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The UK's leading Shared Parenting charity
All Trustees, staff, volunteers and members of Families Need Fathers are required to follow the charity's Code of Conduct and Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy. You can download the documents below:
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National Council and AGM minutes are only available to members. If you are a member, please log in and return to this page.
For details of the next AGM please log in and go to the Members Area.
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This section outlines how the charity is governed. and the rules by which we are managed (including the conduct of AGMs, Trustee elections, and other official business). It also includes our Code of Conduct, which all FNF Trustees, staff, volunteers and members are expected to follow.
To find the details you want, simply follow the links below:
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Here is our quiz page - brought to you by our partners at the Custody Minefield.
Can you answer all these correctly? many people think they can...
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Families Need Fathers often receives requests from academics and organisations looking to carry out research on separated families, particularly the experiences of dads.
Social research is of great importance in family law, and the evidence built up by researchers helps to drive forward improvements that can benefit children and families in the future.
We list current research requests below. If you are interested in the study and would like to find out more or take part, do contact the researchers on the details provided. If you would like to speak to us about any listed requests, or you are a researcher that would like to speak to us about a project, please email us on admin@fnf.org.uk.
Splitting up or divorcing? Already separated but need to agree what happens next about your home, children or finances?
If you’re looking for a low cost separation, want to avoid court or hoping to keep things amicable, then we’d like to hear from you.
A BBC documentary series is working with National Family Mediation, the largest provider of family mediation in England and Wales that provides highly qualified family mediators to help separated couples come to agreement on vital issues.
1 in 3 marriages in Britain end in divorce, yet few people know there is a positive way to resolve practical problems and move forwards. We’re looking for separating/separated couples who could use mediation and are prepared to share their experience to help others learn about it. If you need help and are interested to know more about this ground-breaking series, please contact: Rhiannon on 07502112208 or Rhiannon@wildpictures.co.uk.
FNF Both Parents Matter Cymru is a registered charity providing information, support and advice to parents and grandparents with child contact problems in Wales. Roughly 70% of those who approach us for help are men.
We are aware of the excellent work undertaken by Rights of Women and others capturing the experience of women who are victims of Domestic Violence. Their most recent report on the position of female victims can be accessed here http://rightsofwomen.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Evidencing-DV-a-year-on-2014.pdf
This survey was inspired by that work but is focused on the experience of MALE victims exclusively.
Please only complete this survey if you are
1. MALE - including transexuals identifying as male
AND
2. identify as a victim of 'Domestic Violence' * (PLEASE NOTE)
You can access the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/maleDVvictimssurvey
'Domestic Violence' is defined by the UK Government as:
Any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. This can encompass but is not limited to the following types of abuse:
The follow links contains more detail about the definition of domestic violence: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-government-domestic-violence-and-abuse-definition
PLEASE NOTE
This survey is designed to be anonymous. Please ensure that you do not include any information that would identify yourself or others in completing the survey.
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Read On. Get On. turns October half term into a joyful celebration of reading with a UK-wide tour for children aged 11 years and under.
Kicking off during half term school holidays in Westfield Stratford, London, on 27th October and later appearing in Cardiff and Manchester Save the Children will be inviting families across the UK to free events celebrating all that is magical about reading. A wide range of special guests including the Gruffalo and Winnie the Witch will be popping along to meet young fans.
The events will offer lots of fun activities for families with some of the nation’s most famous faces, authors, illustrators and fictional characters hosting ‘Storytelling Sessions’, ‘Poetry with a Bang!’ - the very best in playful spoken word poetry created on the hoof by some of our famous faces and ‘Word Searching’ – a treasure hunt experience where clues and riddles will mean prizes for all children.
Interactive workshops for children of all ages will also be freely available throughout the day including ‘Page Turners’ where a storyteller and illustrator will build a story with the help of the audience’s imagination and ‘Have a Go’ craft sessions. During Face-painting sessions kids can choose to be transformed into one of their favourite characters such as Fantastic Mr Fox or the Gruffalo.
