“After one rather painful and traumatic court appearance, I came home feeling completely empty and devoid of hope at which point I spent the next three days fruitlessly numbing myself with various alcoholic intoxicants and becoming increasingly more depressed...it was on the third day that I woke up and I realized that if I don't fight this corrupt system that is keeping me away from my daughter, then I indirectly support it,” said Dave Flook, founder of the Not All Dads Are Deadbeats website and a professor of Interactive Design at Fanshawe College.

The website was started on that very day.

Not All Dads Are Deadbeats is a 100 per cent free online resource and social networking website which, reaches out to persons who are in similar situations trying to gain access to their children.

Some of the features on the website include a public forum where members can post messages, seek answers, and tell their story.

Discouraged with the present law system, Flook did not want to become just another statistic and wanted his daughter to never forget his attempts at seeing that she had both parents fighting on her behalf; not just one.

Using his current skills and knowledge a support group was erupted.

“I intend to bring forth the incorporation of a not-for-profit organization so Dads will have a united voice with a recognized legal entity under law and put an end to the children being used as tools of extortion,” said Mathieson Goddard, a Paralegal who contributes his time to the organization by discussing family law to fathers currently involved in the court system.

“Presumed equal parenting needs to become the norm... this is the promise I have made to my children and that is what keeps me going everyday towards making a better future for them.”

Flook wants to encourage single fathers in relative situations that by starting his website, people now have a safety net and do not need to feel alone in the fight towards gaining rights to see their children.

Flook, a single dad, is now fighting the system to gain fair rights to his little girl.

It wasn't long ago Flook's rights to see his daughter started diminishing.

At present, every second weekend is his daughter's turn with her daddy; unsupervised.

“For the last year I have experienced a sadness that is indescribable... I have to go to bed at night knowing my little girl is a hundred kilometers away and wake up alone knowing she is no closer...I fear that she will resent me for not being there for her all the time. I fear missing out on moments of her life that can only be had once...and never again,” Flook said.

Not All Dads Are Deadbeats encourages fathers to speak out and be heard in a setting that is free of judgment.

According to Flook, it takes one individual to make a difference; all you have to do is believe and feel empowered that you, in fact, can.

Flook is running for city council in the 2010 election in London to help advocate on behalf equal parenting for children's rights.

“I will be running for city council to promote children's rights. There is no doubt in my mind that London, which is regarded as one of the worst fathers rights violators, will be seen as the new paradigm for children's rights,” Flook explained.

On the evening of April 7, 2009 Not All Dads Are deadbeats will be hosting An Evening of Pride: A celebration of Fatherhood at the Wolf Performance Hall.

Two dollars from each ticket sold will go directly to the Children's Museum in London.

Flook has demonstrated the night to be a great success with many speakers that will be speaking about children's rights.

“It's going to be big.”

For more information regarding equal parenting and children's rights, please visit www.notalldadsaredeadbeats.com for further details.