Brit takes the case for fathers' rights to new heights

Since Friday the 36-year-old father has sat atop a 120-foot crane beside London's Tower Bridge, dressed as Spider-Man, in a bid to draw attention to the plight of dads denied access to their children.


		AP
	David Chick, dressed as Spider-Man, stands among his banners during his sit-in protest up a crane in the shadow of London's Tower Bridge yesterday.

Police say he is a safety hazard, and have closed the bridge, a busy traffic route across the River Thames. The area around the bridge now buzzes with irate drivers, puzzled tourists and a knot of angry men who say Britain's legal system is cutting thousands of fathers off from their kids.

"Hats off to the man," said Charlie Harrison, a divorced father of one who stopped to view the scene yesterday. "It's the only way. Parents and kids are suffering, but no one's listening."

Chick's solo protest is backed by Fathers 4 Justice, a group that has drawn attention to the issue of fathers' rights with a series of high-profile stunts. Last year, 200 supporters dressed as Santa Claus staged a sit-in at a judicial office. Last month, two members dressed as Batman and Robin scaled London's High Court building.

The group says courts overwhelmingly award mothers sole custody of children after a divorce, and that little is done to enforce court orders granting fathers contact with their kids. In most cases, the group says, children should spend half their time with each parent.


		AP
	Pedestrians walk across the empty Tower Bridge after police closed the road, one of the main arteries in and out of the City of London. The road was closed Friday as a safety precaution because of the ongoing protest by David Chick. (AP Photo/PA, Chris Young)

The Lord Chancellor's Department, which oversees courts in England and Wales, said mothers win custody in about four-fifths of cases. It said officials are looking into ways to make the custody system speedier and less adversarial, including mediation for divorcing parents before they get to court.

Fathers 4 Justice has a celebrity supporter in rock star and Live Aid founder Bob Geldof, who battled for custody of his three children with former partner Paula Yates, and who has spoken out in favor of greater custody rights for fathers. Yates died of a drug overdose in 2000.

Chick's protest has tapped into a vein of anger and hurt felt by fathers who have lost contact with their children after their relationships broke up.

The area around Tower Bridge draws men who say they have not seen their children in several years and who resent a legal system they believe is biased in favor of women.

"It's like a ritual humiliation," said divorced dad Harrison, 45, who said he has not seen his 12-year-old daughter in two years.

"You're taken into court, stripped absolutely bare.

"Things like this will change things," he said, gesturing at the crane. "Going through the courts, I'll just come out another casualty."