Website of the Lone Fathers Association of Australia and
The Office of the Status of Men and Their Families

Other Services Offered by LFAA

Policy submissions to government

Policy submissions provided by the LFA in recent years have included written and oral evidence to government and to Parliamentary Inquiries into family law and related matters, child custody, superannuation, other property, and poverty issues, inquiries by the Law Reform Council into matrimonial property, contempt orders, and access, and an inquiry by the Child Support Task Force into the Child Support Scheme.

Advisory panels

The LFA contributes to the work of Government advisory panels on both policy and administration, and corresponds with State and Territory Governments on matters falling within the responsibilities of the State and Territory governments, e.g., domestic violence, and with peak professional legal professional bodies such as the Family Law Council.

Telephone outreach service

The LFA has for 30 years conducted a free telephone advice service throughout Australia dealing with family law and related matters.

The telephone outreach service for the organisation as a whole has embraced something like 400,000 telephone calls and a similar number of distressed people over 30 years.

CSA-related service

The organisation has run counselling sessions on behalf of the Child Support Agency for unemployed men who had recently become clients of the CSA. These sessions have advised on ways for the men to maintain beneficial contact with their children via a cooperative relationship with the ex-partner.

Part of the purpose of that project was/is to work with parents to enhance their self reliance and manage their child support responsibilities effectively. The obtaining of employment enhances a person's self image, and contributes to the standard of living of his children.

The LFA's understanding of the issues involved has been enhanced by the involvement of the LFA in both the original design and the recent re-design of the Child Support Scheme, and by membership of the CSA Registrar's Advisory Panel (now Stakeholders' Group) since its inception. Other LFA members have addressed groups of Parliamentarians, engaged in many talks on radio and TV, given talks to schools, provided regular mail-outs of information to members, issued press statements on matters of major interest, and conducted stalls at community events.

Support for other related organisations

The LFA works closely with other organisations with similar aims, such as the Shared Parenting Council of Australia, the Fatherhood Foundation, Parents Without Partners, and Dads in Distress, and liaises with a large number of other organisations such as Families Australia. The organisation joins with other groups in promoting the status of the family, maintaining family values as a priority in welfare community programs, and sustaining “family” as an issue throughout development of government social strategy. Initiative, resourcefulness and experience through member self-help has kept core functions in focus.