Rob Rinder reads a judge's moving letter to two children after a bitter custody case

[@akossarfo-kantanka7231]

This letter made me realize how lucky I was to have a women judge during my parents divorce/custody battle. She made it clear that her decision to give my mom full custody was based on the actions he showed in the first 12 years of my life (verbal and emotional abuse) not his plan to be a “better father” in the future. I owe that judge my life; because I know I wouldn’t be here if she gave him even 5 minutes of custody. ❤

[@axionth27sharonannKendel-jk6ot]

The judge who wrote this letter has a wonderful way of explaining these decisions to the children and why. What a wonderful judge

[@mellie4174]

Former social worker here.... Couldn't agree more. As a society we care more about parent's rights to own thier child than the child's to emotional and physical safety

[@gurusmurf5921]

I don't know all the specifics of the situation but this letter made my skin crawl and has left me feeling a little nauseated. It's giving me flash backs of the times that well meaning people tried to pressure me into reuniting with my abusive parents. The incredible damage these people did to my life and mental health out of ignorance and arrogance. Being a sperm donor is not the same thing as being a father.

[@lukeytron]

I have two loving parents, but I've witnessed what it looks like when someone does not. I had the same reaction as you. I just hope the judge is certain that the father is careless, not uncaring. The line "sometimes he didn't care about your feelings ... That doesn't make him a bad father", really didn't sit right with me. I'm pretty sure caring about your kids is a minimum requirement.

[@denisemcdougal6445]

😢I understand

[@Koreviking]

I thought the same.

[@plankface]

Agreed, talk about mansplaining, grossed me out.

[@mgb7140]

I totally agree. This letter is full of garbage, the standard "forgiveness" clause that causes expectation that the hurt will forgive the abuser and continue to give them more chances. The abuser not facing consequences. I'm ashamed of this judge.

[@annunciataparchesi1832]

"I don't believe your Dad meant to be mean to you. He just didn't think about how you would feel". What??!!

[@sharonsekhon9475]

Some parents should never have access to their kids.

[@michaelvincent7115]

This letter sounds very much like a lack of perspective and knowledge of the situation by someone who is trained in law but not child psychology. While im sure he was well-meaning, he instead makes the same mistake many ppl in stable home situations make by assuming that this can get better if the father just tries hard enough. Incomplete assessments make for bad consequences

[@thedarkdane7]

May I suggest that treating his children horribly, even if his intentions were not bad, DOES make him a bad father (or guilty of bad fathering at times). If the dad's intentions were not bad, that matters; but intentions are not enough. Lacking bad intentions does not mean one is successfully raising and nurturing the next generation. Lacking bad intentions does not mean one is not inflicting life-long harm. Fathers can have wakeup calls and can change for the better, but how about the dad getting help for a few months and then assessing whether or not he is improving before making the choice that he should have access to his kids.

[@ihaveanamebutimnottellingyou]

I'm so deep into family law at university right now that I instantly knew which case this was. Both fascinating and complicated.

[@IntelligentEating]

Do not do this.

[@circonflexechess]

Wow, this letter really makes me feel uneasy... This letter to an adult is already quite difficult to handle, but to a child, that's pure manipulation ! I really believe that the point of justice is to protect people, not to obey to some arbitrary "sacred" law based on traditions. Having a good dad is a great thing in life. But if you don't, there is no point to force people to have a dad at all, whatever customs and traditions may says. When a child is unhappy, he is saying so. And when problem grows even bigger and the child stop speaking at all, he keps demonstrate so. Being a parent is a gigantic responsibility. It is normal to fail at it. But it is not normal to force children to suffer from it. Yet, forcing the dad to write a monthly letter is a good thing, for at least child can keep having choice to see him in futur if they want to.

[@mellie4174]

I like what the judge did here, but as a former social worker, all I can see is too kids being put back with a potentially abusive father whose behavior is likely to escalate. Seen it soooooooo many times. Why do we think that it is better for kids to be abused then to not have en Intact 'nuclear' family....

