CSA Query

Becles · 11 March 2006 at 4:26PM

My OH has a daughter from a previous relationship born in 1997. Due to issues with her mother, he has never been allowed to see his daughter or make contact with her, although he did get some photo's of her as a baby. He has paid maintenance through the CSA for her since birth. He lost contact with his ex years ago and has no idea where they are living now.

He's got a letter from the CSA today which states liability for his daughter ended on the 15/04/04 so no further maintenance is payable. It simply states the reason as:

The other parent no longer has the qualifying child living with them.

He's phoned the CSA but nobody is able to help him today. Can anyone advise what this statement means and how he can find out where his daughter is now?

hjb123 · 11 March 2006 at 5:13PM

That sounds like the other parent - in this case being the mother - doesnt have the child living with them - either they have gone into care, to live with grandparents or I dont know what.

Sorry to ask this - but does he believe 100% the child to be his? It just feels as though there is something amis somewhere in here - you would of thought they would of contacted your OH if the child is no longer living with her mum

Becles · 11 March 2006 at 8:43PM

As far as he knows the girl is his. The ex was pregnant when she left my OH for another man. He assumed he was named on her birth certificate when the CSA forced him to pay maintenance, but he has never seen the birth certificate.

He's done some digging on Friends Reunited and his ex claims she is now living abroad.

That doesn't explain the statement in the letter though. We don't know if he doesn't have to pay as the girl is abroad with the mother, or if she has been left in the UK somewhere.

Bossyboots · 11 March 2006 at 8:58PM

It does seem odd that they should state the child is not living with the mother but this could be an error by a lazy operative at the CSA not taking enough care over the letter. I would expect the letter to be automated and they select a number to insert the appropriate phrase. The wrong number could have been selected or there might not be an option that fitted so they took what they considered the nearest one.

If the statement is correct, then it does indeed mean that the child is now not living with the mother.

Fran · 12 March 2006 at 2:11AM

Becles wrote:

As far as he knows the girl is his. The ex was pregnant when she left my OH for another man. He assumed he was named on her birth certificate when the CSA forced him to pay maintenance, but he has never seen the birth certificate......

If they weren't married, he would have had to go to the Registry Office to get his name on the birth certificate or he would not have been named as the father. If they weren't married then he would not have had Parental Responsibility unless he either had an agreement with the mother or a court order, which could explain why they haven't notified him of anything else. However CSA probably operate under different rules, ie if he didn't contest that he was the father they won't be bothered who pays up as long as they do! How old is she now?

Becles · 12 March 2006 at 9:24AM

They were not married, he didn't go to the Registry Office and didn't have a PR court order. Therefore we can assume he's not on the birth certificate.

The girl will be 10 now.

At the time, he told the CSA he wasn't sure if he was the father and they said he could have a DNA test, but if it proved he was the father, he'd be billed £400 for the cost of the test. He had money troubles at the time, and £400 was too much of a risk to take, so he just paid up.

As far as he knows, the girl was going to be brought up as the other man's daughter which is why he backed off as he thought it was in the best interests of the child to have a stable upbringing within a couple. However he later learned that relationship broke up and she had a child by another man. According to Friends Reunited, she now has a 3rd child, is married to yet another man, and living abroad!

Bossyboots · 12 March 2006 at 9:34AM

Unfortunately so many men say they are not the father that charging those that are is the only way to get round it. This of course penalises men who genuinely don't know if they are or not but there isn't really another way of handling this situation.

I don't think anymore can be done until he can speak to the CSA and find out what they can tell him. It may not be any more than they have said although they should be able to clarify if the details on the letter are correct or if they have made a clerical error.

hjb123 · 12 March 2006 at 10:11AM

I would try and see a copy of the birth certificate - if he has a rough idea of where she was born and the date! Just as a back up!

tiptoes · 12 March 2006 at 10:31AM

Does your OH remember where the ex's parents or other relatives lived may be if they still lived there and might help put your partners mind at rest about the where abouts of his daughter. With yor partners name not on the birth cert no agency involved would contact your OH if daughter was taken into care.

iluvfreebies · 13 March 2006 at 7:11PM

Hiya
Due to data protection the Csa wouldnt be able to advise of the whereabouts of the child but like stated before they would be able to advise if the reason stated for closure is indeed correct. I know some closure letters are automatically generated (and not always correctly) so that may be the case in this one. but they should be able to clarify

Thanks

ozzyfan_2 · 13 March 2006 at 8:19PM

Bossyboots wrote:

It does seem odd that they should state the child is not living with the mother but this could be an error by a lazy operative at the CSA not taking enough care over the letter. I would expect the letter to be automated and they select a number to insert the appropriate phrase. The wrong number could have been selected or there might not be an option that fitted so they took what they considered the nearest one.

If the statement is correct, then it does indeed mean that the child is now not living with the mother.

Yes I would double check this as I received a letter from the CSA to say that my son was no longer entitled to child maintainence as he was no longer living with me, last time I looked he was! The actual reason that his payments of £0.00 were stopped were because he had left college & his child benefit had stopped.

So it could be a CSA error as Bossyboots suggests.

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