The majority of sole parent families are formed by the dissolution of marriages (64%) rather than births outside marriage (excluding defacto relationships). Almost 8% of single parents are widows, and about 27% were in a relationship at the time of conception.

Sole parent families are most diverse in terms of socioeconomic status, education, health, ethnicity and race.

Between 65% and 70% of separations are initiated by women. In about 25% of cases, women say that emotional or physical violence or drug and alcohol abuse was the primary reason for the relationship breakdown.

Women head 86% of all sole parent families. In cases where this can be attributed to relationship dissolution women�s parenting role is usually a continuation of primary caring role prior to separation that continues post separation. Many single father households are the result of being widowed, or because the children are usually older.

Of all those receiving a parenting payment 77% were lone parents who were in receipt of some form of welfare payment. As many sole parents work part-time their low income is supplemented by family payments and in some cases part-payments of parenting payment single.

The average duration of a sole parent who receives a parenting payment (single) is 3.3 years. Sole parent are the most active in seeking employment of all welfare recipients.

More than 62% of parenting payment single recipients are aged over 35, and 34% are aged between 25 - 34 years.

All Centrelink disbursements are affected by income and assets. FTB Part A is reduced according to the percentage of care (ie if your child also resides with another parent). It is income tested against wages at 30c in the dollar, and it is reduced by 50c in the dollar against child support income.

Family Tax Benefit Part A helps you with the cost of raising children.

Please note: If you intend to claim Family Tax Benefit and/or Child Care Benefit as a lump sum, new rules allow families 24 months to lodge their claim for the income year they are wishing to be paid for. Lump sum claims for Family Tax Benefit and/or Child Care Benefit for the 2001-02 financial year must be made by 30 June 2004. http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/Minister1.nsf/content/fam_tax_benefit.htm

This payment is either made fortnightly or through the tax system as a lump sum payment at the end of the financial year. There is also the option of reducing the amount withheld from wages paid to you or your partner.

* This payment is not subject to an assets test.

Under 13 years $133.56 $4 095.30

13 - 15 years $169.40 $5 029.70

16 - 17 years $42.98 $1 733.75

18 - 24 years $57.82 $2 120.65

0 - 24 years $42.98 $1 733.75

* Payment per year figures include the Family Tax Benefit Part A Supplement ($613.20 per child for the 2004-05 income year) but the fortnightly figures do not. The Supplement can only be paid after the end of the income (financial) year.

* To get more than the base rate of Family Tax Benefit Part A for children of a previous relationship, reasonable action to obtain child support/maintenance must be taken. Blind pensioners are exempt from maintenance action test.

Under 18 years $42.98 $1 733.75

18 - 24 years $57.82 $2 120.65

* Payment per year figures include the Family Tax Benefit Part A Supplement ($613.20 per child for the 2004-05 income year) but the fortnightly figures do not. The Supplement can only be paid after the end of the income (financial) year.

* Large Family Supplement may also be payable. This is a fortnightly payment of $9.24 for the fourth and each subsequent child.

* Multiple Birth Allowance may also be payable. This is a fortnightly payment of $111.86 for triplets and $149.10 for multiple births of quadruplets or more.

Single, 1 or 2 children $112.14 $111.72 $261.24

Single, 3 or more children $126.70 $111.72 $280.65

Couple, 1 or 2 children $112.14 $165.34 $314.86

Couple, 3 or more children $126.70 $165.34 $334.27

Rent Assistance is not paid if you:

* pay rent to a government housing authority, although in some situations sub-tenants may qualify for Rent Assistance;

* reside in a Commonwealth funded nursing home or hostel;

* are a single disability support pensioner under 21, without dependants, living with parents;

* are under 25, single and live with your parents; or

Special rules apply to single sharers, people who pay board and lodging or live in a retirement village.

Rent Certificates are required to verify rent where a customer does not have a formal written tenancy agreement or is not named as a tenant on a formal written tenancy agreement.

