Deadbeat Dad Finally pays up!

Deadbeat Dad Finally pays up!

I ran into a long time friend this week and ended up standing in the shopping aisle listening to her extraordinary tale with my jaw on the ground and tears in my eyes.  My friend (who understandably declined to be named) has just received a record amount of money in child support from her ex-husband who was caught at the airport as he tried to board an overseas flight.  The Brightwater mum of 2 received $355,000 in child support after the children’s father failed to pay a cent for nearly 2 decades.

The not- so -charming offender paid it in a lump sum within days. He allowed his own flesh and blood to go without for 16 years while he jetted between here and Asia and focussed on his second family abroad. Not paying to help raise your kids is wrong.  Not paying to help put food on your children’s plate when you clearly have the money is plain disgusting.  “The fact he could pay that amount of money with a couple of days came with mixed emotions”, said my friend.

“I have just finished paying a 3 year loan for orthodontics, braces, and both kids have just finished school and are buying first cars too.  I am pretty elated I have a lump sum at last so they can feel financially healed but at the same time I feel that holding back the funds over so many years impacted on all of our lives and created hardships and moulded beliefs around money that need not have happened.  I do not feel bitter, I feel sad my ex-husband missed out on an amazing journey with his own children,” she added.

This deadbeat dad was caught at Christmas as he tried to fly out of Australia. Authorities are able to prevent Australians leaving the country under DPOs (departure prohibition orders). In the past 8 months the government has recouped $6 million from 700 Australians trying to leave.  The goal is to surpass the $10 million recovered last financial year.

So it is a new start for this local family.  “The first thing I did was pay out my credit card bill,” said the mum.  “To see that zero balance and a healthy amount of money in the bank account is just surreal,” my friend added. “I have been a sole, not a single parent, for 16 years and one hundred per cent responsible for every aspect of parenting from financial to emotional to physical.  It was hard.  I was not supported on any level and this impacted on what I could provide for my kids with schooling, clothing, and treats.

It also impacted on my own life in a huge way as most single parents have a break and share at least some roles but being solo really meant I could not move on with a wholesome social life and with limited funds for babysitters my life was impacted there as well.  I did love being a mum which was lucky!” finished the local.

I know both her stunning daughters and they have always been polite, smart, mature and compassionate young women. They gave my daughter their special wooden dolls cot when they were 11 and 12 years old and they were so well mannered and beautiful with my kids on that day. They have stayed in sporadic contact with their father over the years and their mum never tried to turn them against him.  She is a better woman than I am!  I wish my friend and her girls every single sip of happiness they can drink from the cup of life.  They deserve it.

Sami xx