Non-resident parents and service use

Non-resident parenthood has become a topic of growing interest in social policy in recent decades. This is mainly because of concern about the consequences for children of growth in divorce and separation, but also because of increasing interest from governments’ in ensuring that both parents maintain responsibility for the support of children rather than one parent receiving additional support through family payments. Most non-resident parents are men and the new attention paid to non-resident fathers is linked to an upsurge of interest in fatherhood more widely. The involvement of non-resident fathers in their children lives is becoming important because the direction of change in family law and child support is towards an increased level of shared parenting responsibility for children after separation. This not only has the potential to make the resident/non-resident parent dichotomy less relevant, but also places a new onus on services to recognise the importance of non-resident fathers in the ongoing life of children and to find ways to engage with them better. This report was prepared for the Australian Government Department of Families, Housing Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Published August 2009