Measures unveiled by the government yesterday to try to divert separated parents from bitter court battles over their children were condemned by fathers' groups as "doomed to failure."
Fathers4Justice, the group whose stunts have paralysed traffic around the country, pledged to step up its campaign for a better deal for separated fathers.
Pilot schemes to encourage warring parents to resolve contact disputes by mediation will be launched in London, Brighton and Sunderland from next September.
But fathers' organisations predicted that the scheme would fail and criticised the decision not to go ahead with a pilot more closely modelled on a successful "early intervention" scheme in Florida and other US states.
The department of constitutional affairs had been consid ering a scheme modelled on one which has dramatically cut the number of court cases in Florida. Judges, lawyers and other professionals had consulted for three years and come up with a plan under which parents would be presented with sample parenting plans, with an assumption of generous time with the children for both mother and father.
Instead, the more ad hoc "family resolution" scheme favoured by the Department for Education and Skills will go ahead. Parents who apply to court for contact orders will be encouraged to go to mediation to try to agree their own arrangements within two weeks, instead of waiting 16 weeks for a court hearing. But mediation is voluntary and unless both parents agree, it will not take place.
Tony Coe, president of the Equal Parenting Council, said the initiative was "doomed to failure" and parents should have a legal presumption of contact with their children.
He added: "It isn't going to make, as far as we can see, any practical difference.
"We need simplicity so everybody knows the moment they go to court, the court is going to be aiming towards a shared parenting plan unless there is a genuine reason why that should not take place - if a parent is violent or abusive."
"Mediation is all well and good, and we are all supportive of mediation, but it is of no value if you don't have the authority of the court behind it."
The minister for children, Margaret Hodge, and the family justice minister, Lord Filkin, also announced an additional £3.5m for child contact services, including funding of 14 new contact centres and the introduction of new forms to ensure judges are aware of accusations or incidents of domestic violence at the start of cases.
Jim Parton of Families Need Fathers described the family resolution scheme as "watered down and ineffectual."
Fathers 4 Justice, whose members dress as super-heroes to stage protests on cranes, said the pilot was "cynical" and an "absolute sham". Matt O'Connor, the group's founder, said: "From our point there are no good points."
He added that "to make matters worse", the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) would be involved in administering the scheme. Cafcass was heavily criticised by the Commons constitutional affairs committee last year.
It found there were "serious failings" in the organisation which was unable to cope with the demand for its services.
A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills stressed the scheme was a pilot, which would be evaluated after a year. The initiative was welcomed by Relate, and by the Solicitors Family Law Association, which advocates mediation in disputes.