JASON HATCH, 30, a self-employed builder from Cheltenham, says that he has never recovered from the day he came home from his job in London three years ago to find that his wife had moved out with their children, both aged under 7.
"We had had a disagreement about my working away from home and she said she did not see enough of me.I had agreed to find work closer to home. She never discussed leaving with the kids. It came as a complete surprise," Mr Hatch claimed.
His said that his wife initially prevented him from seeing the children at all and refused to go to mediation or to speak to him.
He applied to the courts hoping to get to see the children every weekend and during half of the school holidays. It took him 18 months before he was allowed supervised visits at a contact centre once every three months. Later he got a court order giving him supervised contact once every three weeks.
"My life is on hold until I can see my children properly. A lot of fathers call it a living bereavement."
He is now applying for equal contact. He believes that his lengthy and painful court battle could have been avoided if mediation sessions were compulsory.
"We had had a disagreement about my working away from home and she said she did not see enough of me.I had agreed to find work closer to home. She never discussed leaving with the kids. It came as a complete surprise," Mr Hatch claimed.
His said that his wife initially prevented him from seeing the children at all and refused to go to mediation or to speak to him.
He applied to the courts hoping to get to see the children every weekend and during half of the school holidays. It took him 18 months before he was allowed supervised visits at a contact centre once every three months. Later he got a court order giving him supervised contact once every three weeks.
"My life is on hold until I can see my children properly. A lot of fathers call it a living bereavement."
He is now applying for equal contact. He believes that his lengthy and painful court battle could have been avoided if mediation sessions were compulsory.
