Examples of Our Work
Mother empowered to represent herself
I got to know Ray Barry through the Equal Parenting Alliance web-
I was going through a very acrimonious divorce and the residence of our daughter. Most people who go through family law issues conventionally adopt the lawyer (legal) route because we are not familiar with alternative choices. I knew very little about McKenzie Friends. Like everyone going down the lawyer route ends up spending everything they have. I did the same.
However I was not going to give up and chose to engage Ray and HR Family to assist me in my case. Meeting Ray was a breath of fresh air. More ...
Father regains contact with daughters
I first met John [Ison] after I had read about him in the local newspaper. I was having problems seeing my two daughters and was fed up of paying ridiculously high solicitor fees. I explained my situation to John who was compassionate, understanding and clearly wanted to help me. He represented me in court on numerous occasions. More ...
Father denied contact
A father contacted us. Shortly after the Family Court ordered that his daughter should
live mainly with him, the mother complained to the Police that he had assaulted her.
He denied it, but was still arrested and bailed. He feared this might lead to his
daughter being taken from him. We advised him to do nothing. If, indeed, the mother
was trying to reverse the residence order by making false allegations against him,
this would back-
Father with depression
A father suffered depression for a year after leaving his wife, and by agreement
he saw their daughter only occasionally. He conceded he had been in no fit state
of mind to spend much time with his little girl. He was now much better, and felt
able to see more of her, but the mother opposed this. After three detailed discussions
with us, he decided that because he and his wife remained on reasonably good terms,
he would not apply to court for contact, but would instead give it more time, demonstrate
to her the improvements he had made, and seek to persuade her to agree to their daughter
gradually spending week-
CSA Problems
A veteran soldier lived with his son, and could not understand why he suddenly began
receiving calls from a firm of bailiffs claiming he was in arrears of child support
payments. His 10-
On our advice, he obtained copies of his CSA file under his data protection rights,
and discovered that an assessment was made six years previously while his son briefly
lived with his mother, but that the CSA had not informed him about it at the time,
or asked for payment. We advised him that under the regulations which applied at
that time, a 6-
Ray helped father get contact with his daughter
I will never forget all the help and support I have received from Raymond Barry,
at the time my ex-
John helped Lee gain contact with his son
Lee contacted John Ison in 2004 having been recommended to him by the local authority.
Within a short period of time John was counselling Lee and advising him on the best
course of action to recommence contact with Lee’s son. John was Lee’s representative
in court and also acted as a mediator between Lee and his ex-
From a County Court Judge
Children had been removed by Social Services, and the mother claimed the Police had wrongly arrested her and had assaulted her. Because of the mother's distressed state, the Judge allowed Ray Barry to act on her behalf, and present her case in court on her behalf. From the judgement:
“I decided to give Mr Barry right of audience. I have no doubt I made the right decision. Mr Barry has endeavoured to do his best and the trial has proceeded better and more fairly than if Ms x had tried to do it alone.”
From a High Court Judge
From the judgment of a High Court judge: a mother's appeal against restrictions placed on her seeing her daughter.
"Mr Barry was granted right of audience, and represented the appellant extremely
well. He was articulate and well-