1. Father of one: “I am the victim of a false report”.

“I’m the father of a young child, and right now, I’m being banned from seeing my son. I was the victim of a false report by my son’s mother, where she said I had committed sexual acts with my partner in front of him… even though my partner was at work that day.”

“After this, she decided to stop giving me access to my son, and we soon ended up in court. They accepted her demands until the inquiry into the claims ends. The thing is, the inquiry has been going since last year.”

“Eventually, I was given access to my son eight hours only a week, and only in the presence of his mother, in a public area without any amenities for myself or my child. This kind of treatment is unacceptable, and we are in dire need of something to enforce parent’s rights. I hope my plea falls on the right ears during these difficult times.”

2. Father of three: “one of my kids totally ghosted me”.

“One of my kids has totally ghosted me… even if I happen to be in the same room as them. The other two, I try to meet whenever I manage to get to meet them…”

3. Mother of one: “I have been demoted to babysitter”.

“I am one of the many unheard victims of Parental Alienation Syndrome. However, I am the mother. Many a time, the viewpoint of the father is brought to light. Not many women are the subject of alienation.”

“My ex-husband has succinctly alienated me from my child over a number of years; prior to, during, and after our legalised separation.”

“The legal system is not favourable to all women’s causes. There is a strong misconception about the courts always favouring the woman.”

“The recent introduction of the child lawyer in the Family Courts worsened the situation, as the alienator can use this to his advantage to prepare the child for his meeting with the said lawyer. My son’s interview with the appointed child lawyer resulted in me now seeing him for just over 8 hours per week.

“There is no time whatsoever to be able to bond with my child. I have been demoted to babysitter from a loving mother who only has my son’s interests at heart.”

“There are consequences to having an alienated child appear in court in front of a lawyer who is completely oblivious to the complete picture. At no point where clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers were consulted. The decision was simply made by the magistrate based on the lawyer’s report following a 20-minute interaction with my son.”

“I am a broken woman, and in mourning for a son who is now lost to me as a result of a flawed judiciary system.”

4. Father of three: “there is no easy recourse to take”.

“I am currently experiencing this and have limited access to my three children, despite my being a surgeon by profession and also treating children on a daily basis in the most compromising situation.”

“My ex-wife has used the Maltese court system in order to deprive the children access to their father, and there is no easy or fast recourse to take. The courts just don’t appear to recognise alienating behaviour and I would urge the court system to be involved in education for themselves so that judges can make better decisions in the interests of the children.”

5. Father of three: “I’ve paid hundreds of thousands of euro”.

“What is needed is a forensic analysis of the family court.”

“I was hounded out of Malta years ago by the corrupt underbelly of the family court, I lost all my properties, my job and all my assets to unscrupulous lawyers who make one false allegation after another, then they don’t even turn up in court!”

“Delay after delay for years, and still counting – and it’s useless fighting allegations because they simply make up another one like they’re pastizzi.”

“Years and years go by and the costs accumulate because the court puts the onus on the defendant to prove his innocence. The court calligrapher alone cost me €1,300.”

“Each court expert takes years to finalise its report and even if you are eventually cleared (which I was in every case) they can simply ask for a new court expert! And so it all starts all over again.”

“And the person making the allegations pays absolutely nothing so it’s a win-win situation for the person making the false allegations and a lose-lose situation for the innocent defendant.”

“So far, I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of euro and still got nowhere. I never recovered any of my property or any of my assets and never saw my children again. I had to abandon everything because the courts froze everything, even my salary while imposing maintenance twice my salary, ignoring that I was forced to rent and still had home loans to pay off plus I was out of work.”

“They said I can go work in Kuwait if I wanted – but the maintenance had to be paid! That’s what they want for us dads, exiled and just sending over money but with no rights to enjoy our children or even our property! This is a fate worse than death.”

“And to what end? They just want to eradicate us dads (and some mums too), they treat us worse than stray dogs. I ended up having to move from hostel to hostel with a two-year-old daughter because the court even refused me one of my garages just to keep my daughters buggy and a bottle warmer.”

“I even asked maybe if I could use just a small part of one of the car spaces I own just to keep the buggy and my daughter’s bike and a bag of clothes and the court also denied me this.”

“I ended up in a disgusting hotel without even a ceiling fan in August for my poor daughter to get some relief from the intense heat.” But what else could I do if the court barred me from entry to my own properties?”

“After over a decade of fighting, all I have is one half-hour access to my son per week. He is 12 now and the last time I had him he was one.”

6. Father of two: “You break mentally and physically”.

“It’s been two years since I saw my children… you break mentally, as well as physically. That you don’t see your children, when it was you that raised them, is hard. Since I stopped seeing my children, I started a page on Facebook just to show how hurt a father who loves his son can be when you can no longer see them…”

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