“Serious Concerns” Over Proposed Child Support Changes

www.familyandparenting.org

January 13, 2011

A LEADING families expert has commented on today’s announcement that parents will have to pay to use child maintenance services if they cannot negotiate their own compromise.

Dr Katherine Rake of the Family and Parenting Institute said: “The government is right to focus on problems within the current Child Support system. Both the loss of contact of the non-resident parent and the failure to pay reasonable child support have a very real impact on family welfare.

“But we have serious concerns that the introduction of charges will in reality provide a further barrier for parents trying to engage with each other and get a reasonable settlement.”

Dr Rake added: “The Government’s wish to see more parents negotiating their own arrangements is understandable. But we need to see the evidence to convince us that the resident parent - typically the mother – is getting a fair deal from private arrangements. We can imagine circumstances where the resident parent accepts financial settlement below what they would have been entitled to under statutory negotiation in order to bring the pain of separation to a close.”

(ends)