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Letter: Some fathers are prevented from being dads

Laura Yates
Saturday 21 June 1997 23:02 BST
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A woman can choose to be a mother, a father cannot always choose to be a dad ("Today is Father's Day...", 15 June). A man's ability to take an active role in his child's upbringing, to help raise, care for, protect and provide for it - in other words to be a dad - can rest in the hands of a woman.

Today's society, which seeks to redress the imbalance of power and authority between the sexes in all aspects of life has also provided women with the means to choose or reject motherhood at their convenience. A woman now has tremendous powers: to cheat partners by taking or not taking the Pill, to abort an unwanted child, to manipulate children and therefore flout court orders which grant contact to the father, and to demand that the man pay up despite this. Sadly she also has the power to deny a child a relationship with his or her father.

These observations are made from personal experience. Clearly not all women behave badly and many are left in dire plights by their partners. But any changes in the Child Support Agency must reflect the distinctions between situations and responsibilities. Where a woman chooses to be a single parent she should be seen to have accepted sole responsibility and renounced the father's support.

Laura Yates

Newcastle upon Tyne

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