If you are a single income family or a sole parent, Family Tax Benefit Part B gives you an extra payment to help with the cost of raising children. It also gives extra help if your family has a child under the age of five years.

Please note: If you intend to claim Family Tax Benefit and/or Child Care Benefit as a lump sum, new rules allow families 24 months to lodge their claim for the income year they are wishing to be paid for. Lump sum claims for Family Tax Benefit and/or Child Care Benefit for the 2001-02 financial year must be made by 30 June 2004. For more information on the new rules, go to http://www.facs.gov.au/internet/Minister1.nsf/content/fam_tax_benefit.htm

This payment is either made fortnightly or through the tax system as a lump sum payment at the end of the financial year. There is also the option of reducing the amount withheld from wages paid to you or your partner.

* This payment is not subject to an assets test.

The primary earner in a partnered relationship and sole parents are not subject to an income test.

Under 5 years $114.66 $2 989.35

5-15 years (or 16-18 years if a full-time student) $79.94 $2 084.15

* Up to $464.20 per fortnight.*

* Pharmaceutical Allowance: $5.80 per fortnight.

* Education Entry Payment of $208 may be payable if you are studying full time.

* Employment Entry Payment of $104 may be payable if you re-enter the workforce.

*Since July 2000 has included a supplement. It is currently $16.90.

Sole parents still carry the majority of cost for raising children although child support goes along way to help.

Until 30 June 1999 payers were not required to pay child support if their liability calculated under the formula was less than $260 per year. From 1 July 1999, however, a minimum liability of $260 per year now applies to most parents.

There are a number of reasons why a parent is not required to pay child support, including the following:

� Stage 1 court orders can have a clause that the payer will not have to pay child maintenance during periods of unemployment or in other circumstances;

� A Stage 1 payer can apply to CSA not to enforce the court order during periods of unemployment;

� Where parents have an Agreement that the liability be nil; and

� Where the parents share the care of their child and their incomes are equal.

Sole Parents Union (SPU) - Advocating for sole parents and their children, 1999.

For further information please contact us at

"Sole parents are one the most maligned groups in our society," Senator Vanstone said today at the Towards Opportunity and Prosperity conference in Melbourne.

"We still have people who believe that most sole parents are teenage mothers who have chosen to make a career out of having babies. However, the facts tell a different story. Teenage pregnancies are at their lowest in a long, long time. Only 1.74% of births in 2000 were to teenage mothers.

"Another myth that needs debunking is that sole parents - particularly women, do not want to participate economically. Again, the facts tell a different story.

"In terms of the welfare demographic, sole parents are the strongest economic participators. Around half of the Parenting Payment Single customers earn more than $13,000 per annum. Nearly 48 per cent of sole parents who work, work full-time.

"It is now widely considered to be a good thing for toxic relationships to end, not only for the future happiness of the adults, but in many cases, for the benefit of the children as well.

"Some may argue that the 'me' generation has become, or always was, terribly selfish - that the level of toxicity they are prepared to tolerate is extremely low or that their acute selfish determination to seek their own personal happiness actively fuels the toxicity.

"I am not arguing that families should necessarily stay together. But I do want to argue that couples ought consider, before focussing on their personal pursuit of happiness, and before finally breaking up, the important social and economic consequences of their action. For instance, the whole family now needs to runs two households on a fairly similar income," Senator Vanstone said.

Yet families headed by a sole parent are a diverse group - socially, culturally, and economically, so it stands that our families have different social, economic and cultural outcomes. Yet men's rights activists and some social conservatives promote a numbers of myths about single parents and their families. What's the real story?

Fact: Studies show that most sole parents want to work but have difficulties finding work that fits with their family responsibilities. They also face work barriers such as affordable quality childcare, family friendly work agreements and work places, effective tax rates including higher education debt repayments. Other barriers consistently affecting participation rates include ill-health, workforce detachment, high conflict divorce proceedings, on going or recovering from violence, financial, educational and technological disadvantage. Sole parents also have to contend with the emotional and physical stress juggling family responsibilities and work on their own. They must factor the cost of working (childcare, increased [public housing] rent, clothes, transport) against the loss of Centrelink benefits which taper off very quickly.

