Beyond the formula: where can parents go to discuss child support together?

Abstract

The Australian family law system has generally not aimed to provide services to assist separated parents to discuss child support matters directly with each other. In this article we suggest that in an increasingly complex social landscape of diverse family forms and parenting arrangements, some families would benefit from facilitated joint discussions about workable financial solutions to questions of ongoing parenting obligations - solutions that may fall outside the administrative assessment guidelines that inform child support determinations. More specifically, the article seeks to address three questions: (a) How has child support been thought about within the broader family law system in Australia?; (b) Where can separating parents go to get help to talk with each other about child support?; and (c) What might a system look like that can simultaneously accommodate the discussion of parenting arrangements and child support?