JCIP #281 - Tom Toolan

In episode 281 of The Just Checking In Podcast we checked in with Tom Toolan. Tom Toolan is a father and the Founder of the 'Find Rhian' campaign, a campaign he started to find his daughter Rhian who was abducted by her mother in 2018, taken out of the UK and to her home country of Poland against a court order. Rhian was just six years old at the time.Rhian's abduction is a Criminal Offence under the 1984 Child Abduction Act and is currently wanted by Suffolk Police for the abduction. Despite his campaigning work, Rhian has not been found and Polish authorities have done very little to nothing to help him. In this episode we first discuss Tom’s upbringing in Liverpool and his working-class background, the death of his dad and Tom’s discovery that he had suffered from mental health difficulties.We then discuss his marriage and divorce from his first wife, which caused him to lose his house and contact with his children from that relationship. Tom then married again but it unfortunately ended in divorce again, and he spent another period on his own. He said this was the lowest point in his life up to that point.Tom then entered into a relationship with Rhian’s mother but this relationship broke down in 2017. Prior to Rhian’s abduction, Tom went through the family court system where he was faced with false accusations of rape and domestic abuse from Rhian’s mother in the UK and the astonishing situation where his second ex-wife testified against him in court too and he claims campaigned to encourage Rhian’s abduction.He then went through the Polish court system where she made further claims of alcoholism and implied he had used her for slave labour and exploitation. At time of recording Rhian will be around 11 years old and she has been completely alienated from her father. We chart Tom's story from the start to where it is now, the campaigning work Tom is continuing to do to fight for his daughter, what needs to change in the UK legal system to give fathers a voice, why this issue continues to be ignored by the mainstream mental health conversation and how it plays into the conversation around male suicide. As always, #itsokaytoventYou can find out more about the 'Find Rhian' campaign here: https://www.rhiantoolan.com/Support Us:Patreon: www.patreon.com/venthelpukGoFundMe: www.gofundme.com/f/help-vent-supp…ir-mental-healthMerchandise: www.redbubble.com/people/VentUK/shopMusic: @patawawa - Strange: www.youtube.com/watch?v=d70wfeJSEvk Support Us:PatreonPayPalMerchandise