The average duration of a sole parent who receives a parenting payment (single) is 3.3 years. Many sole parents use this time to educate or re-train themselves. Others need this time to focus on their children needs in changed circumstances.

Sole parents are the most active in seeking employment of all welfare recipients. 51% are already in the workforce in some capacity (either full-time, part-time or casual) and Centrelink benefits top up their low income. Over 70% of those with adolescent children and 35% of those with children under school age are in paid work or education. Many volunteer in their communities, especially at their children�s local school.

Fact: Centrelink constantly reviews sole parents by interviews, and with data matching. The rules on de-facto relationships are now so tough that women (and men) are at risk of losing their payments even if they have a boarder of the opposite sex. In addition to the routine reviews, a large percentage are randomly reviewed each year.

"The living circumstances of lone parents who have a new child more than nine months after a grant of Parenting Payment Single are automatically reviewed to ensure they are not living in a marriage-like relationship.� (Centrelink policy)

Fact: All children from loving families, whether two-parent or sole parent families do well socially and less likely to be involved in any criminal conduct.

Most kids don't get into strife.

Attempting to discern the underlying rate of juvenile crime using police reports or court statistics is problematic. Firstly, a large amount of offending is never reported. Non-reporting occurs for many reasons (a) it was considered too trivial; (b) it was thought calling the police was futile; (c) did not want the offender punished; (d) the offence was a private matter; and (e) too confused/upset.

So the measurement of levels of juvenile crime is contingent on shifting levels of reporting, population changes, policing resources and policies and shifts in juvenile justice laws and policies

Further, research in countries the world over has shown that the same factors recur when analysing the personal backgrounds and social environments of recidivist juvenile criminals. Poverty, inadequate education, intellectual disability, poor health, negative parent-child relations, social inequality, racism, unemployment and general lack of opportunity are some of the factors to which their recidivism can be attributed. Although the presence of such factors does not in itself guarantee the emergence of criminal behaviour, if one social factor is experienced more intensely or is experienced in combination with others the likelihood and persistence of criminal behaviour is significantly increased. Studies of Children's Court appearances, detention figures and of police records in New South Wales demonstrate that recidivist juveniles are overwhelmingly drawn from the most disadvantaged sections of the population.

So crime is the result of complex changes in economic, social and cultural factors such as unemployment, child abuse, poor education, community breakdown, dysfunctional family (especially violent) households, economic inequality and substance abuse. If crime prevention is to succeed it should focus on broad social outcomes, for example reducing social exclusion and inclusive school environments. Compelling evidence suggests that those who feel excluded from participation in community life are more likely to offend against that community. Addressing this sense of exclusion can reduce the risk of offending.

Crime prevention is guided by strategic intentions and approaches but is ultimately defined by results. The hard strategic framework involves policies to prevent crime, improve safety and reduce disorder while recognising that there is no one single, definable cause of crime.

The greatest volume of offences for which juveniles come before the Children's Court are property offences. These offences include unlawful possession, shoplifting, break & enter, motor vehicle theft, damage to property and theft in general. While crimes against the person have in recent years increased to become 19.6 per cent of total juvenile criminal activity, property offences made up 53.9 per cent of all offences before the Court in the 1994/95 period.

While children of sole parents are likely to be worse off financially (single income compared to dual income of most two parent families), emotionally they are better off than children of two parent families/shared care arrangements where there are high levels of conflict or violence. What matters most is that all parents are resourced to be effective parents who have positive parent-child relationships.

Fact: "The vast majority of births outside of marriage are to women aged 20 or more. Teenagers make up only a small proportion of all single recipients of Parenting Payment (PP): at June 1998 less than 3 per cent were teenage women. That figure continues to decline. In fact, the majority of the single recipients of PP are over the age of 30 (average 33.5 years at June 1998).

