By Grant A. Brown | May 6, 2014 For several decades now, fathers have faced significant, widespread bias in family courts across Canada. But as author Grant Brown shows in this free e-book, many of the popular prejudices behind this bias simply have no basis in law or fact. In Ideology And Dysfunction In Family Law – How Courts Disenfranchise Fathers, Brown shows us why dads are getting such a raw deal – and what can be done about it.

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This is a publication of the Canadian Constitution Foundation and Frontier Centre for Public Policy.

Reviews of Ideology And Dysfunction In Family Law – How Courts Disenfranchise Fathers

Read this book! Meticulously researched and thorough, yet easy to read for the lay person, Oxford educated philosopher, professor and lawyer Grant Brown has created a tour de force exposition of family law in Canada today. There is no more compelling argument for Canadian family law reform than this book. Ideology and Dysfunction in Family Law is a soon-to-be classic and a must-read for anyone interested in families or family law in Canada.
Dr. Paul Millar, Nipissing University

There is no dearth of material on the bias against fathers in western family courts. As a journalist focused on culture and ideology in Canada’s social institutions, I have read many books and articles on this subject. Ideology and Dysfunction in Family Law: How Courts Disenfranchise Fathers is in my experience unique in its referential breadth and depth. This book unites impeccable legal scholarship, moral philosophy and evidence-based cultural analysis with stylistic precision and elegance. Grant Brown puts forward arguments never heard in family court: parents’ inherent rights; children’s real best interests (not what the courts usually say they are); the unconstitutionality of the Child Support Guidelines; and, in general the irreconcilability of the law with the first principles of justice. More than a superb reference book for journalists and policy makers, not to mention all educated readers with an interest in judicial fairness, Brown’s book should be on the obligatory reading list of every law school in Canada.
Barbara Kay, National Post columnist and author

Grant Brown’s well-written and well-researched book should be required reading for anyone involved in the divorce industry. It is an blunt and comprehensive assessment of the badly flawed, gender biased system that routinely removes children from the lives of divorced dads and renders them, at best, as “visitors” in their child’s life and, at worst, as “wallets” for their ex-spouses. Brown is at his best using incisive logic and well-crafted illustrations to easily refute the arguments of defenders of the status quo. He fearlessly takes on many in his own profession who serve to perpetuate the system that denies divorced fathers basic rights of parenthood. This is an especially honest and courageous book that should be a catalyst for long overdue changes in the way we approach divorce and parenting. Implicit in Brown’s analysis of the serious flaws in the existing (anti-father) system is that unless there is fundamental change to establish an equal parenting system, there is a real risk that prospective fathers (especially the financially successful) will be reluctant to marry and have children.
Dr. Chris Sarlo, Nipissing University