Save the Children’s tour of the UK includes:
• 27th and 28th October – Westfield Stratford City, Queen Elizabeth, Olympic Park, London
• 30th October - Wales Millennium Centre, Bute Plu, Cardiff Bay, CF10 5AL
• 1st November - Manchester Trafford Centre, Manchester, M17 8AA
Alongside a coalition of leading literacy organisations, Save the Children’s free series of children’s events will celebrate all that is magical about reading as part of a wider reading mission called ‘Read On. Get On.’ which aims to get all children across the UK reading confidently by the time they leave primary school.
For more information visit www.readongeton.org.uk
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If you are using Amazon for purchases, please use their "Smile" programme and select us as the charity they will donate to.
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UPDATE: For details on the reforms from the Child and Families Act that came into effect on 22/4/2014, please click here.
Scotland and Wales:
Callers from Scotland and Wales can also be referred to FNF Scotland and FNF BPM Cymru:
FNF Factsheets
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This time last year I wrote a bit about my story, and how I felt that it doesn’t take Father’s Day to make you a Dad. Since then, I continue to work hard to keep the relationship with my Daughter as strong and as positive as it can be, despite a number of challenges.
Aside from the normal issues of shared parenting, like many of us, I’ve struggled with the continual battle that surrounds maintenance payments. It’s not been helped by unemployment, moving house, and a seemingly endless succession of errors, delays and misinformation, and it got to the point where it took a subject access request and listening to recording of conversations to finally get the CSA to acknowledge I had indeed provided them, 6 months ago, the information they were happily telling my ex-partner they had no record of.
Needless to say, this period during which accurate payments were unable to be made led to a number of difficult exchanges and handovers became harder. However, I persevered, and I firmly believe that continued effort and consistency will continue to show my Daughter how important she is to me and how valuable her time with me is.
Throughout the last year, and indeed on many occasions, I’ve been encouraged by the positivity of our members, and the overall desire simply to get things right for our kids - and so this Father’s Day, rather than reflect on challenges, I’ve found strength in thinking of things in a slightly different way.
Father’s day is about celebrating being a Dad – whether that’s on our own, with our child, or indeed as a family unit. Regardless of any personal situations, we can still be proud of being a Dad – and a big part of that is being the best you can be, doing the best you can do, and making sure wherever possible that your child grows up safe, well and happy. And for all of us going through separation, or contact issues, that’s exactly at the heart of what we’re doing. All we want is to ensure our child or children can maintain a meaningful relationship with us, and that they continue to see us as the loving, nurturing, caring Father we are.
As with the best approach in trying to secure and maintain contact, the focus is the child’s needs, not ours. Father’s Day is our children’s opportunity to see us at our best. So on Father’s Day, that’s exactly what we should focus on – nothing else. Put aside all of the hurt, the upset or frustration, and let them know exactly how happy we are that they’re with us, and how lucky we are that we’ve got to spend this day with them.
But what if they can’t be with us? We’re all too familiar with the ‘two Christmas , two Easter, and two Birthday’ arrangements that have to go hand in hand with shared parenting, so if we can’t be with our loved ones on Fathers Day itself, lets make sure the next time we’re together, we make it a special day for them – after all, its their Father’s Day…
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It’s Fathers Day again and I have some more good news to share. My daughter is at last also back in full communications with me. Although after a long silence, she had for the last couple of years been maintaining (always via texts) that she wanted to see me, no amount of suggestion, invitation and occasional open frustration could convince her to actually carry through with it or even reply because of the "spell" hanging over her.
Over the last 18 months since we reconnected, my relationship with my son has been substantially rebuilt after over 6 years of almost total silence. We have seen a fair bit of each other and he has even offered to help FNF, so I think he has a remarkably mature view of the situation. This is not to say that we have explored the depths of the reasons why he didn’t contact me or respond for all that time. He has grown into an adult and the gap of all those years seems strangely unreal. He has a wicked sense of humour (like his dad) and we both enjoy discussing philosophical and political issues. It really almost is as if the gap hadn’t happened. In fact it is only if I try to recall the pain and anger I experienced during that time that the gap returns a little. Just experiencing his return in the now makes dwelling on that past pointless, even though I’m sure we’ll eventually try to understand more of what happened.