"The living circumstances of lone parents who have a new child more than nine months after a grant of PP are automatically reviewed to ensure they are not living in a marriage-like relationship. Less than 2% were subject to a review.

"Lone parent households are, on average actually likely to contain fewer children than couple families. Of lone parent families the ABS estimates that 50 per cent have one child, 34 per cent have two children, 11 per cent have three children and 5 per cent have four or more at June 1998.

Fact: The average child support payment is $48 per week in cases of one child, with the minimum collectable $5 per week if the non-resident parent is in receipt of a Centrelink payment in June 2003. Although there are some sole parent families who receive no child support.

In contrast, there have been many estimates around the bare minimum costs to raise a primary school aged child $137 per week (ACOSS 2003) with bare minimum cost of raising teenagers aged 13 - 15 years $152. This means that on average the resident parent continues to carry the majority cost of raising children.

*Prescribed payments may be:

* child care costs;

* school or pre-school fees;

* amounts payable for uniforms and books prescribed by a school or pre-school;

* essential medical and dental fees;

* payee's share of rent, mortgage, utilities and rates; and

* some motor vehicle costs.

Fact: It is a sad fact that child abuse continues to occur in families and in society. The consequences of a child disclosing any abuse may be a reason for a family to separate as the protective parent seeks safe measures for the child. This is why some single parent families occur. In the context of separating families research at Monash University showed unequivocally how vulnerable children whose lives had been affected by violence and child abuse were being let down by the Family Court system and child protection services. The Magellan program and Columbus project in WA resulted to help with substantiating violence and abuse by state child protection services and the Family Court.

Both male and female parents show up as perpetrators of child abuse depending on the type of abuse, with other perpetrators known to the child.

Child abuse is an umbrella term for various ill-treatments of children by care-givers (parents, relatives, babysitters) and others who have access to children. Four main categories are: a) physical abuse, b) sexual abuse, c) neglect e) emotional abuse.

Attempting to discern the underlying rate of child abuse using data and statistics is problematic because in some states mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse case is required while other states have different policies. The rates of notifications and substantiation are disparate. Much of the variation in rates across jurisdictions is likely to be due to differences in policies and approaches to child protection matters. This can be attributed in part to resources, techniques and training of professionals required to substantiate cases, the ability of a child to disclose, and/or of a parent or professional to detect abuse.

Much of the data that is collected by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) on child abuse and neglect records the family structure the child is living in, not the relationship of the perpetrator to the child for the abuse, neglect or harm to the child. So while a relatively high proportion of substantiations involved children living in female-headed one-parent families and in two-parent step or blended families, compared to a relatively low proportion of substantiations involved children living in two-parent intact families. This does not mean those parents are the perpetrators. There are likely to be a number of reasons for the over-representation of one-parent families in substantiations. For instance, sole parents are more likely to:

These are all factors that have been associated with child abuse and neglect.

Tomison (1996) found in an analysis of child abuse statistics:

There were about three times as many girls as boys who were the subject of a substantiation of sexual abuse. This is consistent with victimisation studies of sexual assault (Cook, David & Grant 2001; Carmody & Carrington 2000). On the other hand, boys were more likely to be the subject of a substantiation of physical abuse.

Only a small proportion of children who are the subject of a substantiation are subsequently placed on a care and protection order. The proportion of children who were the subject of a substantiation in 2002�03, and who were placed on a care and protection order within 12 months, ranged from 14% in South Australia to 71% in Tasmania

Source: Flood Michael 2003 Fatherhood and Fatherlessness. The Australia Institute, Discussion Paper No. 59, November, pp. 21-23.

Tomison Adam, 1996 Community Seminar on Child abuse and protection. National Child Protection Clearinghouse Australian Institute of Family Studies

Sole Parents Union (SPU) 2004.

Advocating for sole parents and their children.

For further information please contact us at