Single mothers are facing a financial crisis because deadbeat dads are not paying child support according to the head of a national charity.

And the legal system is also failing to help single parents get what they deserve.

Coalition for the Protection of Children chairperson Sheila Cooper made the claims following the news that the courts made record collections from errant fathers last year.

Bailiffs managed to collect $5.4 million in 1997 -- an increase of nearly $1 million on the year before.

But Ms Cooper argued that, despite the figure, the legal system was still letting single mothers down.

"About one in four of Bermuda's children is supported through the courts and there's a very significant proportion of fathers that don't pay,'' she said.

"We are seeing the effect of that in homeless or very poor single mothers -- it's a crisis at this point in time.

"The court system is not as effective as it could be. Women come to me on a daily basis and complain that they see the fathers going off on trips or buying a new car and yet they are still not paying support.

"We set up a task force to look at the issues of poverty and affordable housing. We interviewed 100 single mothers and in about 60 percent of those cases the fathers did not pay, had never done so and there was no real prospect of them doing so in the future. The fathers who do pay are the ones who are more middle class where the mothers may already have a reasonable job but the ones who need it most are the ones who aren't getting anything.

"Part of the problem for these women is that, if they have any job at all they are not eligible for legal aid in order to pursue these cases. Most have some sort of job and so they don't have the financial capacity to follow these things through. We have to have a system in which the support of a child is considered an automatic responsibility. The responsibility of pursuing cases should also be taken away from the mother and put in the hands of the legal system because many mothers can't afford it or are frightened or just get fed up and frustrated with the system. There is also a case to be made on behalf of the fathers. Fathers who have not married the mothers have very few rights and yet they can be held financially responsible.'' Chief court administrator Tracey Kelly has defended the court's record, claiming that most of the Island's 1,500 deadbeat dads are now paying a small amount in child support each week.