Website to Reunite Children with their Biological Fathers

FindMyRealDad (www.findmyrealdad.com) is a ground-breaking new website launched this month which provides a vital online link to help reunite children with their biological father.  It is the UK's 'very 1st of its kind' and with just a few clicks will enable children to find their dads using only the most basic information of their date of birth and mother's name.  The service is available to all children once they have reached the age of 18 and to any UK based father searching for a child he has been separated from. For a myriad of reasons relationships fail and many of these sadly involve children.  Men who weren't married to the birth mother have little or no rights to gain access to the child unless the mother gives consent.  The result is that many children never see their father again.  There are also many thousands of children in the UK whose birth certificates simply say "Father Unknown", or show a name that they don't recognise.  For many children it is not easy to know where to start in the search for their father.  The launch of the FindMyRealDad website now simplifies this process and provides the crucial link through which a child and their father can be successfully reunited.  The website is the brainchild of Yvette Heap who started the website because she had friends who had lost contact with their children.  As Yvette says:- "Often the Mother has moved abroad, or may have changed the child's name.  One of my friends faced both of these hurdles leaving them in a hopeless situation and unable to do anything to get access."   Yvette is a strong believer that a child should have two parents, whether they are together or not.  "I split with my son's father when he was 2 years old.  I have never denied access but he now lives in Australia.  My son, who is now 13 went to visit him for 3 weeks over Christmas and loved it."   Registration to the website is free, and those wishing to become members and be active on the site will pay a yearly membership fee which will give them their own, almost unique member code like 120668JONESJULIE.  If someone else joins with the same code, this will almost certainly result in a parent/child match.  The odds of two women with the same name, having the same sex baby on the same day and year are incredibly slim.  Should such a member code match happen a simple DNA test can then be used to prove paternity before any details are released.   Do readers think this type of website is a good idea or not?  Would it help you?  Please email your views to news24@southportreporter.com today...  Thank you.

Shop Direct Group Announces More Potential Job Losses

FOLLOWING the announcement that the company intends to close their call centre in Crosby putting 1,000 jobs at risk, Shop Direct Group has unveiled proposals that could threaten a further 250 plus jobs. 

David Johnson, Usdaw National Officer said:- "This is more bad news for our members at the Shop Direct Group but we will be doing everything we can to minimise the scale of job losses that could result from the company's latest announcements.  Consultation on these latest proposals starts today and we will ensure our members are kept fully informed throughout the consultation process.  While possibly more than 250 jobs are at risk, the company hope to find alternative positions for most of the affected staff."

The Shop Direct Group proposals announced are as follows:-

► A restructuring of the company's warehousing and returns operations that puts 84 jobs at risk at the company's distribution centre at Shaw and the returns centre at Chadderton.  The company hope to find alternative positions for up to 50 staff.

► A reorganisation at the company's Head Office in Speke that puts 113 jobs at risk.  The company hope to find alternative positions for all affected staff.

► The closure of 5 Littlewoods Clearance stores at Stoke, Dudley, Redcar, Port Talbot and Swansea.  The company has yet to confirm the number of jobs threatened by these closures.

► The outsourcing of the mail sorting operation at the company's site at Aintree, putting over 40 jobs at risk.

► A reduction in staff in Customer Support Data Input at the Preston call centre from 33 to 18 which will put 15 jobs at risk.  All affected staff could potentially transfer to a third party.