Child Support Agency forced to pay back wrongly accused men
The Guardian, U.K., David Hencke, Westminster correspondent, Monday November 28, 2005
The Child Support Agency has had to refund hundreds of thousands of pounds in maintenance payments to more than 3,000 men after DNA tests revealed that they had been wrongly named by mothers in paternity suits. One in six men who took a DNA test to challenge claims by women that they were the fathers of their children were cleared by the results, according to official figures disclosed by the agency.
Under CSA rules, men must start paying maintenance the moment they are named by mothers as the father of the child. They can challenge the ruling by asking for a DNA test but have to pay for it themselves.
Figures released by the agency after a freedom of information request reveal that since 1998 3,034 men have been found to have been falsely accused by women of being the father out of 15,909 who have taken the test. The CSA has not recovered money from any of the mothers. Refunds to the wrongly accused men have come from the taxpayer.
Frank Field, former social security minister and Labour MP for Birkenhead, said yesterday: "The situation in the CSA is getting so absurd that even Lewis Carroll would have rejected it as a script for Alice in Wonderland."
The revelation comes as the agency faces yet another government review, ordered by Tony Blair. Last week it emerged that the agency had failed five of the seven performance targets set by ministers, has a backlog of 350,000 cases and is still chasing 100,000 fathers who will not pay maintenance. It has also failed to register 150,000 fathers on benefit who fail to pay any money - because it cannot get the information from Jobcentre Plus.
Concerns were raised by Mr Blair again in an interview with the Sunday Live programme on Sky News yesterday. Emphasising his determination to reform the agency, he said there were "basic design problems" that needed to be addressed.
"We inherited this system, we made changes to it that have undoubtedly simplified it, but even though I made those changes seven years ago, I think I'm right in saying that over half the cases of the CSA are still under the old system," said Mr Blair. "There has got to be a change, because otherwise if you are not careful, you end up spending more and more money."
Under a deal negotiated with Cellmark, which provides DNA tests for the CSA, men who agree to pay for a test in advance pay 194.13. It goes up to 257.58 if they pay for it afterwards. The normal commercial charge is 495. Fathers who are cleared of paternity receive a refund for the DNA test and all maintenance they have paid.
Why boys are in trouble
Boys have been painted as the bad guys in the push to encourage girls to succeed, leaving many young men feeling confused and alienated, wondering what they did wrong
The Associated Press
January 5, 1999
According to psychologist and author William Pollack, 'sports are the one arena in which many of society's traditional strictures about masculinity are often loosened, allowing boys to experience parts of themselves they rarely experience elsewhere.'
When Harvard Medical School psychologist William Pollack administered a test to a group of 150 teenaged boys a few years ago, the results were shocking.
The Boy Crisis Book
The Boy Crisis: Why Our Boys Are Struggling and What We Can Do About It
Authors- Waren Farrell PhD and John Gray PhD
What is the boy crisis?
It's a crisis of education. Worldwide, boys are 50 percent less likely than girls to meet basic proficiency in reading, math, and science.
It's a crisis of mental health. ADHD is on the rise. And as boys become young men, their suicide rates go from equal to girls to six times that of young women.
It's a crisis of fathering. Boys are growing up with less-involved fathers and are more likely to drop out of school, drink, do drugs, become delinquent, and end up in prison.
It's a crisis of purpose. Boys' old sense of purpose-being a warrior, a leader, or a sole breadwinner-are fading. Many bright boys are experiencing a "purpose void," feeling alienated, withdrawn, and addicted to immediate gratification.
So, what is The Boy Crisis? A comprehensive blueprint for what parents, teachers, and policymakers can do to help our sons become happier, healthier men, and fathers and leaders worthy of our respect. Read More ..
Health Canada Publication
The Invisible Boy: Revisioning the Victimization of Male Children and Teens
"... the existence of a double standard in the care and treatment of male victims, and the invisibility and normalization of violence and abuse toward boys and young men in our society.
Despite the fact that over 300 books and articles on male victims have been published in the last 25 to 30 years, boys and teen males remain on the periphery of the discourse on child abuse.
Few workshops about males can be found at most child abuse conferences and there are no specialized training programs for clinicians. Male-centred assessment is all but non-existent and treatment programs are rare. If we are talking about adult males, the problem is even greater. A sad example of this was witnessed recently in Toronto. After a broadcast of The Boys of St. Vincent, a film about the abuse of boys in a church-run orphanage, the Kids' Help Phone received over 1,000 calls from distraught adult male survivors of childhood sexual abuse. It is tragic in a way no words can capture that these men had no place to turn to other than a children's crisis line."
American Psychological Association
Dating Violence Statistics in the United States
Nearly one in 10 girls and one in 20 boys say they have been raped or experienced some other form of abusive violence on a date, according to a study released Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association.
The mean T-shirt: From the Stupid Factory
Todd Goldman says his popular boy-bashing T-shirts are simply funny.
So why are retailers having second thoughts? Read More ..
Why boys are in trouble
Boys have been painted as the bad guys in the push to encourage girls to succeed, leaving many young men feeling confused and alienated, wondering what they did wrong
The Associated Press
According to psychologist and author William Pollack, 'sports are the one arena in which many of society's traditional strictures about masculinity are often loosened, allowing boys to experience parts of themselves they rarely experience elsewhere.'
When Harvard Medical School psychologist William Pollack administered a test to a group of 150 teenaged boys a few years ago, the results were shocking.