Anyway, late last year when we were discussing how to help his sister to come along for my birthday, he decided to take the bull by the horns and "cleared the air" between him his mother and his sister in such a way as the spell was broken. The result was quite amazing. My daughter clearly wanted to come, but at the same time also felt she would be hurting or upsetting her mother if she did. But going to college may have changed things for her. At college kids live in their own space. Their mother no longer does the washing, buys the furniture, tells them to get up or tidy up, etc. In short, they suddenly learn to take ownership of their lives and in so doing, there comes the realisation that with adult boundaries, what she does is her responsibility and how her mother reacts to her actions is not. Of course she still didn’t want to hurt her mother, but what she did with her life was up to her and her mother would learn to accept her growing up in time too. So she was literally liberated and joined us for my birthday and a number of times since and we are now rebuilding enthusiastically. My son was pretty chuffed too at having brokered the deal and taken things to a tipping point and brought the three of us back together.
In some ways in retrospect I am glad I did not persist in pursuing their mother and them for breaking contact orders. Terrible though it was, each battle according to the strange judo of such confrontations, risks only serving to entrench the kids in a position which later can be harder and not easier to return from. Letting them know, with as little anger as possible, that I was there for them and would never give up on them nor blame them seems to have got through until they were ready. But of course, every case is different. Our "problem" is still something of an elephant in the room, but the difference is that we don't let it disturb us and nor do we ignore it. Every so often we have a little chat with it and it seems to get a little smaller...
Another little story may be worth sharing. My daughter turned up recently and we were having a conversation about the early days (when we still had contact) after they were moved to Yorkshire from their home in the south. Although she was 9 at the time, her memories are a little hazy. In response to a question I told her about how I used to every Friday take the train up from London to Yorkshire to see them (although her mother would only permit my son to actually have contact on the Fridays) and travel back to the south the same day (alternate Fridays) after doing so. She looked at me, her eyes wide, saying, you mean, you came up all that way and back just to see us? Wow, she said, I sometimes can't even be bothered to travel back to Yorkshire from uni! That realisation in her eyes as her adolescent attitudes gave way to adulthood and the real world of parent and child, will always stay with me. So yes, no-one should give up.
A few weekends ago I drove to Nottingham to spend an afternoon with my daughter. It was the first time I'd visited her after three brief visits to me since we reconnected. We had a great time and she showed me her university home and we had a very happy afternoon wandering the streets of Nottingham and just talking about anything and everything. We are getting to know each other again (she was about 13 when we last had a proper conversation and is now almost 19).
A couple of days later I received a text from her saying she was going to be "back in the land of Yorkshire" later that week and could she come and stay for "a few nights". I guess I don't have to explain what I felt...
And she did come and stay. And as I write this, both my children have told me how they are looking forward to this weekend.
We must never give up. Nor lose hope. Celebrate the future and the spell will be lifted.
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A number of the reforms to the family justice system introduced by the Children and Families Act came into effect in 2015. The Act contains provisions that affect a wide range of areas including family law, children in care and education.
It can be quite confusing to find out what has changed, and what the effects of these changes might be. We have produced a short briefing supplement (available below) for FNF members which examines the Act, and highlights the key changes to private family law.
The briefing includes a summary of the Act, and analysis from former FNF CEO Dr Craig Pickering. It also features an exclusive interview with Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, in which she talks about her involvement in the legislative process and the Act’s potential impact. Dame Butler-Sloss also calls for a greater focus on enforcement measures in the family courts.
We hope this Briefing will be of interest to you; if you have any questions about how the Act may impact upon your situation, please contact one of our support services.
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About Us
Families Need Fathers is a registered charity. If you have any suggestions or comments please email us at admin@fnf.org.uk.
Making A Purchase To make a purchase, browse our Shop, click on any items that you wish to buy and put them into the shopping cart. After you have finished your selection, click on "Order" and you will be asked for a few details that we need to be able to satisfy the order.