[@Skan735]

I'm so glad in this case that the decision was to only give him the chance of indirect contact - All he got was the chance to write one letter per month. No shared custody or guaranteed visitation, so they weren't being forced into being in the same place

[@donnadunaway5670]

My ex told me his ex brother-in-law only paid $20 a week for his child support for his daughter I asked him if your kids are only worth $20 a week….he didn’t have an answer.

[@haywardgarner4850]

Jesus Christ! What a heavy burden to drop on children. The adults need to sort it out, and not ask children to work through their mess.

[@renastone9355]

I think it's respectful to the children to ask them what they're thinking. I mean, this wouldn't work if they were toddlers, but assuming they were at least 8 or 9, I think it was very well done.

[@fuzzydeviant]

Exactly. He’s not asking what they’re thinking. He’s just trying to justify dumping the responsibility in their laps. Awful person

[@nudg]

I would say that by the time these children got this letter from the judge and the psychologist they had already had a ‘heavy burden’ put on them by their warring parents. It’s hardly as if children are unaware of family problems since they can sense ‘atmosphere’ very well! They are often not emotionally equipped to deal with their parents fights - and why should they have to? I found this to be a well-presented letter, in age appropriate language. Then again I think the current adversarial system of ‘family justice’ is out of touch with the times. Besides - this was written by a Scottish judge to a Scottish family - and as a Scot myself it makes good sense. YMMV.

[@performancedownunder5773]

That was a manipulative guilt trip forced on a child, I call that abuse. The upside is there was no court order that the children had to either read or answer the letter.

[@theprecipiceofreason]

My parent was arrested when I was 14. The police did nothing with us. They came to search the house while we waited for our natural born guardian to return from wherever. it was the first sign of their wherabouts. They moved around us, not looking at us in the face, while they took knives to all our furniture and cracked open all of our appliances. They ignored our questions while dismantling our (rented) cabinets and windows. My parent had been arrested with some drugs on them while they were stealing some copper wire from a defunct and shuttered facility for the national guard. They left us there after, in our shattered (rented) home until the landlord came by to let us know that if the rent wasn't paid, we would have to leave. My sibling was 10 years old. We had nowhere to go. I wrote off my parent then. I wrote off a lot of things that I had once thought good or important. This hadn't been the first atrocity. My parent died a few months ago, after 26 years of me not speaking to them and rarely thinking of them. I was better for it. Some people shouldn't have had kids. Some things you can't take back.

[@shep5041]

Will never meet or know you, your comment had me in tears, hit hard. Sending best wishes, and I will remember your comment

[@lilbirdztube3698]

That judge was wrong, wrong, wrong.

[@Luannnelson547]

This judge thinks he knows more about the real person, when he’s just getting the best-foot-forward version this man presented in a legal setting? Those children know what he’s really like. I am appalled. At least it’s just a letter, which they don’t have to read if they don’t want to.

[@ratholin]

The judge is a woman. Your misogyny is showing.

[@katherinewhite142]

Beautifully spoken, I feel like the weight of those words have healed a bit of my heart ❤️‍🩹

[@b.c.h.u.a]

I cannot believe there is still a judge with a sense of humor and make good judgement considering people's feelings and yet follow the letter of the law. .

[@Syzygy-xu9cd]

Why did it receive wide acclaim? The dad locked the child in a room and sometimes didn't care about their feelings. No loving parent only cares sometimes, they care all the time. Sounds manipulative to me but then I had a father like that and know the signs

[@jeffbergstrom]

Nope nope nope. It is on the dad to be a good dad and, per what was said here, he has not been a good dad. Don't put it on the children to make things better.

