Recently I watched the film Straw on Netflix. It is a story where neglect, tension and abandonment of responsibility ultimately unravel the fabric of family and community life.

This theme is not confined to the movies; it’s playing out in Bermuda every day in the homes of many custodial parents left unsupported by a system when child-support obligations go unpaid.

While it is mostly fathers, but there are mothers, too, who have been ordered to provide financial support, but walk away from their duties to provide for their children. And when they do, the parent left rearing the child is the one who must shoulder rent or mortgage, food, school uniforms, activity costs and other essentials while trying to nurture, provide for and protect their children.

Yes, there are laws in place. The problem is not that our laws are weak; it is that our enforcement is unacceptably inadequate and unresponsive to the reality of custodial parents living paycheque to paycheque while doing their utmost to ensure that they and their children survive day to day.

Recently in the House of Assembly, the Government boasted about “putting Bermudians first” being “a government unafraid to act”, and that it “will fight for dignity”.

When will this government fight to protect and ensure fairness for custodial parents — who often sacrifice their own needs and struggle daily to house, feed and clothe their children — because the other parent is not financially supporting the child?

Much like in the movie, where the absence of responsibility corrodes relationships until chaos erupts, Bermuda cannot continue to ignore the cracks in our foundation — and unpaid child support is just one of those fractures. Unpaid child support is not just a private issue; it’s a public crisis, and it is past time that it is treated that way.

The Institute for Research on Poverty’s 2022 study found that receipt of child support is linked to better outcomes in education, health and housing stability for children. However, families without support may face poverty, leading some individuals, especially youth, to engage in theft, drug-dealing or other survival-based offences.

Some of the consequences of parents withholding support are chronic stress and burnout for custodial parents, children suffering emotionally and academically, and communities having to absorb the burden through increased demand on social services.

Custodial parents expecting child-support payments is not extraordinary. They are not begging for favours or handouts. They are entitled to enforcement, to a system that stands up for them when the other parent refuses to support their child. They are entitled to see their government act decisively — through wage garnishment, through modern tracking systems, through the suspension of privileges for repeat offenders and through legislation that puts the children first.

While this government speaks about protection and fairness, words without enforcement are like straw in the wind — they scatter and disappear without having a lasting impact.

Is the Government serious about protecting children and reducing inequality? Is it serious about “putting Bermudians first” and fulfilling its promise to “fight for dignity”?

Then how about fighting for the dignity of parents who bear sole responsibility for their children, and ensuring that when the courts award child-support payments that they receive it.

The Government must back up its words with practical, vigorous measures that make non-payment of child support impossible, giving it the attention it deserves. Child support isn’t a privilege; it’s the responsibility of each parent who creates a child.

• Robin Tucker is the Shadow Minister of Health and the MP for Hamilton South (Constituency 7)