BOYS as young as 11 are to be warned of the consequences of turning into delinquent fathers and failing to take responsibility for their offspring.

Under changes to the national curriculum being drawn up by the schools department, children will be taught about the cost of child-care and the powers of the Child Support Agency (CSA).

They will also be told that if parents abandon offspring they face prosecution and possible jail terms.

The changes are being demanded by a new children’s quango that takes power in October.

The new Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC), which will oversee the CSA, is also pushing for increased powers to punish absent parents, mainly fathers, who renege on maintenance payments. It is demanding the right to seize passports and driving licences without court approval.

The CSA can already obtain orders to tag and curfew fathers who fail to maintain their payments.

Janet Paraskeva, chair-woman of CMEC, which has been given a statutory responsibility to educate the public about the responsibility of parents, said: “There needs to be something in the national curriculum to make children aware they will need to take financial responsibility for their children.

“This won’t be a simple bolt-on to the national curriculum. We want to give children at a young age a good understanding of the financial commitment of becoming parents. It’s important we do that at an early age.”

The CSA has been beset by difficulties since its launch in 1993. Administration problems led to huge build-ups of unpaid maintenance. At one point in 2005, the agency admitted it had a backlog of nearly 330,000 cases and uncollected debts of more than £3 billion.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Science News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• Sarah Brown says 'no thanks' to veal at G8 - twice
• Stockton-on-Tees is obesity capital of Britain
• Stores blame poor sales on Murray factor