The Childcare Industry and the De-Fathering of Society Part 4
Government funding of the childcare industry was not designed to remove children from their fathers. The fact that it does so is a consequence of the cultural bias against separated fathers that exists in our culture. This bias pervades every aspect and level of society. It means that in the development of government policies, and in the Opposition parties’ response to these policies, the interests and concerns of separated fathers are not given even a passing thought.
Non-custodial fathers are left floundering on the periphery of their children’s lives. They are considered irrelevant and have been disenfranchised. The non-custodial parent has no right to make any choices regarding the care of their children beyond the strict limitations imposed by Family Law Court Orders.
It’s the custodial parent who retains the freedom to make selections regarding the care of their children. In about 90% of cases this is the mother. Not only are there no incentives for the mother to select the father as the carer, but there are strong disincentives.
The cost to the mother of choosing the father to care for their children involves:
- Sacrificing part of the Child Support ‘entitlement’ (this is compounded if the father’s income is reduced as a consequence of reducing his work hours in order to care for his children).
- Surrendering to the father a proportion of the family allowance payment.
- Possibly putting at risk their parenting allowance.
As a consequence, the choices mothers make feed the phenomenal rise of the child care industry.
The subsidiaries provided to childcare centres rob fathers of their children. There are no subsidies for fathers wanting to care for their children. There is nothing. In fact, there is less than nothing. Whatever resources a father might have that enables him to care for his children, are taken away from him by the Family Law Court and the Child Support Agency.
The tragedy inherent in this is that children are being robbed of their fathers. This is nothing less than child abuse.
[Photo by Åsmund Gimre on Unsplash]