Musician and divorced father-of-three Bob Geldof has hit out at the idea mothers should be granted automatic custody of their children following a separation. Women's Editor Christen Pears reports

THE Equal Parenting Council calls it "the worst social problem of our time" - children being taken away from one parent after separation or divorce.

In most cases, the excluded parent is the father and yesterday, former Boomtown Rats frontman Sir Bob Geldof, made a stand for single dads. The singer urged the courts to acknowledge that men could make better carers when couples split up.

Sir Bob went to court very publicly to gain custody of Fifi, 18, Peaches, 12, and Pixie, 11, by his former wife Paula Yates. He also now cares for five-year-old Tiger Lily, the daughter Yates had with INXS star Michael Hutchence.

''Where one partner leaves the other, the children should remain with the partner who has not left," he told Reader's Digest magazine. "To suggest that the interests of the children are nearly always best served by the presence of the mother is just not empirically true.

"Men adore and love their children as much as women, though they may display it in different ways. Courts and judges need to understand that not all men are brutal, indifferent bores, and women ministering angels."

Martin Naylor (not his real name), a 39-year-old father-of two from Peterlee, went to court two years ago for custody of his two daughters, who are now seven and nine. He believes there's no reason why fathers shouldn't be awarded custody, if they are responsible parents.

"I think after my wife and I got divorced, a lot of people expected the children to stay with her. That's usually the way things happen - they stay with the mother - but I wanted them to be with me. We tried to work things out but, in the end I had to go to court.

"The whole process took over a year and it was hard but, at the end of the day, it was worth it because I won. My wife still gets to see them but they live with me and I think that's what's best for them."

But another North-East father, who also wishes to remain anonymous, hasn't seen his two little girls for two years. He brands the family courts system a "disgrace".

"It's about time judges in this country realised that fathers are just as good parents as mothers. I've been to court several times and I'm going back again to try and get contact with my daughters.

"People just assume that children should stay with their mothers and, if you're a dad and you try to get custody, they look at you as if you're a criminal or a paedophile. You have to prove that you're a fit parent.

"Ninety-seven per cent of mothers get custody. I'm not saying that dads are better, it depends on the situation, but mothers aren't better 97 per cent of the time. There are children all over the North-East who are being separated from one of their parents because of this and it's time the Government did something about it."

The Equal Parenting Council, which aims to raise awareness of the issue and provide support for parents, welcomes Sir Bob's comments.

President Tony Coe says: "Sir Bob expresses the pain that he lived through very well and very movingly and it is good to hear him speaking out on this issue which affects so many people.

"Men make just as good parents as women and we are in fact a gender neutral organisation and we see it as a parenting problem rather than a man or woman problem."

Traditionally, it was the woman who stayed at home and brought up the children but, as social patterns change, more men are taking on this role. In these cases, they are more likely to be awarded custody.

"The non-custodial parent is in an extremely weak position in this country if the custodial parent wants to exclude them from their children's lives. There is very little that can be done other than going to court which is expensive, stressful and very often doesn't produce the right result.

"When you ask a child what they want, it's usually to spend equal time with both parents but when it comes down to it, most courts award custody to whichever parent the child is living with, often excluding the other one from their life.

"Our main role as an organisation is to campaign for a level playing field. We want the power between the parents to be equally balanced because that is what is best for the children."

* For more information, visit The Equal Parenting Council website at www.equalparenting.org or call the helpline on 0906 550 1865.