Fathers 4 Justice Thames Valley: Hunger strike vs. Child Support Agency agenda. Newbury father fights for justice.

PRESS RELEASE

24th August 2004

A dad, a Fathers-4-Justice supporter, from Newbury has been on hunger strike for 32 days and has vowed to continue until the Child Support Agency (CSA) resolve issues which have been undermining his life.

John, who wishes to be anonymous, has experienced 8 years of conflict with both the CSA and its associate agency, the Appeals Service. He has not seen his daughter for 5 years past.

Over a period of nearly 5 years John, a self-employed photographer, earned a mere £14,000 but yet was judged to owe the CSA £22,000. Not unnaturally, he has appealed against the arbitrary decisions which led to such an irrational outcome and yet, despite hundreds of letters, an approach to his local MP David Rendel, and although there are a total of 9 appeals in place, he is still being pursued by the CSA. Said John: "This Kafkaesque nightmare has been utterly destructive and has affected every aspect of my existence - it must end. I have spent years making written representations, only for them to be ignored. I really am unable to write another letter - how much can one person take? I could understand if the CSA and its Appeals Service took 8 days to resolve their mistakes, even 8 weeks, but for them to have allowed this to snowball over a period of 8 years goes way beyond the incompetence for which they've become known - but much can be explained by the evidence I¹ve uncovered showing how the CSA and the Appeals Service colluded in manipulating the judicial process to suit their own agenda. The way that appeals are dealt with by the Appeals Service not only makes a mockery of the justice it purports to administer, but also of its claimed independence from the CSA and the judiciary".

Mike Ellis, Co-ordinator of the F4J Thames Valley branch said, "John's action is extreme but, frankly, is understandable. The treatment he's received is typical of the cavalier way that Dad's continue to be treated by the UK family law system. We are seen as second class citizens and, because so many biased decisions are made behind closed doors without media access, the population at large don't realise what is happening. This is as bad as the USSR in the old days and yet the current government has just come out with a Green Paper stating that nothing substantial needs changing. When will they realise that many of society's problems lie with the fact that dads are being denied the opportunity to exercise a positive influence on their children's lives."

Mike Ellis is at michael@ellis3954.fsnet.co.uk. Messages of support for John can be sent via Mike.