centrelink question

[ilovejellybeans]

my sister is currently on single parenting payment with centrelink also full family tax a and b. for her ds. She was drugged by some guy at her frriend party and he had sex with her she fell pregnant but couldnt give it up. so anyway back on topic.

She gets full single parenting payment and full family tax a and b as she doesnt know the fathers name.

but to get all that she had heaps of interviews and social worker appointments.

now she is currently pregnant again because of a one night stand. she only knows the guys first name. and the baby is due 2 weeks after her ds was born.
Does she need to go through all the interveiws again or how does it go i would ring centrelink but cant be bothered waiting on the phone for years

thanks

[MyTwoBlue]

Different father....different story. She needs to go through the process again.

[ilovejellybeans]

So can you just do it all over the phone or how does it go.. Im completely new to it all and trying to help as much as i can...

I know with the family tax part she can do it all at medicare.. But im unsure when it comes to parenting payment.. Also would centrelink find it strange that she is living with our cousin which is a male. She cant move out of where she is cause they are on a lease together.

[MyTwoBlue]

So can you just do it all over the phone or how does it go.. Im completely new to it all and trying to help as much as i can...

I know with the family tax part she can do it all at medicare.. But im unsure when it comes to parenting payment.. Also would centrelink find it strange that she is living with our cousin which is a male. She cant move out of where she is cause they are on a lease together.

Probably best if she calls them, explain over the phone what has been happening and they will be able to give her the best advice as to where to go from here. Hope everything works out for her :D

O and also i would imagine Centrelink would only find it strange if she is in a relationship with her cousin!

[ilovejellybeans]

Thats true. I would find it strange too..
I didnt know how that went.. cause you never know with centrelink. Thank you for your help

[FionaV]

I doubt if this could be done over the phone - she will almost certainly have to go and see them and have an interview. As this is the second time this sort of thing has happened to her they will be asking some pretty searching questions, and that will include any possible relationship she might be in (cousin or not). It is likely to be quite a searching interview.

They will likely also insist that she track down the father of this baby and claim child support. One night stand or not, she's entitled to it, and I believe she has to try to get child support from a known father before she can claim benefits (I could be wrong on that point, though).

[Me]

If she doesn't want to go through the whole process again I believe she can take the base rate of FTB and not claim CS, though correct me if I am wrong

[ConfettiGirl]

She will have to do the same process as last time again.

It is only her FTB part A that increases with her additional child and she will need to apply for FTB for the child.

They will give her the FTB straight away when she claims it but will then send her a letter (probably several months later) asking her to come to an interview to discuss her "entitlement".

It is at this interview that she will be asked all the invasive question like how did she know the father, why is she not with the father, is she sure that she was never in a relationship with the father etc etc.

She will have 13 weeks from the date of her child's birth to either claim child support or to get an exemption. If she does neither then her FTB will be reduced to the minimum rate.

If she truely does not know who the father is then she will need to apply for an exemption from the maintanence action test. She gets the exemption via a social worker (only social workers have the authority to give an exemption so you cannot skip this step).

At her social worker interview she will need to explain WHY she cannot claim maintanence (obviously because she doesn't know the fathers last name so cannot track him down). At this point the social worker will usually put into place an exemption from the maintanance action test which basically means that your sister can get FULL FTB part A for her child WITHOUT having to claim child support.

They will however ask a LOT of very personal questions, they can get very invasive and there are penalties if your sister is lying and is caught out. It is a very serious offence to lie to centrelink about not knowing who the father is - or not knowing enough info to track him down - it is fraud. This is why they ask so many invasive questions to make sure that the person is being truthful.

I had a similar (but different) problem....with the birth of my 4th child I was on parenting payment - single because I had broken up with my partner when i was only 3 months pregnant. Because I was already on PPS when I claimed FTB for another child my file was "flagged" for investigation. I had to attend the interview and got asked many, many invasive questions.

Centrelink don't make it easy and they might be suspicious for awhile - but this is only a problem for people doing the wrong thing. They know that people get pregnant from one night stands all the time.....it isn't that uncommon and your sister should just keep reminding herself that as embarrassing as it is at the time - they have seen and heard it ALL before :)