We accept credit card payment. If you are shopping from North America or anywhere else, place your order and your credit card company will convert the transaction to US Dollars or your own currency.
We accept all credit/debit cards except American Express.
Shipping And Handling All items are sent by first class post in the UK and charged at cost. Please contact us if you prefer an an alternate method or to confirm shipping charges outside the UK.
Delivery Schedule We deliver your order right away. We will normally send your order to you within five business days . International orders are generally received in under 14 days.
Tax Charges For orders made from the UK or the European Union, 20% VAT is added to some items. All other orders are VAT free and you should click the exempt button to reduce VAT to zero .
Credit Card Security All credit card numbers are encrypted in the software when the order is placed using 128 bit encryption. They are only decrypted after they reach our computer. They are not held in clear text on any web site.
Guarantee All books and other publications will be replaced if damaged in transit.
Reaching Us If you need to reach us, please email us on admin@fnf.org.uk, alternatively, you can call on 0300 0300 110 (International +44 300 0300 110) or write to us at Unit 501, The Pill Box Building, 115 Coventry Road, London, E2 6GG
Privacy Policy Families Need Fathers do not disclose buyers information to third parties. Cookies are used on this shopping site to keep track of the contents of your shopping cart once you have selected an item, to store delivery addresses if the address book is used and to store your details if you select the 'Remember Me' option.
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With thanks to our Patrons, for all their hard work in promoting the valuable work of Families Need Fathers:
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If you are a UK taxpayer, Families Need Fathers can reclaim tax on any donations you make to the charity. FNF can also claim tax back from your membership subscription, as this counts as a donation. This means that for every £1 you give us we receive a further 25p at no extra cost to yourself.It costs you nothing but a little time.
To make a Gift Aid Declaration on-line to FAMILIES NEED FATHERS, Reg. Charity No. 276899 you must ensure that you have entered your Full Name and Address (including Post Code) in your Profile and that your email address is also up to date. It would also be a help if you enter a telephone contact number. Finally you must tick the Gift Aid check-box in your Profile in the Additional Information tab. Doing so will confirm that you would like Families Need Fathers to reclaim tax on all qualifying subscriptions and donations since 6 April 2000 and all further subscriptions and donations that you make from the date of this declaration until you notify us otherwise. You also confirm that you have paid an amount of UK income tax or capital gains tax equal to any tax reclaimed.
Please notify the charity if:
NB. In order for us to reclaim tax you must be a UK taxpayer.
If you would prefer to fill in a written Gift-Aid form this can be downloaded here:
You can then send it to us by post
Families Need Fathers
Unit 501
The Pill Box Building
115 Coventry Road
London
E2 6GG
If you prefer to pay directly into our bank via online banking or a cheque (which saves us about 2% in fees!), our Bank details are as follows:
Families Need Fathers Ltd
HSBC Sort code: 40-01-15
Account No: 4103 0523
SWIFT BIC: HBUKGB4105L
IBAN: GB68HBUK40011541030523
HSBC plc London NW3 1PY
Please use FNF and your name as your Reference in any transaction - Thank you.
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Do you own a banger that's merely gathering dust in the garage? Then you can help to raise funds for FNF!
We work with two car recycling schemes that can turn your car into a valuable donation for us. You can find details on how to donate via these schemes below.
Charity Car is the big hearted scheme from the UK's largest car recycling network CarTakeBack.
Your old car can be collected for free from anywhere in the UK at your convenience and turned into the maximum donation for FNF - that's 100% of its market value if it's ready to be recycled.
Whether your car is auctioned or recycled at an Authorised Treatment Facility, we'll help you complete the necessary paperwork and if required issue your DVLA Certificate of Destruction, freeing you if any responsibility.
To find out more and donate your old car to FNF with Charity Car, visit www.charitycar.co.uk/families-need-fathers or call 0844 669 6889.
Giveacar is a non-profit fundraising organisation that specialises in donating unwanted and scrap cars to charitable causes, like Families Need Fathers.
