Australian kids are owned over $1.4 billion in child support and too often the government does nothing to help.

As an experiment, Kidspot asked a small group of Australian single parents to screenshot their accounts at the Department of Human Services to show how much child support they’re owed by their children’s absent partner.



The results were appalling.

Screenshot after screenshot poured in. This is only a small selection.

The largest amount owed was a staggering $215,000:

Fathers refusing to declare income

Some of the parents owed the debt - mostly mothers - included personal stories of trying to bring up children on single incomes while absent fathers worked cash-in-hand, disappeared overseas or refused to submit tax returns in order to hide their true incomes.

“I don't get child support. My ex works cash-in-hand and is on a fake disability payment from Centrelink,” one explained. “According to them he can't afford to pay anything.”

Another mum told of struggling while she waited for her ex to pay any of the $4500 he owed his children last year.

“Going to food banks etc to buy food because I've spent all my money on getting kids ready for school again,” she said, adding that her Family Tax Benefit payments had been reduced because Centrelink assumes she’s getting regular payments from her children’s father.

Others openly flaunt the system. “He tells me he will never pay me a cent. Just bought himself a Harley [Davidson motorcycle],” said another whose ex owed their children over $26,000.

And others parents told Kidspot stories of ex-partners who got away with paying such tiny amounts it was hardly worth their while collecting.

“My kids’ father pays $35 per month for 2 kids while he travels around Australia on permanent holiday earning cash money,” one said. “I provide my kids with everything they need. If I thought I could count on their father I would still be with him.”

One woman receives a total of $43.00 for three children, per month.

There are legitimate cases where parents can't pay

Of course, screenshots don’t tell the whole story.

In some cases, separated parents may be genuinely unable to pay large child support debts and still support themselves.

As Dr Bruce Smyth from the Centre for Social Research & Methods at the Australian National University told Kidspot, after a family separates and one household becomes one, there’s often “not enough money to go around” and in some cases fathers - who make up 90 per cent of child support payers - are genuinely unable to pay.

But in many of these cases it's well known that women and children are being left short by fathers who would prefer to leave jobs, go on benefits or in some cases even leave the country to avoid their obligations.

DHS says it's doing all it can

There are 900,000 one-parent families in Australia, making up over 15 per cent of the population. After a separation, on average, 24 per cent of mothers are worse off financially after separation, compared with 17 per cent of fathers. In 2013-2014, parents owed over $1.4 billion in unpaid child support - from around a quarter of parents in a child support arrangement.

DHS says that they have a number of avenues available to collect unpaid debts from non-paying parents.

“While most parents take their child support responsibility seriously and pay on time, it is recognised that sometimes parents choose to deliberately avoid making child support payments,” a spokesperson from DHS told Kidspot.

“DHS’s extensive enforcement powers include the ability to directly garnishee wages, recover funds from bank accounts, tax returns or certain income support payments, and the power to prevent child support defaulters from travelling overseas. Ultimately, DHS also has the ability to take litigation action through a court.”

However, even the Department admits that a determined non-payer can find ways to get out of their obligations.

“The collection of child support can be more challenging in some situations, such as where the paying parent is self-employed or manages their income through a business or trust structure. In these cases, it may take more time for DHS to find an appropriate collection avenue.”

But according to the mums Kidspot spoke to, “take more time” is a way of saying “will never lift a finger.”

“It’s a government agency, everything is linked,” complained one mother of the Department of Human Service’s slowness to compare her ex’s payments to his tax returns. “But CSA [DHS] never looks at anything.

Jail and licence cancellation not an option in Australia

In the US and other countries, non-paying parents are often hit with tough penalties for short-changing their kids. In February this year, former professional US footballer Robert Meachem was jailed for 30 days for failing to pay nearly $400,000 in child support and alimony. In other cases, drivers licences are routinely cancelled.

The Australian Government has no plans to introduce anything similar here.

“The effective enforcement of child support must be balanced carefully with actions that may be detrimental to the best interests of the children,” DHS told Kidspot.

“Common suggestions for tougher penalties such as placing child support defaulters in prison, suspending their driver’s licence or affecting their credit rating would effectively limit them from generating an income and meeting any ongoing and future child support obligations.”