Tackling Child Support: Unravelling Systems Abuse and Structural Inequity
Tracks
Ballroom 2: In-Person Only
| Wednesday, November 25, 2026 |
| 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM |
| Ballroom 2 |
Overview
Terese Edwards, Single Mother Families Australia & Charisse Hay
Three Key Learnings
1.How the child support system can replicate coercion and abuse
Examining how administrative systems can reinforce coercive control, financial abuse, and institutional harm for women and children, particularly following family violence and separation.
Why lived expertise is essential to effective reform
2. Exploring how the voices, experiences, and leadership of single mothers shaped advocacy, informed policy solutions, and contributed to meaningful child support reform.
3. An overview of the announced reforms and the next steps
Outlining the recent child support reform package, its significance for women and children, implementation challenges, and the further systemic changes still required to reduce inequity and systems abuse.
Speaker
Dr Terese Edwards
Ceo
Single Mother Families Australia
Tackling Child Support: Unravelling Systems Abuse and Structural Inequity
Presentation Overview
This presentation will examine how Australia’s child support system can perpetuate system abuse, deepen gender inequality, and entrench child poverty for single-mother families. Drawing on more than a decade of frontline advocacy, policy development, and lived-experience engagement, the session will explore how administrative systems can become tools of coercion, financial abuse, and institutional harm.
The presentation will provide insight into the experiences of women navigating child support while escaping domestic and family violence, living in poverty, and attempting to secure financial stability for their children. It will highlight the intersection between child support policy, economic abuse, social security, and women’s safety, demonstrating how fragmented systems can compound vulnerability rather than reduce it.
The session will also outline the sustained national advocacy that contributed to the Australian Government announcing $183 million in child support reforms in the 2026 Federal Budget. This work included co-authoring academic policy papers, leading the national Fix Child Support campaign, supporting women to safely share their lived experiences, and engaging in long-term policy and parliamentary advocacy.
Importantly, the presentation will move beyond identifying problems and focus on reform pathways as announced in the Federal Budget 2026.
The presentation will provide insight into the experiences of women navigating child support while escaping domestic and family violence, living in poverty, and attempting to secure financial stability for their children. It will highlight the intersection between child support policy, economic abuse, social security, and women’s safety, demonstrating how fragmented systems can compound vulnerability rather than reduce it.
The session will also outline the sustained national advocacy that contributed to the Australian Government announcing $183 million in child support reforms in the 2026 Federal Budget. This work included co-authoring academic policy papers, leading the national Fix Child Support campaign, supporting women to safely share their lived experiences, and engaging in long-term policy and parliamentary advocacy.
Importantly, the presentation will move beyond identifying problems and focus on reform pathways as announced in the Federal Budget 2026.
Biography
Since 2009, Terese Edwards has served as Chief Executive Officer of Single Mother Families Australia, leading the organisation to become a respected national voice for single mother families. Her work focuses on advancing policy reform to enhance women’s safety, gender equality, and national cultural change grounded in respect for single mothers. Terese has driven significant reforms in social security and employment services. Most recently, following more than a decade of sustained advocacy, she was instrumental in securing landmark child support reforms valued at $183 million to improve economic security and reduce harm for women and children.
