A group calling themselves Fathers in Action is to sue Government for damages over the way it handles child custody cases.

The group took out an advert in Friday's The Royal Gazette but efforts to contact them have proved fruitless, with one source saying that they wished to remain anonymous.

The advert said Fathers in Action (FIA) were a broad-based group whose objectives was to improve decision making in custody cases for divorcees.

It said: "We represent individuals who believe that the Government Department of Child and Family Services have been discriminatory in both the approach to and the content of Social Inquiry reports prepared for cases which appear before the courts."

The group intents to file a Class Action Lawsuit against Government for damages. FIA is now undertaking legal research and compiling case histories and is inviting people who believe they have been wronged by a Social Inquiry report compiled by the Child and Family Services Department to write into a Hamilton address.

Yesterday, Childwatch president Eddie Fisher said he would be calling FIA to find out more but he denied being behind the group.

He said a survey in his 75-strong group had shown social service reports were a sore point.

He said: "I imagine several of our members will be in contact with this group. This issue comes up all the time. Members are quite upset about the way these things are handled."

He said most reports were done by women and that fathers' concerns tended to be ignored, and that good fathers often ended up as bit players in their children's lives once they had lost custody in divorce cases.

The effect is catastrophic said Mr. Fisher, who said visiting work he does at the prison has led him to believe that most inmates had not enjoyed a good relationship with their fathers. He said: "It's a human tragedy. You have perfectly capable fathers who can only visit their children. It damages the children but they have done nothing wrong."

And Mr. Fisher is urging Government to improve fathers' rights before it steps up its campaign to make parents more responsible.

Eddie Fisher said, at the moment, the law was stacked against fathers and in favour of mothers, leaving young dads feeling desperate and frustrated when attempting to build or retain relationships with their children.

He has called for legislation to give fathers the same rights as mothers when it comes to custody, visiting rights and maintenance.

He made the comments after Education and Development Minister Paula Cox said she was considering legislation to make parents more responsible for the actions of their children.

During the budget debate earlier this month, she said if parents failed to ensure their children attended school with the intention to work and learn, they could be taken to court and fined, similar to those parents who failed to ensure their youngsters actually attend classes.

She said parents had to be responsible for disruptive, badly behaved children who spoilt lessons for others. But Mr. Fisher said although he welcomed the hard line, he believed other things needed to be put in place first. "While I am a great supporter of accountability and responsibility, particularly when dealing with matters pertaining to children, I find it intriguing that Minister Cox is considering legislation to enshrine parental responsibility.

"Many fathers find the courts far from interested in his achievements with regards to raising a responsible child. In fact, many excellent fathers find they are not rewarded for good work raising their own child, nor for community efforts helping other people's children.

"The courts seem to pay little attention to these important issues when deliberating care and control of a child."

And he said it never ceased to amaze him how it was possible for a father to be screened and approved by Social Services to be a Big Brother or foster parent, yet the same agency could advise the courts that the same father can merely only visit his own child. Mr. Fisher added: "I would be most interested to see how on the one hand a father is not given care and control by the courts in custody issues, yet may now be held responsible for his children's actions, which he has no control over.

"This (proposed legislation) may place more stress on the mothers, who are, in many cases, trying to be all things to all people, having been given the care and control of the children."

Mr. Fisher said often children were given everything, except both parents - which was the very thing required to become rounded citizens.

At some point, he said, he hoped society would realise that the custody laws, giving all the parenting responsibility to one parent was:

Turning fathers away from their role

Burdening the mother with untold stress

Turning out troubled children

He added: "All concerned would benefit if father's could be encouraged in law to stay involved, rather than quit the parenting role in disgust, by force via a court order."

Opposition Health and Family Services spokesman Michael Dunkley said it was time for Government to address the legislation on family law to ensure it was at the cutting edge.

He said for a country with such a high divorce rate, and a huge number of single parents, it was paramount that the balance was correct for both mothers and fathers.

He said: "I have met with Eddie Fisher to discuss these issues and I do have sympathy for some of his concerns.

"This is something that we need to take a full comprehensive look at, and see the legislation at the present time, how it is enforced and the impact it has on society. After that, we have to decide how we want to move forward.

"A lot of the poslegislation is sibly out dated. It has to be looked at to make sure that we are on the cutting edge.

"I would like to see the Minister of Health and Family Services being more pro-active with the aim of enhancing and promoting family life on the Island."

The Royal Gazette was unable to contact Health Minister Nelson Bascome last night for comment.