Families Need Fathers sets up Dundee group

Families Need Fathers Scotland is setting up a new group covering Dundee and Tayside, with the inaugural meeting being held next Wednesday, 24 January 2018.

The group, which will meet at 7pm at Dundee Voluntary Action, 10 Constitution Road, Dundee DD1 1LL, will be a regular meeting place for parents (fathers or mothers) who are having difficulty securing stable and consistent arrangements for time with their children after separation or even if they have never lived together. Its monthly meetings will aim to provide advice and information about the problems they may be experiencing, but also be an opportunity for mutual support and positive encouragement in particular to dads that they have a lot to offer as parents. Around 90% of non-resident parents are fathers.

Ian Maxwell, FNF Scotland national manager, commented: "We are grateful to the Corra Foundation which has provided the funding to start a Dundee and Tayside group. Some fathers – and grandparents and other family members – have travelled from the area to come to meetings in Edinburgh, Stirling and Aberdeen. We take regular telephone enquiries individuals in Dundee and Tayside,  so it makes sense to establish a branch here where they can meet and share good parenting advice as well as help each other navigate through problems.

"It’s mostly dads who attend, but we also see some mothers and members of the extended family like uncles, aunts and grandparents and new partners who can all be deeply equally affected when parents split. It’s rare to have an all male attendance at a group."

FNF also campaigns with legislators and legal professionals to unpick unhelpful procedures that tend to obstruct good relationships with children after separation. A major review of family law is due to begin in Holyrood during 2018.