally the case that a lot of the most severe allegations are set aside. They were ’made an error;' the mother was distressed, that the statement was not signed, or the statement was not dated. This is how the system works,” he said.
According to Mr. McGovern, he was a stay-at-home dad when he found out in 2007 that his ex-wife had wanted to separate. After he refused to leave, he was confronted with court orders.
“Non-Molested, injunction, specific issue orders, the full monty,” he said. “I had 24 hours to leave the family home, the children had been taken away by their mother with the collusion of social services.”
Mr. McGovern said he had contacted social services for help with the children but was instead subjected to a multi-agency risk assessment without his knowledge.
The policy of the local domestic violence agency was that “the perpetrator—who’s automatically male because you’re not allowed access to the service—will not be allowed to see the evidence, and the female survivor has to receive full support. And the allegations are deemed as evidence,” he claimed.
Mr. McGovern said he found out about this information “three court hearings later, many months later,” during which time he could not see his children.
“If I had attempted to or any member of my family had attempted to, I would have been done for breaching the terms of the injunction based on evidence I'd never seen,” he said.
According to Mr. McGovern, he was accused of committing domestic violence because he had refused to leave their family home because “by remaining silent, I am guilty of controlling behaviour.”
He also claimed that the local domestic violence agency had asked his ex-wife leading questions such as “Has he ever been known to abuse animals” and that the evidence against him included kicking and killing a dog that had never existed.
“I was quite lucky in that regard because I had sufficient funds from family or friends to be able to stay in the hearings to get this evidence brought out,” he said.
However, during his subsequent years of being a McKenzie friend—an adviser to those who defend themselves in court, “far too often then you see ... very few can stay in it or have the wherewithal to be able to get this evidence brought out,” he said.
Mr. McGovern said the “vast majority of fathers” whom he encountered and who were caught up in the system were from the working class.
He also said what he called “vigilante agencies” are particularly influential in working-class areas.
“The middle class and upwards are in better areas generally, there aren’t these vigilante agencies tolerated generally, they’re more ... professional and less aggressive,” he said.
“The middle class and upwards can afford proper legal representation. So that’s why those agencies don’t operate there so well. But in the poorer working class areas, they have no opposition, they are the system.”
The working-class fathers “actually believe that they’re equal in law, which is an absolute parody of belief ... and they all believe also totally believe that you’re innocent until proven guilty. They simply cannot comprehend that gender determines the guilt,” he said.
Mr. McGovern said he believes the problem lies “entirely with the implementation and administration of the law,” not the law itself.
Male Suicide Overlooked
Mr. McGovern said some of the fundings that have been going to what he called “gender vigilante domestic violence agencies” should go to contact centres that keep children in contact with both parents unless criminal proceedings are taking place.The government has issued extra fundings help victims of rape and domestic abuse after charities reported a 200 percent increase in calls and web chats after the COVID-19 lockdowns, Mr. McGovern said the claimed increase of domestic abuse was not reflected in the number of criminal cases.
On the other hand, Mr. McGovern said men’s suicide “because of relation breakdown and they’re not allowed to see their children” hardly get any attention.
To tackle the issue of fathers being unfairly separated from their children, Mr. McGovern said the “ridiculous delays” in the family court need to go.
“From beginning to end, [it] should be no more than six months,” he said.
Mr. McGovern also said there needs to be sanctions for false allegations “as opposed to the current situation where there’s encouragement of false allegations.”
