I am a professional mother of 3 and once lived a privileged, married, double income life, having NO idea what single mothers were put through personally, until 4 years ago.  When my emotionally abusive husband left us while I was fighting cancer – he financially (and further mentally) destroyed my children! Following this, I have discovered just how disgracefully unfair the child support system is and I STILL can’t believe that AUSTRALIAN Government allows this to happen.

As your campaign has pointed out the many ways men (or paying parent) manipulate the system,  this is my personal experience and my biggest gripe and fear. In my opinion could be a very simple and easy fix by the government;

My children’s father does not submit an annual tax return on time to hide his income and have a sense of control over my budget and ability to conduct my life.

This is what it does financially to my children:

• They may not be receiving the correct amount of support (whether it’s more or less—it just needs to be accurate)
• I risk being put in debt by having to pay back either child support or Family Tax Benefit (FTB), further impacting my children’s needs
• Jeopardises my ability to budget and pay the mortgage, putting my children and myself AT RISK

If I submit a tax return and he doesn’t, I could end up owing him money because my income is correct, while his remains “provisional” until he lodges. As my children are getting older and more independent, my earning capacity rises.  I then lose significant child support for my children because his income is incorrect and mine is rising, my earning capacity increases, which means I lose significant child support based on his inaccurate income. This puts me at real risk of being unable to support my children and keep up with the mortgage. This is real and where I am right NOW. I am now too scared to do my tax return, because this WILL trigger a NEW assessment, resulting in a loss of child support that I need for my children to continue to live in their family home.  I have to delay doing my tax return until he submits his, to avoid losing child support. When he finally files, he’ll owe me back payments that I will never recover, as his income has been significantly higher each year.

THIS IS LUDICROUS – WHY DO WE HAVE A TAX SYSTEM IF THERE IS NO IMPACTFUL CONSEQUENCES FOR NOT SUBMITTING

I constantly live with financial abuse: By not submitting his TAX return, he continues to have control over the family budget. He openly enjoys having this control over my finances with no care around the impact this has on HIS children. He has admitted, through emails and text, that he enjoys controlling me in this manner because he thinks it prevents me spending money on MYSELF!  He has NO idea on the cost of his children and is under the assumption that child support is benefiting me personally! In reality, it is him controlling me and abusing his children.

–  Another woman and her children being financially and emotionally abused

—

At Fix Child Support, we acknowledge the strength and courage of those who share their personal experiences. These stories shed light on the challenges faced by many in the child support system, and we are committed to amplifying these voices in the fight for reform. If you would like to share your story with us, please email us!