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The UK's leading Shared Parenting charity

Public Affairs

About Us

Families Need Fathers – because both parents matter is UK's biggest shared parenting charity.

Parental divorce or separation should not mean that children lose the love and care of one of their parents.

Families Need Fathers seeks to obtain, for the children, the best possible blend of both parents in the lives of children; enough for the children to realise that both parents are fully involved in their lives. Legally, parents should be of equal status.

Responsibilities and obligations, caring and financial, should be fairly shared between the parents.

Families Need Fathers is firstly a social care organisation,  helping parents whose children's relationship with them is under threat. We offer  information, advice and support services for  parents on how to do the best for their children. We are the only organisation that provides these services on a national basis.

Our support services win widespread praise, from, for instance, Dame Elisabeth Butler-Sloss, former President of the Family Division of the High Court and Deidre Sanders, trustee of the National Family and Parenting Institute and Britain's most respected Agony Aunt. We also pleased and proud to have The Rt Hon David Blunkett, Dr Hamish Cameron and Nigel Planer as our patrons.

Families Need Fathers also lobbies in a professional and highly effective way for changed legal and social attitudes. We have regular contact with politicians, the judiciary and the media.  Our immediate priorities are getting courts orders for shared residence, improvements in the time children are allowed to spend with their 'second parent', more effective action taken when one parent defies a court order requiring them to allow their children a relationship with the other parent, and replacing adversarial court hearings over children-matters with child-centred discussion.   

FNF depends on subscriptions and donations for a substantial amount of its work. Membership costs less than the price of one letter from a solicitor - a modest price for access to our additional services and support for our work.

 

Click here to download and/or print one of our general information leaflets - ideal if you'd like to help someone without internet access learn about our work

Registered charity number: 276899 

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HomePage

FNF is a charity chiefly concerned with the problems of maintaining a child's relationship with both parents during and after family breakdown. We offer information, advice and support services for parents who could otherwise spend thousands of pounds without achieving a positive outcome for the children. Our network of over 50 UK branches offers the pro-bono advice of solicitors and others familiar with the family courts; a dedicated helpline; this website and resources for members that will help you to have a relationship with your children.

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Testimonials

This page is being set up to carry the many testimonials we receive from people we have helped over the years.

Although some aspects of the shared parenting responsibilities of both fathers and mothers are increasingly being recognised, it is still the sad reality that so many people learn only too late that the Family Justice system does not always deliver good outcomes in the more conflicted cases.  Whilst it can be hard to counter the effects of anger and vindictiveness in separation cases, that is no excuse for the costly and often ineffective and unfair (to children) outcomes delivered to children of separating parents by the family justice system.

We do our best to on the one hand highlight the obstacles in the road ahead as well as encouraging and assisting the state in improving the social performance of the family court and the agencies which support it.  We hope that one day everyone will feel that the only decent thing to do for the children after divorce or separation is to allow them to continue to enjoy - yes actually enjoy - the benefits of having two parents.  To lose two parents is a tragedy - to lose one can be a nightmare.

If you have received help or guidance from FNF - whether via the Helpline, the Forum, our branches or this website - or even all of the above - we'd love to hear from you. Tell us how to improve our services or - if you liked them, tell us why and we may print them below.


Hello FNF, I just wanted to say thank you for your support during a very difficult time these past 10 years. I have read many articles and the information on PAS has been spot on. My daughter stopped talking to me approx a year after my divorce at the age of 9. I did not see or hear from her for almost 9 years. I am pleased to say just before her 18th birthday last November I was asked to help out by her mother as our daughter was in a bad way-a first I might add.. We have got a long way to go but she lives with me now and we are slowly working through our issues. Thank you all for the fine work you do. I always mention you when I see other loving fathers in despair. I wish every father the strength to never give up. I didn't and it nearly killed me but I am now on a healthy happier path. With my daughter by my side. Keep strong brothers.

JP - September 2016


 

 

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FNF HSSF Kite Mark

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.

Upcoming Events

6/12/2025 Sat: Harrow Branch Meetings
8/12/2025 Mon: Swindon Meeting
8/12/2025 Mon: London Central Meeting
9/12/2025 Tue: Crawley & Brighton Meeting
10/12/2025 Wed: London East (Tower Hamlets)
10/12/2025 Wed: Cambridge Online Meeting
13/12/2025 Sat: Harrow Branch Meetings
15/12/2025 Mon: Nottingham Online Meeting
15/12/2025 Mon: Reading Meeting
15/12/2025 Mon: London Central Meeting
17/12/2025 Wed: London West Meeting
20/12/2025 Sat: Harrow Branch Meetings
22/12/2025 Mon: London Central Meeting
24/12/2025 Wed: London East (Tower Hamlets)
24/12/2025 Wed: Cambridge Meeting
25/12/2025 Thu: Exeter Meeting
27/12/2025 Sat: Harrow Branch Meetings