‘Abusive dads must not be able to control lives from jail’
ABUSIVE fathers who have committed “obscene crimes on their own children” can still manipulate their lives even when put behind bars, MPs have been warned.
The plight of Welsh families spurred Swansea East’s Carolyn Harris to make a powerful plea for jailed fathers to be stopped from using their rights as parents to try to control the lives of their children.
Speaking in Westminster Hall, she said: “I was contacted by a particular mum whose children were grotesquely abused by their father – a man who in my opinion does not deserve to be called their father. And I argue today that when someone is capable of stealing their own child’s life through sexual manipulation then their right to have a say on the future of that child should not mean dragging their mother to court at any given opportunity.
“That man should not be allowed to have any influence or impact on his children’s lives.”
Describing the impact on families, the Labour MP said: “It cannot be right for a mother of a child who has been sexually abused by their own father that she has to fight for years just to change her children’s last name as they do not want to share the same name as their abuser.
“It cannot be right that she has to seek permission from that man who stole her children’s childhood to take them abroad.
“When a person commits such horrendous crimes against their own children they cannot be allowed to pull the strings from inside the prison cell.”
Ms Harris told MPs she had been told by mothers how “the rights of their children to be free from their abuser have been ignored”.
She said: “I have seen cases where a convicted child sex offender has the rights of a father and influences the lives of the children who were his victims.
“I have spoken to mothers whose husbands have abused their children, and I was left speechless and emotionally drained by their harrowing stories.”
Gower Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi also raised concerns, asking how the law could allow a father to “exert control” over children “from behind bars when the offence was of a sexual nature”.
Conservative Justice Minister Phillip Lee said it was “clear that not all children can or should maintain contact with a parent who is in prison”.
He said: “Any change to remove parental responsibility automatically on conviction of certain criminal offences would involve some important considerations for my department.
“We would need to be clear that such a change in the law would be in the best interests of all children for whom the current law provides maximum flexibility.”