[@missmerrily4830]

What a horrible list of transgressions on the part of the father. These things DID make him a bad dad, and I can't understand why the judge would come down so heavily on his side. I think it's appalling. The children have decided they don't like him and don't want to be with him. They should be left with their mother, and if the father still wants contact they should maybe consider thinking about this when the youngest child is 18! They don't have to grown up thinking dad was 'bad'. He was bad. That's good enough for me!

[@allthenewsordeath5772]

I’m not going to defend cursing at your child, but if you really think that’s the height of abuse and deserving of never allowing the father to see their kid again then I think you lack some perspective. If people are taking actionable steps to be better than you shouldn’t punish them anyways.

[@Carthybp]

There is so much missing context here. The letter is well written, and the reading is excellent, but lacks any actual details of the custody situation. So it just sounds like a judge telling kids to see their abusive father, despite them stating that they don't want to.

[@TonyHammitt]

This is going to resonate with a lot of people. Gender swap this and it seems very familiar to me, and would to my kids. But our judge didn't even speak to my kids. There's a presumption of inadequacy for male parents in our court system. But I still ended up with full custody eventually. I guess maybe the judge should have checked in with them.

[@mwmentor]

Beautiful - and brave. I wouldn't have been able to read that letter and hold myself together as Judge Rinder did. Really great reading, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing :-)

[@LorettaBurrow]

Did everyone miss that the "contact" was a letter once a month? And the kids are free to decide if they want to write back!

[@skankhunt3624]

Hear a lot of people chit-chatting in the background.

[@ashuggtube]

I feel the background chatter really took much away from the delivery and the seriousness of the matter. How this was picked up by the microphones, I do not know, perhaps there was an open mic at the sound desk by accident? In any case I can’t imagine why people would be talking during a reading. I think that’s very rude.

[@VeneraBerens]

❤I LOVE THESE

[@mariabolt3881]

In Adulthood I cut my Father from my life. I could no longer bear trying to be diplomatic. He was a manipulatiing and controlling person but had a 2nd family to be with. I could let go knowing he had a suppirt network around him and in letting go, his 2nd family would no longer have the distubance of his first family in it.

[@Lmay1787]

The people talking in the background are distracting.

[@WouldntULikeToKnow.]

Yes, rude.

[@sbtashetty1]

Should be titled "shitty abusive dad finds the perfect advocate to gaslight his kids"

[@helenchristie6530]

Who was talking through this? I kept hearing voices. So rude.

[@RealSalica]

That was a wonderful letter .

[@f.sailaway5549]

This was very unusual but empathetic and human. ❤

[@sandraallen8832]

I hope it worked out ok

[@connieverbeck1110]

Wow!!!

[@ellenchavez2043]

"The best interests of the child"....the "good times" are crumbs in a sea of insensitivity and disregard. Past behavior is predictive of future behavior.

[@Duty_to_Warn]

That must have been paid, private, counselling! The decision should have been the child’s surely, not Mr Anwars!

[@Bowie_E]

Beautiful ❤

[@cosmic-tiger]

The most interesting thing here is less the letter & more that almost all the comments are informed by the commenter mapping their own feelings & experience onto these children when deciding if the judge was correct. The judge likely did the same which suggests there is rarely an entirely good outcome in these cases whichever way the gavel falls. I’m glad I don’t have to navigate a minefield of emotionally invested people who may or may not be truthful or misleading who also have enormous sway over the perspectives of their young children.

[@tianabukedde4782]

Rob makes me powerful,calm and relaxed. He brings people good heart. Love him so much in my bottom of my heart❤❤❤😢😢

[@marketads1]

I believe Solomon went through this very same chore. There are ways to see thru a liar who has ulterior motives for wanting child custody. So much so that they study many resources that teach them how to act and what judges look for. How to set up their homes in time for the court visit so they have everything just so. When we first discussed separating my former husband’s true motive came out so that only I knew. He said, “I will never pay you a dime.”

[@suzymatwetwe]

What a wise and just Sheriff 👏.

[@KnightsAndDarths]

Chitchatting in the background, so rude.

