Separated fathers and the 'Fathers' Rights' Movement

Separated fathers often feel profound grief, distress, and anger at the end of their relationships with their partners and their children. Some participate in 'fathers' rights' groups, a movement which claims to advocate on behalf of men and fathers who are the victims of discrimination and injustice in the Family Court and elsewhere. Yet such groups may do little to help fathers heal or to build or maintain ongoing and positive relationships with their children. Some men do find support in these groups, but they also may be incited into anger, blame, and destructive strategies of litigation. Using a framework of three domains of impact - fathers' responses to and recovery from separation, fathers' relations with children, and fathers' relations with their ex-partners - this paper proposes that fathers' rights groups are detrimental for fathers themselves. However, other responses to separated fathers are more constructive.