Letter: Australia leads in helping children and 'absent parents'

Sir: Today's leading article 'Australian rules worth following' makes a good point. But Australia has not only addressed the problem of financial child support, it has also addressed the thorny problem of a child's contact with the so-called 'absent parent'.

Among the sanctions an Australian court can impose on a custodial parent who refuses to obey a court order allowing a child contact with his or her absent parent are compensatory access; community service; weekend detention; and recognisance, ie the requirement that the custodial parent give proper surety to the court that he or she will fulfil his or her obligations. This can include a requirement to attend counselling.

Our law is in drastic need of reform. It does not meet the needs of the custodial parent, the absent parent and, most of all, it fails children entirely. The rigid formula of the Child Support Agency is designed to maximise the Treasury's take from absent parents and also, as far as possible, to prevent so- called single parents from claiming benefits.

If the law is to recognise that both parents have a responsibility to their children, it should also recognise that if the custodial parent is unable to pay his or her share, that burden should not be shifted to the other parent in a system supposedly designed to promote a clean break.

Sue Slipman ('Nobody hears the single parent's voice', 18 May) is right insofar as she says absent parents have a duty to support their children. But the term 'single parent' should be reserved for those families where one or other parent has died; children should have two parents, even if they are not living together. Unfortunately, for something of the order of 1 million children, that is not the case.

Yours faithfully,

MARIC GLASER

New Malden, Surrey

18 May