As a result, society has come to not only overlook the problems of single fathers, but to view single fathers as the root of all evils visited upon the single mother. To be sure, FREE recognizes that there are indeed some fathers who don't pay support, or who skip town. However there are a great many fathers who want to parent their children, who are willing and prepared to pay their fair share of child-support, and who wish only to be treated with respect, fairness, and dignity by the State, the Family Law System, and by society. It is these fathers for whom FREE stands up and advocates. FREE is an international membership group with members throughout the United States, Canada, England, Germany, Australia, and Japan.
Members stay in constant communication via an international computer network known as the Internet.
Local groups respond to the needs of their area members by providing meetings, attorney referrals, and advice and support, as needed. In addition, FREE members have used their collective power of the pen to work to educate others as to the concerns of single fathers, and the very real inequities in our current family law and social service systems. Examples include letters written to the United Way regarding an anti-father advertising campaign, and members getting involved and offering their services to the President's Commission on Urban Families. FREE's director, Anne Mitchell, founded the organization in 1991. Ms. Mitchell, a family law attorney specializing in fathers' rights, and herself a single parent, has been involved in fathers' rights advocacy since 1987.