They provide a FREE service which is available throughout the UK, and can work with you hand-in-hand in the following ways:
Giveacar will take 25% of the profits and the rest will be donated to Families Need Fathers.
Since Giveacar was set up in 2010, the organisation has already raised over £800,000 for 900 charities!
To arrange collection of a car, visit Giveacar.co.uk or call 020 0011 1664, quoting FAMILIES NEED FATHERS as your preferred charity.
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It’s a common myth that only the rich and famous leave money to a charity when they die. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reality is that without gifts in wills from people like you, FNF may find it difficult to continue the work we do for the next generation; maybe for your grandchildren.
74% of the UK population support charities and when asked, 35% say they would happily leave a gift in their will, once family and friends have been catered for.
The trouble is: only 7% actually do so.
We all put off making our Will; no one likes to think of what happens when they die; but don’t forget that should you die intestate (without a will) however, intestacy law will apply, taking the matter out of the hands of your family.
Making a will is the only way to be certain that your money and property will go to those you want it to go to, and the causes you want to support, in the amounts you want it to be given.
If you feel that Families Need Fathers has helped you; help ensure that our work lives on.
Leaving a legacy to FNF is:
• Easy - the legacy can simply be included as a regular part of a will
• Affordable – advice on drafting your own will is widely available, and solicitors’ fees for professional will drafting can be very reasonable
Any amount, however much pledged, is an act of thoughtful generosity, helping to contribute to a cause you are passionate about, and will be a great help in working to bring about a better, fairer world for future generations.
See A Guide to leaving a Legacy to FNF in your Will.
Useful links:
Making a will
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Contact fundraising@fnf.org.uk for further information.
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1. Decide where and when you want to hold your collection. If you know someone who’s held a collection in the area before, ask them for their advice on the best locations.
2. Obtain permission.
3. Make sure you and your fellow fundraisers know enough about the work of FNF. Although many people will simply be interested in which organisation you are raising money for, some will want to know more about our work and how their money will help.
4. Although people of any age can help at the event, you must be over 16 to hold a collection tin. Fundraisers are also required to stand in one place and cannot actively solicit money (i.e. rattle their tins or ask for donations), although they can of course talk to people about FNF and the plight of separated families.
Please feel free to contact the fundraising team (by emailing fundraising@fnf.org.uk) for support. We can supply you with collection tins, posters, leaflets and T-shirts so that you look the part on the day.
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Getting FNF in your local Waitrose as one of the Community Matters charities of the month will not only raise money but will raise FNF's profile through association with such a prominent organisation. It is very simple to apply:
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If you are using Amazon for purchases, please use their "Smile" programme and select us as the charity they will donate to.
Families Need Fathers has been awarded the Help and Support for Separated Families Kite Mark which is a new UK government accreditation scheme for organisations offering help to separated families.
Families Need Fathers work with a range of family law professionals, including Family Law Panel.
FNF are pleased to announce a partnership with MyDaddy who have built this excellent app for the significant proportion of fathers who are now newly sharing parenting after separation.
| 28/01/2026 Wed: London East (Tower Hamlets) |
| 28/01/2026 Wed: Cambridge Meeting |
| 29/01/2026 Thu: Exeter Meeting |
| 31/01/2026 Sat: Harrow Branch Meetings |
| 2/02/2026 Mon: Nottingham Meeting |
| 2/02/2026 Mon: Reading Meeting |
| 2/02/2026 Mon: London Central Meeting |
| 4/02/2026 Wed: London West Meeting |
| 7/02/2026 Sat: Harrow Branch Meetings |
| 9/02/2026 Mon: Swindon Meeting |
| 9/02/2026 Mon: London Central Meeting |
| 10/02/2026 Tue: Crawley & Brighton Meeting |
| 11/02/2026 Wed: London East (Tower Hamlets) |
| 11/02/2026 Wed: Cambridge Online Meeting |
| 14/02/2026 Sat: Harrow Branch Meetings |
| 16/02/2026 Mon: Nottingham Online Meeting |
| 16/02/2026 Mon: Reading Meeting |
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