Government is planning to seize cars and other assets of fathers who refuse to pay child support.

And it warned that mass arrests of delinquent dads could be triggered with the official opening yesterday of the Office of Family and Child Support.

Health and Social Services Minister the Hon. Quinton Edness urged any parent in arrears to call the office immediately to "avoid the embarrassment of potential arrest''.

He was speaking at a press conference attended by Premier the Hon. Sir John Swan to announce the opening of the Magistrates' Court office.

The Minister said the office had been created in a bid to clear up a staggering $8 million debt of court-ordered child-support payments.

Its creation was recommended by a Government task force on family support established last April. It was chaired by former permanent secretary for Health and Social Services Mr. Ed Dyer.

The four-person office, headed by overseas family support consultant Mrs. Bev Ann Murray, has been unofficially operating since January.

Charged with administration and enforcement of family-support orders, it has already managed to round up some $200,000 more in child-support payments than during the same period last year.

"The establishment of the Office of Family and Child Support reinforces Government's philosophy that in Bermuda children come first, and it is our responsibility as Government to make sure that parents support their children to the best of their ability,'' Mr. Edness said.

"The office will ensure that support payments are made regularly so that custodial parents have a reliable income with which to support their children.'' It was not fair for taxpayers who support their own families to shoulder the responsibility of maintaining children of delinquent fathers through social assistance, he said.

The arrears in child-support payments indicated a large number of children were being deprived of many needs which their custodial parents could not afford to provide them with, he said.

The new office was not merely an attempt to go after delinquent parents, he stressed.

It would offer mediation and counselling services to get parents to adopt more responsible attitudes towards the support of their children.

However, if fathers in arrears did not contact the office this week to try and work out a payment plan, warrants for their arrests would be issued.

Mr. Edness pointed out that magistrates have the power to throw them in prison for refusing to comply with their orders.

In addition to the staff of four -- manager Mrs. Murray, enforcement officer Ms Linda Simons and two family support clerks -- being devoted entirely to collecting child support, the office will feature an enhanced computer-tracking system.

Mr. Edness said the staff had been working on gathering and filing current information, including the addresses of the more than 2,000 delinquent dads.

To further support the office, he said Government was working on drafting several legislative changes.

They included forcing the disclosure of banking statements and other financial information from the fathers, and enabling Government to seize their liquid assets.

Magistrates Court administrator Mr. Tracey Kelly, who served on the task force, noted the office would help free up the courts by encouraging more out-of-court settlements.

And maintenance payments would be regularly reviewed so that changes in circumstances could be taken into account automatically.