[@ladyminimo17]

Judge Rinder, when we together, no one can separate us because we both have a different heart of standards, that bind together as 1 ❤

[@dupersuper1938]

A judge and a sheriff?

[@sallyomahony1108]

I think that’s his name. Sharif Anwar.

[@Bobs-Wrigles5555]

@@sallyomahony1108 Actually, it's part of each, it's the Scottish legal system's version of a judge and HER title and name is Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar of Glasgow and Strathkelvin.

[@sallyomahony1108]

@@Bobs-Wrigles5555 I was going by the surname and the way he pronounced it.

[@Bobs-Wrigles5555]

@@sallyomahony1108 It's also in the visible section of the description of the video(if you are on a PC), but I can understand people not being aware of how Scottish and for that matter English legal rankings are titled, but here's a hint you may have heard before "Sheriff of Nottingham"😀

[@sallyomahony1108]

@@Bobs-Wrigles5555 I didn’t have the description on, and yes, I have heard of him and the Scottish one, but as it was a personal letter, I’m sticking with it being his name.

[@marieroberts5664]

Wow! Amazing letter, threads the needle nicely.

[@nigel75thst]

That was excellent. I forwarded that to my own kids. Society very rarely considers the emotional damage a divorce has on men. Men lose more than money and possessions during a divorce. Some men never truly recover from there loses.

[@martinawrensch6527]

❤

[@kasondaleigh]

Excellent judgment.

[@denisemcdougal6445]

What a wonderful Judge.

[@zoecunningham3019]

Frequently parents require a lesson or full instruction of a "how to " more often than not. Some just a reminder jolt to reopen what always was prior to losing the availability of regaining. Yes dear child, it's your choice to make now. I do hope you ponder while making your choice if you would feel no remorse if you close the door of opportunity to attempt to reunite. Some day the time will come when it will be lost forever.

[@WouldntULikeToKnow.]

And many do not regret their choice to keep that door closed. Not every parent deserves their children.

[@AnneVandijck]

Wonderful psycologist and a wonderful empathetic judge

[@noeldown1952]

Judging from the fact that the "chance" the judge is offering is a monthly letter from their dad, and the fact that he felt compelled to explain why he's allowing it, I'm guessing their dad is currently a guest of the Crown, probably on permanent basis, and is forever not allowed anywhere near children.

[@DocFlamingo]

That is a GREAT deal to infer from what was said.

[@n_tas]

@@DocFlamingo from your comment I'm guessing your name is Mike and you live in the Maldives

[@StormShadowHarris]

@@n_tas And that is a hell of an inferral from somebody disagreeing. It sounds to me like the children do not want to see their dad again, and he's pulled some real POS moves. But I think if he'd been sent to prison, the judge would have mentioned that in the letter, no?

[@DocFlamingo]

@@n_tas Eh?

[@ladyminimo17]

Rinder and Hawley make the best judges of defence, for the love of both countries which are a perfect match because sorry seems to be the hardest words. But with a heart that can lead to a final seal of a judgement of justice. 😂

[@CatBuchanan]

There is a tw@t talking loudly in the background. Why are people so freaking stupid and inconsiderate?

[@maushaus2792]

So it’s all dad’s fault. Mum”s perfect.

[@advocaterishitamall]

How immature... It was a custody battle and the kids felt scarred because of the treatment they got from the father... Are you going to tell them how they should feel regarding their personal experience??? The judge went an extra mile to make the kids give their dad a second chance, to which the mother agreed... did you not hear it until the end ??

[@WouldntULikeToKnow.]

You missed the point of the letter, didn't you?

[@sabrinarosario6499]

Your misogyny is showing. The letter is literally explaining how emotionally abusive their father was but w/e because mom is the evil one because woman.

[@seanwebb605]

That's not what has been said at all.

[@therealjetlag]

Wow, how many screw ups is this dad allowed to have before they stop trying to guilt trip the kids into seeing him?