I have been battling to receive support for my two sons since their father left when they were 1 and 7 years old and who has not seen them since.  My sons are currently owed just under $200,000 in unpaid child support, with zero payments received for years until recently.  The Child Support debt owed to his children provides him with no consequences. It is not listed on his credit rating or affects his financial equity in any way.  However, to financially secure my children I have been forced to be in debt and can’t get even a small loan.  My sons and I have lived with the consequences of poverty for so many years.  

This is due to his failure to support his sons and the failure of the Child Support Scheme to fulfil its obligation to ‘collect’.  For many years I wrote to Ministers Morrison, Porter and Tudge (who had relevant responsibility for child support in the previous government, Mr Morrison being the Senior Minister over the relevant portfolios at the time) – I received no responses.  I call them the ‘Bermuda Triangle’; Australian children’s voices go in…but nothing comes out.  

So far there hasn’t been a leader brave enough to have a serious look at the Child Support Scheme as it’s so gendered and they fear a backlash. It generally gets swept under the Family Law monster of issues, never to be discussed again. The Child Support Scheme, in its Charter has only two responsibilities – to Calculate and Collect – it’s not doing either well. My children, along with hundreds of thousands of Aussie kids, are a clear example of how this mechanism is, and has been, broken for well over a decade. 

Imagine the opportunities, education, food, housing, medical security and sport and music lessons  being lost to these children.  Imagine the difference the over $1.7 billion in outstanding debt (from only half the scheme) would make to them, not to mention the surrogate parent in all of this – the Australian taxpayer. 

It will just take one leader who has the courage to back our Aussie kids and purely look at the Child Support Scheme as a stand-alone mechanism…and fix it.

– From a hard-working Queensland mother of two sons, now aged 24 and 17, who describes herself and her children as ‘survivors’.

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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!