The divorce rate has stabilised among the middle class but is increasing among the poor, explaining why many separated fathers pay little or no child support.
A new study reveals that financial hardship is a major cause of family breakdown. Low-income parents are more likely than others to break up - and they remain poor after the split.
Most of the 700,000 fathers registered with the Child Support Agency pay little child support because their incomes are very low, says the study published in People and Place, the journal of Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research.
More than 40 per cent of the separated fathers in 2001 had a taxable income of less than $15,600. Most were unemployed or in marginal jobs. Overall, despite general economic prosperity, nearly 68 per cent of the separated fathers had incomes of less than $32,000.
As a result, their former partners also experienced desperate financial circumstances. Three-quarters of the mothers were raising children on annual incomes of less than $15,600 plus $2000 to $3000 in family tax benefits.
The study says an estimated 90 per cent of separated parents are registered with the agency. Unless registered, women cannot get the federal government parenting payment.
Bob Birrell, a co-author of the study, Financial Outcomes for Parents After Separation, said: ``People think the agency acts in a draconian way to take money out of the pockets of men. The reality is most separated and divorced blokes are on such low incomes, they pay very little towards the wellbeing of the mother and their children.''
The study traced the financial fortunes of 45,750 men and their former partners, including de factos, over four years.