New Report Measures Father Absence in NZ
Thousands of New Zealand children struggle
with having no father in their lives, and a new report from Family First -
WHERE
DOES HE LIVE? Measuring Father Absence in New Zealand
- finds little change since Children's Commissioner Laurie O'Reilly described fatherless families
as the 'greatest social challenge facing New Zealanders' in 1998.
Report
author Lindsay Mitchell says, "Last year one in twenty births
had no father registered; one in six did not have a father living at
the same address as the mother and almost one in five had parents with
no stated legal relationship.”
“For
the past fifty years married and unmarried births have broadly
trended in opposite directions and are steadily converging. In the year
to June 2022, 49.8% of all births were unmarried. In the June quarter
alone births to unmarried parents surpassed the halfway mark for the
first time reaching 50.7%. Children are also
increasingly being born to de facto relationships (30% of all births)
which do not have the same stability as marriages.”
“Maori
children are the most likely to experience father absence.
The proportion of Maori babies born to married parents has fallen from a
relatively high level of 72% in 1968 to just 20% in the June 2022
quarter. Maori children are the most likely to experience living with a
sole parent.”
For
children, father absence is associated with poverty, material
hardship, abuse and neglect, lower cognitive capacity, substance use,
poorer physical and mental health and criminal offending. But estranged
fathers can also suffer materially and emotionally. The mortality rate
of fathers paying child support is significantly
higher than the norm.
Mitchell
says, “There are some positive trends for the prospects
of father absence reducing. The teenage birth rate is plummeting, and
men are first-time fathering when they are older and more stable. But
official projections show sole parent families maintaining their current
level through to 2043.”
“So
there is good and bad news. Actual trends hold some promise
- predictions, less so. Perhaps those children who grew up without
parental stability are successfully seeking it in their own
relationships? Let’s hope so."
1 comment:
Lindsay, casting my mind back to 1987-88, I remember the then Social Welfare Department was waging war on fathers disconnected from their children.
My wife and I had separated with my wife retaining the family home for her and our children while receiving a welfare benefit for their financial support. . I on the other hand scrapped up some money and purchased a small property with a mortgage at 22% and attempted to survive turbulent times while struggling to maintain my relationship with my children.
At this point I received letter from the Department of Social welfare informing me that regardless of my voluntary contributions to my childrens welfare, the department was going to take approx 2/3rds of my income for child support.
I believe at this time many fathers faced with the same situation as I was, were fleeing to Australia to escape the draconian penalties. .
I attempted to explain my circumstances which were unusual in the extreme, but my reasoned argument fell on the deaf ears of the SWD. I was informed that if I challenged the decision, my wife had unlimited legal resources available to her via the SWD and it was suggested they could bankrupt me.
I was not intimidated and had my day at the Masterton District Court a couple of months later.
Explaining my situation to the judge in court, I told him of my near fatal sky-diving accident which had left me severely disabled and my attempts to rehabilitate myself back into normal life both emotionally and financially while dealing with the trauma of being separated from my children.
The judge cast a steely eye in the direction of the solicitor for the SWD and asked What on earth they were thinking bringing my case before his court and wasting everyone's time? He told them to go away and sort it out.
Which they did. While I continued to personally support my children, I was asked to pay the SWD child support of $10 per week per child and the judge wished me well.
While I was one of the fortunate ones. I remember reading the horror stories of those who weren't.
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