Australia's Human Services Ministry issued in 2010-11 192 departure prohibition orders (DPOs) against parents considered deadbeat. The DPOs, which prevents them from traveling, were made after repeated attempts to make them pay debts.

Their debts ran up to thousands of dollars each.

The 192 DPOs represent a rise in 80 such orders issued the previous year and 121 DPOs issued in 2008-09.

Family law experts explained the rise in DPOs issued to higher cost of living, economic uncertainty and more bitter custody disputes.

Parents who tried to go against the orders were detained at airports across Australia.

Human Services Minister Brendan O'conner said the government had to issue DPOs to ensure that children of separated families are cared for.

"In a sad minority of cases where parents must incur significant debts, the government has no choice other than to take action to ensure the money goes where it is intended to, bringing up their child," Mr O'Connor said in a statement.

As some of the parents paid off their debts, the total number on Australia's DPO register slightly rose to 860 from 840 12 months ago. One NSW parent's debt reached $50,000 which stretched back to 2007.

However, the amount recovered by the Child Support Agency from the scheme slightly went down to $3.3 million in 2010-11 from $3.4 million the previous year and $5 million two years earlier.

Of the 722,430 divorced Australian parents who are required to pay child support, about 25 per cent of 187,000 failed to fulfill their obligations for the current year.