Welfare reform endorsed the notion that both parents should support their children financially, regardless of which parent a child lives with. Accordingly, the reforms emphasized work for custodial parents and strengthened states' ability to enforce child support laws. This approach has increased the number of working single mothers and raised child support payments. It has done less, however, for the children of the 2.5 million nonresident fathers who are poor and do not pay child support. To ensure support for these children--many of whom receive welfare--reformers must view nonresident…
Many, if not most, foster children are living apart from their fathers at the time they are removed from their homes. Once removed, these children experience even less contact with their noncustodial fathers. The dearth of fathers in the lives of foster children is of mounting concern as efforts to expedite permanent homes for these children intensify and there is greater recognition of fathers' contributions to family stability and children's healthy development. Consequently, in recent years, legislative and policy changes affecting child support and child welfare have placed new emphasis…
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Journal Article We employed meta-analytic methods to pool information from 63 studies dealing with nonresident fathers and children's well-being. Fathers' payment of child support was positively associated with measures of children's well-being. The frequency of contact with nonresident fathers was not related to child outcomes in general. Two additional dimensions of the father-child relationship--feelings of closeness and authoritative parenting--were positively associated with children's academic success and negatively associated with children's externalizing and internalizing problems. (Author abstract).
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Journal Article The new welfare reform law includes a number of provisions designed to increase the amount of child support paid by nonresident fathers, but little is known about whether stronger child support enforcement may create parental conflict. Parental conflict may increase when fathers do not wish to pay or when fathers pay and demand more time with their child, but mothers resist these demands. Using seven-city data from the study of Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing, the authors find that very few parents are opposed to the idea that fathers should have child support obligations and rights to…
An examination of data from several large surveys of Australian families and child support records suggests unwed noncustodial fathers are significantly less involved as parents to their children than are divorced fathers without custody. Although almost one-third of children in Australia are born out of wedlock, no longitudinal survey data is available on characteristics of unwed noncustodial Australian fathers, or their role in their children's lives. As a result, any social policy directed at children of unwed parents must be developed without a baseline for future comparison studies, the…
The degree of paternal economic and emotional investment in children and families has a major impact on child outcomes, however trends away from two-parent families indicate the need for social policy changes to further encourage active involvement by fathers, married or otherwise. The authors consider a number of economic factors that may contribute to the drift away from two-parent families in this review of the economic literature on welfare reform, child support enforcement, and labor markets, and their possible influence on paternal disengagement through divorce, separation and birth to…
Only 18 percent of child support cases in Maryland were fully paid during fiscal year 1999. This report describes the importance of child support to child well-being and proposes several policy changes that will improve compliance with support orders. One of the primary reasons for failure to pay is that some fathers, especially African American men, lack income because they are unemployed or underemployed. Existing programs intended to help low-income fathers have not been effective in engaging men. The report recommends a comprehensive strategy that provides employment services as well as…
Federal policies are promoting father involvement in families to improve developmental, academic, and economic outcomes for children. This information packet provides an overview of issues related to fatherhood initiatives for providers and consumers of social services. It includes a fact sheet of statistics about effects of fatherlessness, a summary of policies and legislation, and lists of references and web resources. The innovative Georgia Fatherhood Program also is profiled.
This report contends that father absence matters. While the poverty rate for two-parent families is 8.4%, it is 31.3% in divorced families and 64.1% where parents never married. Children raised without fathers perform more poorly in school, develop emotional problems, engage in risky behavior, and experience more violence. Children raised with fathers have higher self-esteem, learn better, and are less likely to be depressed. Some 23 million children live in homes without fathers. This report, tracing the history, accomplishments, and current needs of the fatherhood field, is addressed to…
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 strengthened the enforcement of child support orders through requirements for paternity establishment, uniform state laws, centralized state collection and disbursement offices, penalties for delinquent child support, and model programs to promote visitation. State Child Support Enforcement Programs and local agencies are available to help parents initiate and comply with support orders. This guide explains how the enforcement program can assist with locating noncustodial parents, establishing paternity, setting-up…
