Fathers-rights protester dresses as Batman, scales Buckingham Palace

[gauguin57]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/09/13/britain.palace/index.html

"... Fathers 4 Justice, which says Britain's courts are biased against fathers in divorce cases involving child access, are notorious for their publicity stunts."

OK, OK Batman. It's cool. You can have custody of the child.

[Guy_Montag]

1. what they are looking for...

is access to the child, not custody.

Non-violent, high profile protest. Seems good to me.

[Infomaniac]

2. Yeesh.

Yeesh. This is an effective strategy. Not. It's not about the custody laws though. Britain's courts are extremely lax about enforcing visitation orders, but this is not going to help the cause.

[Guy_Montag]

7. To be fair, it's top story on the news this evening...

These chaps do something like this every few months, but come tomorrow it will all be forgotton.

Actually it's quite an effective stratagy, doesn't piss anyone off & gets lots of coverage, if only for a few days.

Can you suggest a better way to get publicity for their causes?

[Infomaniac]

8. Suggested Strategies

The non-custodial parents' rights groups here in the States have had some success with old-fashioned grass-roots organizing. There's been an uptick in pressing for NCP-friendly bills at the state level. Iowa, for example, just enacted legislation making joint legal custody the preferred custody arrangement in Iowa. The NCP groups also publicize the names of judges (many of whom are elected) who don't enforce visitation orders.

[Guy_Montag]

9. We don't have elected judges over here...

& lets face it there are thousands of rights groups for everyone & everything.

No-one ever takes any notice of any of them, except when they do something different.

[TexasSissy]

3. Didn't this guy/group do the same thing a couple of years ago?

Seems I recall this happening before, and it was a fathers-rights guy.

[Jack_DeLeon]

4. Yeah...

I saw it in the news before.

[skygazer]

5. Quite frankly, I can understand their frustration

I am a non-custodial mother. My son, who will soon be 17, lives with his father in Virginia. I pay $615 per month in support, as mandated by the state of California.

I have seen my son ONCE in almost six years. For the first two years I was here, my ex kept stringing me along when I tried to arrange for a visit from my son. Finally one year (on Mother's Day, of all days) he informed me that he would not let the boy come out under any circumstances.

I am between a rock and a hard place. I cannot afford to take the time off of work, purchase plane tickets, lodging, rental car, food and entertainment in order to visit my son in Virginia. If he were to come here, I could still work and would not have many of those expenses - I could swing the plane ticket.

I cannot afford a lawyer since my paycheck, after child suppport and taxes, equals less than half of what I gross. I barely make expenses every month.

Even if I could afford a lawsuit, I would have to take him to court in Virginia, a state which requires me to be there in person or have my lawyer present. My ex knows all this - even though we have joint custody and a visitation schedule, he knows I have no way of fighting it.

Yeah, I understand the frustration completely but I can't even afford the rental on a Batman suit!

[unslinkychild1]

10. $615 for ONE kid in child support???? WTF????

I have THREE kids, and the most I ever got was $345. Got two living at home now (mandated amount is $234 now) and have received NOTHING since May (the other grew up and moved out). For the first two years (while the kids were living with me) *I* paid child support to HIM, because we have "joint" custody, and I made more money. Sheesh! Now, because the state's so broke, they can't enforce CS anymore, so they sent him a LETTER saying they would get him in trouble with the credit bureau. Bleh.

[skygazer]

11. The beautiful state of California

The scale they use figures your amount by the amount of money you make and the amount of time spent with the child. Since I'm unable to spend ANY time with him (and that court doesn't handle visitation - just support), I'm assessed the highest amount which is 25% of my income BEFORE taxes. Since I am single, I pay through the nose in taxes so my income is barely enough to live on.

I don't object to paying support but I do feel I'm being fleeced. I also think it's ridiculous that the court can do nothing to enforce visitation without me paying through the nose yet again.

What state are you in? Maybe I'll move there! ;)

[unslinkychild1]

13. Just up north.

Oregon, but it's broke, and there ain't no jobs. What do you do?

[DrWeird]

6. I hope his kid's a six-year-old boy.

Because then if your dad tried to see you by becoming batman and scaling Buckingham Palace, it would be the coolest thing ever.

Now if his kid's a teenage girl, it might not be quite so much fun.

[FatSlob]

12. Hilarious!

Protest of the day!