Should absent parents lose their passports?
| 07:27 UK time, Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Should absent parents who don't pay child support have their passports and driving licences taken away - without being taken to court?
It's the Government's latest plan to crack down on a hard core of non-payers - though the Department of Work and Pensions has said that it's a "last resort".
Nicky spoke this morning to Liz Cowell, a member of the family law group Resolution:
But will it work? Is it a gimmick, or is it just the ticket to target non-payers? Nicky's taking your calls this morning from 9am or you can react on here.
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You don't actually need a passport to travel round most Europe!
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its ok having these powers but they dont use them. I have reported my ex every year for 9 years and nothing has been done yet. He signs on so that he doesnt have to pay for our daughter and he works full time running his own buisness but as yet the csa has done nothing. Theres no point changing the law unless you are going to use them. If his license was taken away he would soon pay for our daughter. the csa is a joke.
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I married an indian whose attitude towards me changed radically after he had become a British citizen.
I ended the relationship and due to his violent reaction stopped him from seeing our 3year old daughter, who was scared of him anyway due to his bad temper.
He took me to court three times for access to his daughter and got his own way everytime. No judge ever listened to my opinion.
My daughter has had to visit him in his bedsit which I think is completely unacceptable.
On the last visit to court he won the right for my daughter to sleep at the house he stays at with a cousin and he is allowed to take her to India. A lady from Social Services visited me a told me that the part of India is lovely becasue her friend had just been there on holiday. I knoew from that comment I had no chance in court again.
Each time we have been to court he has received legal aid and I have had to pay so it's a way of draining my resources.
The latest stunt he's pulled is to hand his resignation in at work so his maintenance payments have shrunk to so little he may as well not pay me anything. Apparently working is too stressful for him!
Anyone who says the law is on the sidfe of the mothers is very much mistaken.
In my opinion the actions of 'Fathers for Justice' have made the courts scared of siding with the mother.
My daughters father does not realise the nightmares my daugther has about sleeping at his house, I'm the one woken up everynight. He doesn't do any homework with her, when she takes her reading books with her he doesn't have time. So I have the stress of being told she needs extra lessons to catch up with other children.
I'm in full time employment so pay substantial childminding fees. I have to work full time in order to pay the bills. I get stressed out but I am level headed enough to keep a lid on things for the sake of my child. I'd love to give up my job but I know there are bills to be paid.
And I thought it was supposed to be 'all about the children'!!!!
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When myself and ex wife split i was paying her £50 a week. after 9 months she declared it to the benefits agency and had £30 a week stopped for several months..During this time i was seeing my children everyday.I then was unempolyed for a while.. W
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Yes I believe abscent parnets should loose their passports and driving licenses. I have a beautiful 10 year old son who has not seen his father for 5 years. No contact, no communication, very little CSA payments in the last 10 years. The CSA was set up to support the child. I split with my ex when my son was 13 months old. My ex dragged me through the courts for four years, for joint parental responsibility of which I paid through the nose. Ths courts gave him joint parental responsibility. He has shown no interest in his son, has not sent birthday cards or spoke to him in five years. The little money i have receievd through the CSA i have probably spent on phone calls chasing them....the system is a complete farce. My ex knows how to avoid paying, surely along with parental responsibility there should be financial responsibility?
I have always worked and currnetly am working a 40 hour week to survive.I am on a low income and cannot afford holidays or luxuries. I would probably be better off signing on, however my pride would not allow this to happen.I split with my ex because of mental helath issues and I know that if I had have stayed with him my son certainly would not be the person he is today.
The CSA really should start working for the benefit of child.I think they shoudl have a name and shame page were pictures of all abscent parents should be posted...that would then shame them into contirbuting towards their child.
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I am all for absent parents being pursued if they are not contributing to their children s lives in any way. But, these new powers will also be used to punish parents who have equal care of their child, meaning equal financial responsibility, but just so happen to be labeled "non resident parent". This in turn could put a "non resident parent" on the poverty line for the time the child is with him/her.
I have shared care of my child. With that comes a 2 bedroom house, costs for living, eating, clothing, trips, holidays. Everything the "resident parent" has to pay for, I do to.
