Who Needs Fathers s1e01 - For The Sake of the Kids - BBC TV programme.

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who.needs.fathers.s1e01.for.the.sake.of.the.kids.bbc.tv.avi


(The title of this video isnt quite accurate. Its actually about a father who is doing his best to see his children, while his ex-wife is being difficult and denying proper access).

One in three British children have parents that are separated. All too often, children become the weapons in their parents war.

Alex Bronchard is the father of 4 boys. "They're a blessing to my life these little boys. They make it all worth while."

Alex got together with Juliette in 1999. They bought a house in Warwickshire, but by June 2005, the relationship had broken down.

Alex: "There was a sense of relief that it was all over, that I no longer needed to be with her. Then after a short period of time it suddenly strikes you, yes, but she's now going to do everything possible to stop you from seeing your children."

Since then, Alex has spent ten's of thousands of pounds in legal fee's to ensure he see's his children regularly.

When we started filming, he was about to take the boys camping for nine days in France. Alex is preparing the documents for the mothers inspection.

Alex: "I've got all the details of the trip. The tickets, the holiday camp reservations, the date of departure, the date of arrival. Its all there."

Alex told Juliette that he'd pick up the boys today, so they can leave tomorrow. Two hours later, Alex returns from Juliette's - alone.

Alex: "I wish a judge could just come out of his court and really see whats going on."

Unless Alex leaves by 10am tomorrow morning, they'll miss the ferry. The only way he might be able to force Juliette to hand over the children is to get the police involved. Alex decides to phone the police that evening, who finally go and talk to Juliette at midnight (and give her the documents prepared by Alex).

The next morning, Alex turns to his friend Annie Johnston for advice. She's been his main support over the years of legal wrangling with Juliette. Annie is a family friend, and a retired magistrate from the family court. They both go to see Juliette, but the mother still refuses to hand over the kids.

Alex: "She just couldnt care less. She's just there, being cocky and clever. I bawled out "boys!" and she shut the window."

Annie: "I would say she's blatently disregarding the significance of a contact order. I think its a dreadful problem, but an ongoing problem for lots of fathers, and the unfortunate thing is, so many children lose contact with their fathers after a period of years, forever, because the fathers simply give up. They cannot continue fighting."

Alex made an urgent application to the court, and was told a judge would see him immediately.

Alex: "I came out with an order telling her to let me go on holiday with my kids. I went to the mother, picked the kids up and went on holiday."

The programmes interviewer goes to speak to Juliette, for her side of the story..

Juliette: "He would not give me confimation of where those children were going, so I wouldnt release the passports. The police knocked on the door at 12 o'clock midnight, and they had the papers with them. So they gave me the papers.

Interviewer to Juliette: "but didnt he come back in the morning and try again, once you'd got those documents (from the police)?"

Juliette: "no..no."


It took another 13 months in court, but they now have an agreement.

Alex gets one third of the year with his children.