Verstoten Vaders

When fathers may no longer see their child after a divorce, the grief can start controlling their lives. The three fathers in Verstoten vaders (‘Alienated Fathers’) are torn between anger, incomprehension and doubt. ‘My life feels like sitting in a waiting room.’

‘There is another truth: that of your father,’ a man writes to his 14-year-old son. The man has not been allowed to see his son for three years, and his grief is overwhelming. The fathers are accused of things like violence, sexual abuse and attempted kidnappings. The fathers say the accusations are false, but how do you prove that? And especially when the children seem to repeat the accusations – hinted at by their mothers? – the youth services are immediately on guard.

The fathers yearn for contact, for a life in which they can just see their children again. Are fathers’ rights too easily discarded after a difficult divorce?