Tali, yes I'm seen as a single parent, and yes I get the single parents payment. I justify getting this even though I am in a defacto relationship because legally we aren't recognised as a couple so do not get a family dafety net, meaning we have to pay more to reach the limit than a straight family, we have to pay legal fees for a parenting order so we are both recognised as having parental rights and responsibilities which comes for free to straight couples, and if we were a staright couple we would ge a HCC based on Shel's wage, and she would have a HCC/be on my HCC (not sure exactly how that would work), but as it is now she does not, so Shel does not get any entitlements which costs us more.