A £40m debt owed by absent parents for child support in Northern Ireland will have to be written off, the BBC has learned.
The total owed to children in NI is £80m - according to the latest figures from the former Child Support Agency.
Last year, the agency said it was owed £30m by absent parents, mostly fathers.
That figure has now more than doubled and out of 57,000 children who are entitled to the maintenance, 12,000 are not receiving the money.
Some of those who owe money cannot afford to pay, others cannot be found and some cases have been abandoned because the legal time limit of six years for collecting the money has passed.
Since April, the agency has become known as the Northern Ireland Child Maintenance and Enforcement Division, or CMED.
Later this week, it will launch a television advertising campaign to claw back some of the missing millions.
A Department of Social Development spokesperson said the level of debt was "unacceptably high," but it was caused by the failure of many parents to face up to their financial responsibilities.
The department said 19,000 children benefited last year from a 10% increase in the level of payments.
In March, the CSA came under fire from a public spending watchdog which urged them to take action against parents who failed to pay maintenance.
Only 12 people were successfully prosecuted for non-payment of child support from April to December 2007.
^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~43~RS~)