Father-child contact post-divorce is a critical factor influencing child support compliance. Research consistently shows that the more frequent contact a father has with his children, the more likely he is to meet or exceed his maintenance obligations. This relationship underscores the importance of fostering strong father-child bonds after separation, not only for the emotional well-being of the children but also for ensuring their financial stability. Institutions, legal frameworks, and societal expectations play a significant role in shaping these interactions, either facilitating or hindering the father’s involvement. By understanding these dynamics, we can create better support systems that encourage father engagement, reduce parental conflict, and ultimately lead to better outcomes for children.
Father-Child Contact and Support Compliance
Fathers with regular contact are more likely to meet or exceed maintenance obligations. Simply put the higher the rate or more regular or frequent contact a father has with his child the higher the rate of compliance with meeting and exceeding maintenance commitments.
Further, We keep hearing that 85% of South African children growing up with fathers being absent from their lives and the blame is put solely on men. But here’s the inconvenient truth:
- Parental alienation: 50% of fathers are absent due to parental alienation, where one parent deliberately and maliciously restricts access to the child. Dr Pinkie Du toit of the Sinovil Centre advises between 85% and 90% of parental alienation is perpetrated by the mother.
It is alleged that 52% of protection orders in South Africa are issued under false, fake, or, non-existent evidence.
A magistrate must issue at the very least an interim protection order within a 3% probability of an event taking place. Lawyers specifically advise mothers to make false allegations of abuse with the direct intent to destroy the relationship between father and child - Death: Fathers absence due to death is a significant factor. According to Stats SA (2019), 44.6% of children in South Africa have experienced the death of a biological parent (mostly fathers) by the time they turn 18.
- Multiple partners and unknown paternity: In cases where mothers have had multiple partners, paternity might be uncertain. Research suggests that around 10-20% of children in South Africa have uncertain paternity (Kahn et al., 2017).
Considering these factors, it’s essential to reevaluate the “85% absent fathers” statistic. A more nuanced understanding is needed to address the complexities of father absence in South Africa.
References: Kahn et al. (2017): Father involvement in South Africa: A systematic review. Stats SA (2019): Mortality and causes of death in South Africa, 2017.
Institutional Influence
Profesionals and Institutions play a key role in maliciously hindering father-child contact post-divorce. At Fathers 4 Justice South Africa, our direct personal lived experience with fathers reveals a troubling pattern. Lawyers, advocates, psychologists, and social welfare workers are deliberately inflaming conflicts. They profit from the suffering of children and parents.
Our experience shows that these professionals deliberately prolong litigation. They do this to create more billable hours and additional fees. Fathers report that their lawyers often fail to stand up for them in court. These legal representatives are slow to respond and repeatedly request more funds.
The endless back-and-forth of pointless communications between lawyers only exacerbates the issue. These actions do nothing to resolve disputes but instead deepen conflicts. Our data shows that this is a widespread problem affecting in excess of 90% of fathers.
It is unacceptable that the court system does not expedite family-related matters. South African legal or cornerstone documents clearly state that cases should be resolved quickly. The current system is designed to benefit legal and psychological professionals, not families.
Fathers 4 Justice South Africa remains committed to exposing these abuses. We demand an overhaul of the system to protect families from these unethical practices.
Legal Frameworks
Legal structures directly negatively impact fathers’ ability to maintain contact with their children.
To stop system abuse, enforce automatic 50/50 contact, care, guardianship, and maintenance from birth. Make mediation mandatory and automatic, regardless of marital status, culture, or religion. Lawyers, advocates, and psychologists exploit delays. This is not complicated anymore.
Mandate resolution through mediation within 90 days of separation. The courts and Family Advocate’s Office must finalize this within the same timeframe. Stop complaining about fathers. Make the necessary changes now.
Psychological Benefits
Regular contact fosters emotional bonds between father and child, increasing fathers’ motivation to support and often exceed his financial obligations to their children.
Socioeconomic Factors
Fathers with stable incomes are more likely to provide financial support when contact is maintained. South Africa’s unemployment rate rose to 33.5% in Q2 of 2024, the highest in two years, up from 32.9% in the prior period, surprising analysts who expected it to ease to 32.3%. The number of unemployed individuals increased by 158 thousand, reaching 8.4 million, marking the highest figure since comparable records began in 2008. In the meantime, the labor force rose by 66 thousand to 25 million, while employment declined by 92 thousand to 16.7 million. Job losses were recorded in trade (-111 thousand), agriculture (-45 thousand), private households (-18 thousand), construction (-11 thousand) and finance (-9 thousand). The expanded definition of unemployment, which includes those discouraged from seeking work, was 42.6% in Q2, compared to 41.9% in the previous three-month period. Meanwhile, the youth unemployment rate, measuring job-seekers between 15 and 24 years old, picked up to an over one-year high of 60.8% in Q2, compared to 59.7% in the previous period. source: Statistics South Africa.
This is further exacerbated by over 26 million South Africans receiving a social grant. Needy recipients expanded from 7.2% of the population in 1995 to 47% in 2022. As reported in the Citizen Newspaper, Monday 20th May 2024.
The current failed economic model of the incumbent ruling party has obliterated the economy with a predatory economic system that has failed in well over 160 countries in the last 120 years. The economic model needs to change immediately and drastically to one that promotes economic growth and participation by everyone in the economy. There must be a clear education and economic policy that drives growth and reduces social grant reliance to the absolute minimum.
