message from the Progressive Labour Party's Shadow Minister of Health and Social Services Nelson Bascome.

Mr. Bascome, of course, is basically talking about men who father children, often a number of children, and then do not support them. However, it is too easy to assume that only men are involved, because there are women who have children and walk away. There are also women who produce children for men they know are not going to support them.

It is the view of this newspaper that Mr. Bascome is quite correct. There is a duty to support children and for far too long people have simply produced children and then walked away from the responsibilities involved. Mr. Bascome has suggested that that we should be tougher and that the Police, in addition to court bailiffs, should be enlisted to enforce court warrants for payment and that delinquent parents should be put on a stop list to prevent their travelling abroad. It is, of course, unacceptable in a well ordered society that children should go without while parents vacation abroad, having a good time.

It should be said that the whole situation surrounding delinquent parents has improved because there has been a significant increase in the maintenance collected since the Government got serious some three years ago. However it seems that a full 40 percent of delinquent parents are still getting away with paying nothing.

The problem appears to be that while we have a crackdown we have little means of enforcing payment. If a person simply decides not to pay than it is difficult to make them do so. Court orders and warrants can lead to jail and while the threat of prison might be a deterrent, it defeats the purpose since a parent in prison is not earning money to pay support. But parents who often owe thousands of dollars in child support can still vacation abroad, open charge accounts and use credit cards while someone, usually the mother, looks after their children.

Traditionally in Bermuda we have talked about the problem a good deal but done precious little. This is an area where women's action groups are beginning to have a real impact. Their protests and the political clout they can bring to bear are making the Legislature and the courts, both heavily dominated by men, take notice. They must continue to push for the sake of the children.

Bermuda is not alone in attempting to force people, men and women, to provide child support. In the United States now there are all sorts of moves, some of them repressive and undesirable, to force the support of children and to discourage women from having children outside a secure relationship. These moves range from arresting "delinquent dads'' to cutting off public funds to unwed mothers to proposals to place children born out of wedlock in orphanages. The latter suggestions seem to us to do nothing but punish the children.

There is one aspect of the whole situation in Bermuda which bothers us. In the United States, care is being taken to prove that the named father is the father. We think that also has to happen in Bermuda. Often men say that the mother does not know who the father is among an array of men, and sometimes that claim is correct. And we also hear men say some women name the man they think is best able or most likely to pay. It is grossly unfair to ask people to spend years paying for children who are not theirs. As we understand it, Bermuda does not provide DNA testing for fathers as proof of parenting and we think that it should when there is a dispute.

Bermuda should continue to press for payment as actively as it can. However we have to be seen to be fair and just.