SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BRANCH OF THE LONE FATHERS ASSOCIATION Inc. "Children need their Father as much as their Mother" LFAA National Peak Body

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History

The Lone Fathers Association (LFA) was established in Canberra in 1973 by Barry Williams, who remains the National President and national spokesperson.

The mission of the Lone Fathers Association is:

To assist and encourage lone fathers who have or desire to have custody or care and control of their children, to support and sustain their children as a happy and viable family unit, and to encourage lone fathers without custody to maintain adequate contact with their children.

The Family Court of Australia was established in 1976 with a charter stating that divorce should in future be based solely on "irretrievable breakdown of the marriage". This relaxation of traditional notions of "fault" increasingly exposed families to divorce and parental alienation, and there was a significant deterioration in children’s access, and resulting despair for many fathers.

Judicial policy and legislators of the period took very little cognisance of the possibility that a father, as a single parent, could raise his family successfully in isolation after separation from his former partner. Mothers were judged, beyond question, as "nurturers" to be supported, while fathers were there to pay the bills, not to interfere in the raising of the remnants of the family. Physical contributions by fathers and others were disregarded in the haste to tidy up the proceedings in court.

The relationship between an active father and his children received small weight in arguments before the Court. Mothers had social security, welfare, legal aid, incentives for return to the workforce, government programs, and claim on the family residence to fall back on. It was difficult for any man to demonstrate his competency as a worthy "custodial" parent against such odds.

Redress was economically put beyond the reach of most men. Financial devastation of these men as a usual consequence of divorce was a handicap to rehabilitation and reconstruction of their lives. Many were alienated from their children by the financial burden, and the dilemma of balancing access and on-going cost of survival.

As a result, a group of fathers came together to share their mutual experiences of problems from family law determinations. What could be done?

In over 20 years of participating in government programs and providing policy advice since that time, the LFA has proposed family law initiatives such as shared custody, better access, and residence of children with the father in some cases, single parent pension changes, reform to child support arrangements, a fairer basis for property settlements, and better and fairer processes for dealing with domestic violence and allegations of child abuse.

The contributions by many fathers, willingness of the LFA to help all clients, irrespective of gender, to cope with injustice, and readiness to lobby for equity in single parent issues have enhanced the organisation’s mission. Many women have joined the LFA and helped in management; and others have given administrative support from the institutions they represent.

As a result, the LFA has been successful in helping to obtain a number of important changes to family law in Australia over the last twenty years, including the introduction of the single parent’s pension for men, provision for penalties for false statements made to the Family Court, and improvements to the Child Support Scheme to make it more equitable.

However, a very great deal remains to be done to bring about a better and fairer family law system in Australia.

The LFA has been appointed by government the peak body representing single fathers and their children in Australia.