When Separation Becomes Loss: The Hidden Crisis of Father Child Disconnection
In Scotland, separation doesn’t just end a relationship between two adults. Too often, it also fractures a child’s bond with a loving parent, most commonly their father.
What begins as a change in living arrangements can become something far more damaging: the slow erosion of a child’s relationship with one half of their world.
This loss rarely happens because a father is unsafe or uninterested. It happens when conflict, delay, power imbalance, and inconsistent decision making make it too easy for contact to be reduced or stopped, with little consequence for the parent preventing it. The result is thousands of children growing up with restricted or no relationship with their fathers, a deeply unrecognised social issue.
The Mark Williams Foundation exists because the current system can feel stacked against good fathers.
Family law in Scotland is rightly built around the child’s best interests, yet many fathers experience a system that feels stacked against them. Despite modern attitudes, mothers are still often seen as the default parent. Fathers face cautious contact arrangements that do not progress, long delays that normalise non-contact, and weak enforcement when orders are ignored. Time itself becomes a weapon, the longer the separation, the harder relationships are to rebuild.
When a child loses a good father, the impact can be lasting: emotional distress, behavioural difficulties, and challenges with confidence and attachment. This is not about prioritising one parent over another; it’s about fairness, balance, and a child’s right to maintain loving bonds with both parents where it is safe to do so.
At The Mark Williams Foundation, we are clear in our purpose. We do not exist to favour fathers over mothers. We exist to restore balance where imbalance exists and to support fairness where fairness has become inaccessible.
We believe child safety is paramount, and where there are genuine safeguarding concerns, restrictions must always protect the child. However, we also believe that in far too many cases, loving fathers are pushed out not because they are harmful, but because the legal and procedural barriers make it too easy for contact to break down and far too difficult for it to be repaired.
That’s why we have created The Fathers’ Legal Support Initiative, because access to justice should not depend on wealth. Many fathers simply cannot afford representation and face losing meaningful contact through no fault of their own. Donor-funded legal support helps prevent that outcome, restoring a child’s connection with a parent who loves them.
It costs on average £20,000 for a father to secure good legal representation in a their fight for child contact.
That is why donor support is vital to this mission. Every donation helps protect relationships, preserve stability, and uphold fairness in a system that too often fails those who try hardest to stay involved. We stand not against mothers, but for children, because love, safety and belonging should never be casualties of separation.
These funds represent more than legal fees. They represent preserved relationships, protected childhoods, and the belief that a child should not lose a good parent because the system is too slow, too expensive, or too imbalanced to uphold what is right.
We continue to advocate for a fairer system, one where children do not lose good fathers through preventable inequality.
Nicola Williams
Founder, The Mark Williams Foundation