Child Support
Young people in the spotlight
Young people have always had a voice, yet they haven't always been listened to. We're changing that. CSMC is exploring with teens and young adults, their experiences of growing up in a single mother household. What we hear from these young people will inform our...
Tell the Government that VARTA must stay
Single mothers who have created their families using donor sperm know that donor linking brings with it a multitude of potential issues and considerations. Now, the Victorian Government has announced that the authority that supports families through the process...
Join our study of single-parent renters
We're partnering with Tenants Victoria to learn more about the legal and related service-experience needs of single parents renting in Victoria. What we learn will inform our future service provision, as well as our advocacy. Interviews will be via Microsoft Teams,...
Single mothers hit with higher health insurance premium increases than other families
A shocking new report has revealed that single mother families are being slugged with higher premiums than those of partnered mother families. It comes at a time when single mothers are already struggling with rising costs of living. The study, conducted by Choice,...
Single mothers go to Canberra; Family Law reform ensues
Two weeks ago, Andi, CSMC's Policy and Communications Coordinator, and Michelle and Charisse, two of our passionate single mother members boarded a plane to Canberra. There they joined Terese Edwards, CEO of Single Mother Families Australia, and headed into...
Housing crisis: have your say
Every week, the lines of people queuing to look at rental properties get longer. Things are much worse for those on low incomes or without a great rental history. Even with money and a good rental history, single mothers are going up against two-income families....
Victorian Budget unpacked
“Whilst our kids will remember COVID, I will not ask them to pay for it." They were the words spoken by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Budget Night 2023 - and the message was clear. COVID measures have left the state $116 billion in debt, and the Government...
Single mother wins, then and now
Friday 5 May was a momentous day. Early in the morning, an announcement was made of the end of mandatory participation in ParentsNext, affective immediately, with a new co-designed voluntary program to be ready by July 2024. CSMC and our colleagues have been...
Federal Budget and single parents: a deep dive
On Budget Night, Tuesday 9 May, single parents had a significant victory: the Parenting Payment Single will now be accessible to single parents until their youngest child turns fourteen years. This is a terrific outcome - even if it is not a silver bullet for the...
Your political briefing: April 2023
Parliament may not be sitting at the moment, but the political machine is still cranking away - with several legislative changes on the agenda. Here's a brief rundown on what's happening in Canberra and how together we're presenting a loud voice to Parliament....
Fix Child Support
Several reviews and reports have not improved our child support system.What is the evidence for this statement? In the public child support system $1.6 billion of agreements are unpaid. We don't know how many agreements may also be unpaid in the private collection...
An open letter to the Prime Minister from CSMC’s CEO Jenny Davidson
As part of CSMC's campaign to raise the eligibility of Parenting Payment Single, CEO Jenny Davidson wrote this letter to the Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and senior ministers. We think it says it all. Dear Prime Minister, Treasurer, Ministers and Senators, I am...
Budget Night 2023
It's the one night of the year where people who normally have very little interest in figures outside their family budgets suddenly have income and expenditure tables front of mind: Yes, next week it's Federal Budget Night 2023. And this year, it's of particular...
Children hiding their hunger
Shiv* tells her children she had a big lunch and is too full for dinner; Roberta* says that she ate while she was cooking dinner; Issy* tells her children she's going to have her dinner when they go to bed. There's many excuses single mothers give their kids for...
Everyone’s talking about single mothers
Are your ears burning? They might well be - over the past month it seems like everyone's been talking about single mothers. Anne Summers kicked off an explosion of interest in single mothers in July last year with her report The Choice: Violence or Poverty. She...
A Voice for Aboriginal single mothers
No matter what their individual circumstances, all single mothers want one thing: the freedom and support to be the mothers they want to be and to provide their children with the best start in life. Yet, the experience of single mothers is often one of being told...
Proposed changes to the Family Law Act
Two weeks ago, The Australian Attorney-General announced his intension to change the Family Law Act to centre on the best interests of the children. He has released an ‘exposure draft’ of the changes he wants made to the existing legislation and asked for comments....
Pushing for change
There are a number of issues that CSMC is always working on. ParentsNext, a fair deal for people on JobSeeker and in Workforce Australia Employment Services (the old JobActive), and the growing rate of poverty among single mothers and their children are three of...
Movement on ParentsNext
As soon as the Labor Government took office, single mums began contacting us to ask if anything will change around ParentsNext, and we started nudging the government. What we discovered was that the providers who are paid to run ParentsNext have been telling...
100 Days of the New Federal Government: where single mothers stand
It is generally said that the first 100 days of a new government is a good indication of its priorities and how the government intends to interact with stakeholders. The first 100 days of this new federal government is particularly important for single mother activists, because we are in the unique position of having a Prime Minister who has the lived experience of growing up in a single mother family. So, where do single mothers stand after the first 100 days of the new government?
Workforce Australia – what is this all about?
With a grand title like ‘Workforce Australia’ you could be forgiven for thinking the government is taking on a major new approach to jobs, pay, and training. Sadly, that is not the case. Workforce Australia is the new version of JobActive and started 4 July 2022....
An investment or a right? Housing, homelessness, and single mother families
How much is homelessness an issue for single mother families? According to all available data, it is a huge issue. Statistics tell us that 60 per cent of all women escaping family violence become single mothers at least for a time and many experience years of...
My (Anonymous) Single Mother stories: special edition
Every single mother story is remarkable in its own way. Some single mums boldly tell their stories as they lobby for understanding and change. Sometimes though, the single mums who contact us wish to stay anonymous. They might be fearful of their safety, they may...
The latest attempts to change the punitive ParentsNext Program
Council of Single Mothers and their Children have been advocating for the rights of single mothers caught up in the ParentsNext Program for over four years, and can vouch for the damage that the mandatory and punitive aspects have had on the lives of the women in...