So why am I still expected to pay the "resident parent" money. The resident parent is already in receipt of tax credits, child benefit and housing benefit. As the non resident parent, I am entitled to no benefits because I am a parent. The simple reason is that my name is not on the child benefit book - and it can't be, because there can only be one name on it.
It seems the government like to praise "non resident parents" like me by sending me letters that could be deemed as threatening, brochures with an image of a judge holding the judgmental hammer and phone calls where the presumption is always that I am hiding something.
The biggest problem with the CSA is that it treats everyone the same - whether you vanished when your child was born, or you put the hours in as a proper parent. As the VAT system is part of the money go round, so is the CSA - it was never really set up to benefit children, it was set up to claw back benefits being paid to the "resident parents".
I wonder when the government will have a coherent cross department plan for children. One that truly places the child at the heart of legislation, supports parents through separation, financially and emotionally, not so the parents get it easier, but so that the child isn't harmed.
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Nikki:
It is a good idea in theory...But in reality, someone can travelled around Europe without a passport....
~Dennis Junior~
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Fact most people hit will be men who pay more taxes for the csa? Then pay for the courts through the taxes and fees, estimates are less then 20 in 100 men keep the family home and kids? Courts supress this info who pays the bill. Cafcass think shared care is weekend dad?
Then pay the courts when partners leave them homeless childless and broken. The judge stated it would take me 20 years to recover my financial position of scraping by as a couple on tax credits? Then give the ex via court a the house, the ex never contributed to? And the boyfriend who gets to spend more time than you with your kids? Oh and the female claims tax credits, child benefit and contributes nothing to the child welfare financially or society.
Then accommodate feed and cloth both your children you have fought tooth an nail to see. Try and holiday with them house them whilst with you a third of the year.
Presently living in a dead mothers house up for sale waiting to be out on the street(courts will take the equity). I work for the DWP and pay!
Women and the CSA reality check, take my passport no harm, take a driving licence and the father cant pick up the kids for contact? Isnt that what being a parent is about children and contact? Unless you tie everything into a fair family life for the benefit of children through courts together it will not work.
Women(not all) need to get off the cash cow of man. They even use 75% of the NHS and 80% of all social care its no wonder they live longer! I would love to be a kept man!
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It can't be done as a passport is needed by a UK citizen to travel around Europe (and yes you do need it as it is the only valid identity document available in the UK). This means that a loss of passport restricts the right of a UK Citizen to take up work in another EU Country - article 18 of the Amended Treaties of Rome states "Every citizen of the Union shall have the right to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, subject to the limitations and conditions laid down in this Treaty and by the measures adopted to give it effect." - this means that a worker or any other UK Citizen (not under criminal punishment - which is how football hooligans can be stopped) could take a case to court and would win as the Government would be restricting the right of a EU Citizen to move around the EU and take up work elsewhere.
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I completely see the point of Oswald808. My issue with child support is the way that it grows potentially way beyond the needs of a child (yes I know one can never have too much cash). I have no problem paying my way and in fact I was the one who insisted the C.S.A. get involved and have all the correct figures upon which to base their calculations. However, the life style my ex-wife and I lived did not warrant £200 a month being spent in the up-keep of our child between us let alone by just me. On top of that my payments have gone from £250 to £350 because I have a new job.
I don't see why fathers have to pay escalating amounts when the resident mother's assets are deemed as immaterial plus they receive all the government benefits. By all means penalise those absent parents (male or female) who don't pay, but don't render those of us that do pay unable to change our fortunes in life because every time we better ourselves we pay more out.
It's just like another income tax system that cares nothing about your circumstances. If you earn £1m a year 15% for a child won't kill you and might make all the difference for the child, but if you earn £25K a year, it might just mean you can never move on even though your ex-spouse may have a new partner/job etc. It's supposed to be for the children, but for some I doubt it! It seems to be just like the council tax where some people have never paid, but as soon as you pay once they will hound you like a criminal for missing a payment.
For Oswald808, there should be a set of thresholds for which you pay differing amounts to the so-called resident parent so I would go to the C.S.A. with that information and if you don't have the residential agreement in writing with your ex get it done right away.
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