[Philippa Kemp]

Just starting a thread on the topic of child maintenance as we know it’s am issue that affects so many single parents. Some parents are lucky enough to be able to come to an agreement between themselves. But sometimes this isn’t possible. What have been your experiences as a single parent?

[DevolvepowersoftheCMS]

Hello Philippa, It has been pretty horrendous to be honest. The CMS still has an approach of… we encourage parents to work together and sort this out themselves. As a ‘service’ user the statistics tell another story, and would clearly support the fact that users of the system acutely need the services to work for them. The service was founded on outdated ideals that are not reflective of the true current situation of single parent families today (over 90% mothers with resident care) and certainly do not put the child/children at the centre-the very ones this ‘system’ should be serving the most. Economic abuse is rife within the ‘service’ and sadly the systems that CMS employ seem to very much co-opt in Economic abuse.

“The non-payment of maintenance is a key driver of child poverty. If all maintenance due was paid, 60% of children of single parents, who are currently not benefiting from payments, would be lifted out of poverty”
Gingerbread.org.uk

It is an utter travesty that our children in Scotland are living in poverty when there is no need. It is also a travesty that women/mothers are bearing the brunt of this complete disregard for Equalities and Human Rights legislation, and the UK government is facilitating it.

I strongly believe we need devolved powers in Child Maintenance reforms, no matter who our future UK government.

This should be high on the agenda of all Politicians.

[Author]

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