Our story - my husband, following many years battling in family court was awarded an equal shared care order for his 2 children in 2019. Despite having this order and having the children for an equal amount of time (week on week off), giving them a loving family home, providing everything they need (clothing, shoes, uniform items, coats etc) he is still required to pay a ridiculous amount to his ex partner each month! Why!? Because child maintenance refuse to see both parents as equal! It's sexist and outdated, how in this day and age mums and dads cannot be seen as equal is absurd! 

Once an EQUAL SHARED care order is granted in court, any application made to child maintenance should simply be rejected as parents are in the eyes of the law equal - so why does this not apply to child maintenance? 
My question here is:

Is the child maintenance system so outdated that it is an enabler in post-separation abuse and coercive control?

I've seen so many stories of fathers in similar situations - let's stand together to make a change! 

Our family, like many others, is currently struggling under the impact of outdated child maintenance laws. These laws are biased and believe only the mother can fulfil the child’s daily needs. However, my husband, an equally caring and responsible parent, disproves this notion daily.

The current setup suggests that men cannot adequately provide for a child’s needs, which is simply not true. After all, in deciding to create a family, both parents are deemed suitable by each other. 

This glaring bias in our laws puts an unfair financial pressure on fathers. In our case, despite having equal shared care of his children, my husband is made to pay a disproportionate amount in child maintenance.

This outdated system needs to change. Therefore, we petition that the appropriate legislative bodies re-evaluate and update child maintenance laws to reflect the contemporary reality where both mothers and fathers equally contribute in raising their children.
We petition to change the way payments are calculated by child maintenance and request that they use a case-by-case basis and look at the bigger picture, financial situation and family income and expenditure or in the case of an equal shared care order make it so there is no claim!
It's time to make child maintenance laws fair and gender-equal.

Join us in making this crucial change. 

Please, sign the petition.