Funding boost for Families Need Fathers Scotland

The Scottish Government is providing strategic partnership grants totalling £25,000 for 2015-16 for FNF Scotland’s core work of providing information and support to non-resident parents (and other family members) and also to help separated fathers gain access to health and education information about their children.

With other partners FNF Scotland will also assist practitioners to work with these parents.

In addition, the Tudor Trust has awarded a three-year grant totalling £120,000 to enable FNF Scotland to create a new “partnership and outreach” staff post.

The new post will build a bridge between the support FNF Scotland gives to individuals to the practice of the many professions – from teachers and GPs to lawyers and judges - who may become involved with separated families at some point.

In its offer letter the Tudor Trust said: “The Trustees agreed that Families Need Fathers Scotland was very much needed and offered an accessible and helpful route into understanding the requirements of the Scottish legal system.”

The trust in particular liked the equal parents guide as they thought this would be very useful in helping to diffuse tension and encourage a calmer and more considered approach”.

Ian Maxwell, national manager of FNF Scotland said: “FNF Scotland is very grateful to the Tudor Trust and the Scottish government for supporting our work.

“This comes at a time when we are receiving increasing numbers of enquiries and are pressing for improvements in the workings of Scottish Family Courts as part of the current civil justice reform process.

“In the last year FNF Scotland has had close to 15,000 visitors to our website.

“Support and advice was given to over 1,500 individuals who contacted the charity by phone or e mail or attended its monthly meetings in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Stirling and Edinburgh.

“The figures are disturbingly high for a small country that affects to be proud of its commitment to its children but our sense is that we are only touch the tip of an iceberg of distress and dissatisfaction.

“We believe that our new outreach post will open the eyes of many professionals to the positive role that they can play in preventing difficulties turning into crises.”

FNF Scotland said it needs further funding in order to confirm the new staff post and added that it already has some runners taking part in the men’s 10k on Father’s Day in Glasgow to raise funds.