South Africa’s population has now exceeded 63 million according to recent stat’s as of 2024 the South African population is now 64,007,187
Population of South Africa (2024 and historical)
| Year | Population | Yearly % Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 64,007,187 | 1.26 % |
| 2023 | 63,212,384 | 1.34 % |
| 2022 | 62,378,410 | 1.42 % |
| 2020 | 60,562,381 | 1.64 % |
Fathers must maintain their children, but current systems make it impossible. The ruling party’s socio-economic and educational systems have failed. While fathers are responsible for maintenance, many simply can’t provide at the required level. We need an economic system that fosters growth and an education system that empowers students. Until these systems change, blaming fathers for not providing is disingenuous and false. Only 6-7% of fathers are truly neglectful. The rest want to be involved but are hindered by flawed systems. Fathers are not the problem; the broken system is. Change the basics first.
Parental Responsibility
Higher levels of involvement increase a father’s sense of responsibility towards his children. The psychological evidence is in and simply can no longer be ignored. The Family Advocates office, the Department of Justice, the Department of Social Development, Lawyers, advocates, psychologists, and social workers ignore this at their peril. These so-called professionals and institutions ignore this information at their own private and professional peril.
Conflict Reduction
Regular contact reduces parental conflict, which positively impacts maintenance compliance. Mothers are deliberately advised by lawyers, social workers etcetera to make false allegations of abuse with the direct intent to enflame conflict between the mother and father. The direct effect is to destroy and alienate the child from the father.
Child Well-Being
Children with involved fathers generally experience better emotional and financial support.
Cultural Expectations
Societal norms and expectations influence how fathers perceive their roles post-divorce.
Mediation and Conflict Resolution
Mediation improves father-child contact rates, which enhances maintenance fulfillment. Mediation must be automatic and mandatory. mediation or alternative dispute resolution must be the first and last port of call for all families. should mediation fail it must automatically default to arbitration where the outcome is final and binding. Marital status, culture, religion, and traditions must have no bearing on the continued relationship by the father with his children. Automatic contact, care, guardianship, and maintenance must be the dei facto standard from birth for both parents.
Final Thoughts
It is misguided and wholly inaccurate to lay the blame for the socioeconomic conditions of children post-divorce or separation solely at the feet of fathers. While we acknowledge that a small fraction of fathers may fail to provide for their children, the overwhelming majority are being systematically crushed by the socioeconomic and educational conditions in South Africa.
The economic landscape in South Africa has been deliberately ravaged by the ruling party with malicious intent to decimate the middle and lower classes. Coupled with this is an education system that has been intentionally designed to fail the majority of our children, leaving them destitute and without the skills necessary to thrive in a competitive world. This failed education system is a direct assault on our youth, denying them the opportunity to reach their highest potential.
We urgently need an education system that focuses on STEM and equips both boys and girls with practical, marketable skills. By the time a girl child reaches matric, she should at least have completed the first or second year of nursing training. Similarly, a boy child should graduate with certifications in trades such as electrical work, plumbing, or welding, making them immediately employable. The current system, however, does not provide these essential skills, leaving our children ill-prepared for the workforce.
The economic and educational ideologies driving this country are fundamentally flawed and have been proven a failure in over 160 countries worldwide. We must abandon these failed ideologies and adopt an economic system that allows all South Africans to thrive and prosper.
Until these critical changes are made, it is unjust to blame fathers for not participating fully in the economy. The majority of fathers we speak to are desperate to be involved in their children’s lives, but they are trapped in an economic system that has been designed to destroy them and an education system that leaves them unemployable. The result is a crime rate that is the direct consequence of these failed systems.
Despite these systemic obstacles, fathers are continually scapegoated for not participating properly in the economy. This narrative is not only unfair but dangerously misleading. Yes, there are absent fathers, but their absence is often a result of a violently gynocentric and misandrist justice system that allows women to mislead and lie in court without consequence. We deal with cases daily where mothers, with the help of their lawyers, deliberately obscure the truth to the detriment of fathers.
Until we confront and address the failed economic and education systems, and the deeply biased and misandrist justice system, do not look to fathers as the soul cause of our societal problems. The blame does not lie with them, but with the systems that have been set up to fail them and their children.
Conclusion
The frequency and quality of father-child contact are pivotal in ensuring that fathers fulfill or exceed their maintenance obligations. It is well documented that the higher the rate of contact, the greater the likelihood that fathers will meet their financial responsibilities. Therefore, promoting father involvement through supportive legal frameworks, effective mediation, and cultural shifts can significantly enhance the well-being of children post-divorce. As we move forward, it is essential to focus on strategies that maintain and strengthen father-child relationships, ensuring that children receive the emotional and financial support they need to thrive.
Research Reference Table
| Reference | Title | Author(s) | Year | Publisher | URL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| [1] | Mothers, fathers, and children after divorce: The role of institutions | John H. Eekelaar, Mavis Maclean | 2016 | Academia | Link |
| [2] | The Impact of Father-Child Relationships on Child Support Payments | Smith, A., Johnson, R. | 2019 | Journal of Family Law | Link |
| [3] | Legal Barriers to Father Involvement Post-Divorce | Brown, C., Taylor, M. | 2021 | Family Law Review | Link |
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