Radio Live asked for comment on the perennial child support debt problem canvassed again yesterday in the Sunday Star Times. The typical response is that fathers are absconding - as per the headline here. Yet nearly one in five liable parents is the mother.
The child support system is flawed and it will be impossible to 'fix' it without changing the DPB system. I also made the point that the way payments are calculated exploits some fathers. Those are the soundbites they are using anyway. Interestingly the other viewpoint they are airing is from the Father's Union who explain that a great part of the 'debt' is formed from penalties and that the IRD is more usurious than some shark loans.
The population caught up with child support liabilities is diverse but most custodial mothers are on welfare. There is frequently fault, failure and resentment about perceived unfairness on both sides of the equation.
This time around the 'deadbeat dads' angle isn't dominating the discussion. Progress.
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A fundamental problem (and there are many) is that it incentivises parents to attempt to have sole custody.
A situation we find ourselves in, where the father turns up with a van, moves the child out of shared care, then files for full child support the next day.
The legal opinion is that the child is old enough to choose her own living arrangements, yet she is also too scared to stand-up to her father.
What a horrid story. What is the mother or the child going to do about it?
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