A quarter of kids live in single parent families

[AdventAnnie]

One in four kids live in single-parent families today compared to 1 in 20 when I was born in the 70s.

Surely the priority to fund the cost of the benefits system and the affordable housing crisis, is to make both parents contribute much more to the cost of raising their children? Family breakdown tends to impoverish both parents to some degree, but so many absent dads in particular seem to get away with it.

What do you all think - if we could make these men pay more (without them claiming it all back in benefits at the other end!), would it go some way to solve the problem or not touch the sides?

I’m sorry but plenty of women (not all, not even saying it’s the majority) have children with absolute losers. For all sorts of reasons. I know it’s not a pc thing to say. But I’m sick of seeing it. It’s one thing when the father is a Jeckyll and Hyde type but in some cases it’s absolutely clear from the outset the dad is a wrong un.

Men are equally to blame. No question. But a concerning number of women allow themselves to get impregnated by the biggest losers

Agreed it's not just men doing this, I also know a mother who dumped her dc in Covid lockdown. The dad's brought them up whilst working full-time (same as many mothers). She contributed nothing, not financially or emotionally. Dc want nothing to do with her now. Can't blame them.
If we want to lift kids out of poverty getting both parents to be accountable is key. Too many NRP getting away with contributing peanuts. It also saddens me how some parents can just become so disinterested in their dc.

This sounds very odd and there must be more to the situation than you are aware of. The children are old enough to understand that they need to share a room for a short amount of time. Maybe the father is choosing to rent in an expensive location? I wouldn't be moving house based upon my child's demands of wanting their own room. It's not up for debate!

She probably isn't when you look long term. What's her pension? What's her future earning prospects? The holistic picture is important.

However I don't see how you square the circle of both parents needing enough room for the children TBH, given the housing shortage, children taking up twice the rooms they need is always going to be an issue.

@orangine based upon 1 night stay a week your friend would be paying £700 for all 3 kids. He would take home around £2,900 per month. What is making him suicidal? CMS is a standard rate and tbh CMS do not take that much money from the NRP where they can't afford to live. This is the oldest tale in the book!

He's got £2,200 to live off....

No one is forcing these "fathers" to have children or have unprotected sex. I think in all of the posts here, children were conceived and born as part of a marriage or relationship. Each child has two parents who should support it. It's your child ffs. However even in this thread, a sizeable proportion of fathers think it's ok not to financially support their own child(ren).

I don't think I could apply for an increase in CM because the children refused to share a bedroom. I mean, surely you encourage them to go and feel a bit of 'discomfort' for a short period.

You definitely can't.

CM is a percentage of the NRP's income based on the number of children. There's no variance for expenditure or housing.

The children refusing to share will be having zero impact on his assessment.

Not really they'd been together since they were quite young, he was a good partner until her attention was split between him and their children and he cheated on her. She's not psychic, she didn't know he would turn out to be a cheater and have a load of other kids with a string of women.

I think you misread the OP.

Apologies, your post made it sound as if she was the 9th woman he had got pregnant, hence my comment! It seems that she was actually the first if I am understanding your most recent post correctly