Half of estranged dads won't see their child this Father's Day

Research on behalf of a Huddersfield-based lawyers also showed that one in three estranged fathers in Yorkshire only see their children once a month - with visits limited to five hours.

Government figures show that a quarter of families across the UK are lone-parent households - 1.8m. Of these, 91 per cent of those homes seeing mothers take on the role of the primary caregiver.

First4Lawyers, which has branches across Yorkshire, spoke to 2,000 single parents, children aged between six and 16 who are currently growing up without a father present, and adults who grew up living primarily with their mothers for the survey, released ahead of Father’s Day this Sunday.

It found that 48 per cent of children who were estranged from their father would not be seeing him this Sunday, and more than third, 36 per cent, said their father moved out of Yorkshire and lives too far away to see him.

Eight out of ten fathers said they had requested to see their child more often but had this denied, while four out of ten said they do not get to their child on birthdays or Christmas.

In total, 80 per cent of estranged fathers said not being able to regularly see their child was negatively impacting their child, while the majority of fathers in Yorkshire believe a 50/50 visitation split is best - yet only 14 per cent of children in the region agree to this.

Andy Cullwick at First4lawyers based in Huddersfield said: “Divorce is never easy but our research clearly shows that it will have a profound impact on dads and their kids this Father’s Day weekend. It is saddening to see that almost half of children with estranged dads won’t see them this weekend but it is also more concerning to learn that 48 per cent of estranged dads are not contributing to the upbringing of their children. It seems Father’s Day could have a very different meaning for lone-parent families in Yorkshire. It clearly shows that more needs to be done to ensure children’s interests remain the priority during the breakdown of any relationship.”