How child support contributes to financial abuse of single mothers

Areport released this week called ‘Opening the black box of child support: Shining a light on how financial abuse is perpetrated’ is part of a wider advocacy campaign called ‘Fix Child Support’. The much needed study sheds light on a system that not only doesn’t work for single mothers, it actually supports and perpetrates financial abuse. Of course, none of this is news to women who have been victims of financial abuse by an ex-partner and tried to use Child Support payments to help with the care and education of their child. Unfortunately, the politicians and policymakers who set up these systems in decades past were highly unlikely to be women, let alone single mothers, or the victims of financial abuse.