Page 29 Civil status ordinance 81/02 contains provisions on the determination and recognition of paternity and punishes the abandonment of a child by a parent by imposing the payment of maintenance allowance. Social centres attempt to settle marital and domestic conflicts as part of their assistance to individuals and families. In so doing, they ensure the preservation of family unity and the functioning of the family system. Special attention is given to cases in which children would suffer psychological and emotional distress from the break-up of the family unit. The preliminary draft code on persons and the family and the preliminary draft code on the protection of children provide for equal inheritance rights for legitimate children and those born out of wedlock. Illicit transfer and/or non-return are severely punished. This applies to slavery and trafficking, for which legislation was enacted on 29 December 2005. D. Child Maintenance (Article 18) As mentioned previously, a parent who abandons his family or loses a divorce case shall pay maintenance allowance for the children to be put in the custody of the other parent or a specialized institution. Ignorance of this arrangement and of procedures for the recovery of maintenance allowance is the primary obstacle to making this child protection measure effective. The relevant administrative bodies and civil society organizations have been working to disseminate information in that regard. Legal handbooks published by the Ministry for the Advancement of Women and the Family are simply worded and contain practical details on such topics as marriage, divorce, child maintenance, labour contracts and inheritance. Field workers, who serve as the local arm of the Ministry in rural areas, have used these handbooks for outreach, awareness and functional literacy initiatives for women and communities in order to encourage women, the main victims of family abandonment, to turn to the courts. NGOs and women‟s associations have been supporting the Ministry for the Advancement of Women and Family in this activity, focusing on practical aspects and efforts to resolve pending cases, in order to give effect to the initiative from which all 10 provinces of the country have benefited. However, child maintenance has encountered two major obstacles: - Payment proportional to the needs of the child. Maintenance is usually understated and does not cover basic needs (food, health care, housing, costs