Child Support Agency Focuses on Indigenous and Third Party payers on Universal Children’s Day
With Universal Children’s Day (22 November) approaching, Child Support Agency (CSA) General Manager Matt Miller has highlighted the importance of child support payments for Indigenous separated parents and third-party carers.
“The Child Support Agency aims to support separated parents to transfer child support payments for the emotional and financial wellbeing of their children and refers families to organisations that can help with housing, medical, legal and counselling services,” Mr Miller said.”Child support is sometimes referred to as child maintenance in communities. We work out how much child support needs to be paid based on how much each parent earns and how much care they have for their children.
“We help parents to work out what options they have to meet their responsibilities as every separated family’s situation is different. If a grandparent or another person has care of the children, they may also be eligible to apply for child support.
“The CSA has a website for Indigenous separated parents at www.indigenous.csa.gov.au. The site provides information about child support, including a step-by-step guide to registering a child support case, links to support products and services and a list of upcoming regional and community visits by CSA staff.Separated parents who would like to discuss their child support options can visit one of the CSA’s offices or Regional Service Centres listed on the website at www.csa.gov.au, or call 131 272. Indigenous parents can ask to speak to one of the CSA’s Indigenous officers if they would prefer.
The CSA also has support services and materials especially for children and teenagers. Developed in consultation with teenagers and parents, the CSA teen website and the booklet ‘Family Separation – a guide for Teenagers’ help young people cope with family separation and change. Both are available through www.csa.gov.au.Many community groups and organisations offer children’s counselling services. Check out our Community Services Directory on our website for more information.
Source: Child Support Agency
