Child Support Reform
Child Support and Children’s Well-Being
Angelica L Fleming
Virginia College Abstract
Child support reform is an issue of central importance to many families today. This paper concentrates on how parents who live apart from their children divide the responsibility for taking care of them and the economic and noneconomic effects of these arrangements on the children. The report centers on the causes and effects of child support. My intent is to provide an overview of the many studies on child support, custody, and visitation. I present information needed to help evaluate in a broad method, the effects of child support on children, their mothers, and their fathers. The effects of child support are sometimes different for children than …show more content…
Obviously, fathers’ ability to pay child support, including employment, income, and education, affect payments and compliance with child support orders.The degree to which a child support order is a burden also affects compliance rate. Noneconomic factors also affect whether fathers pay support and how much they pay. Fathers who live apart from their children may be reluctant to pay support because they do not trust the mother to spend it all on the children. (Sherwood,1992). Fathers’ failure to monitor how the resident mother spends child support money lowers payments. Compared to fathers who live with their children, nonresident fathers enjoy fewer of the benefits of being a father, which also discourages payments. The longer parents are separated, the less child support fathers pay and the less likely the nonresident father is to pay any child support. Finally, when payment is withheld from fathers’ earnings, compliance with child support orders is higher (Garfinkel & Klawitter, …show more content…
When parents separate, their children go through the loss of one parent’s time and attention. Indirect forms of communication, such as mail and telephone do not make up for this small amount of contact (Furstenberg & Nord,1985). Fathers of children born outside of marriage are twice as likely to lose touch with their child as fathers who are separated from their child because of divorce. About 30% of fathers who see their children spend significant portions of time with them. From the child’s point of view, even those who have little contact with their nonresident parent view their relationship as close (Maccoby, 1993). Nonresident fathers who stay involved with their children generally pursue recreational activities together rather than instrumental activities, such as doing homework
Angelica L Fleming
Virginia College Abstract
Child support reform is an issue of central importance to many families today. This paper concentrates on how parents who live apart from their children divide the responsibility for taking care of them and the economic and noneconomic effects of these arrangements on the children. The report centers on the causes and effects of child support. My intent is to provide an overview of the many studies on child support, custody, and visitation. I present information needed to help evaluate in a broad method, the effects of child support on children, their mothers, and their fathers. The effects of child support are sometimes different for children than …show more content…
Obviously, fathers’ ability to pay child support, including employment, income, and education, affect payments and compliance with child support orders.The degree to which a child support order is a burden also affects compliance rate. Noneconomic factors also affect whether fathers pay support and how much they pay. Fathers who live apart from their children may be reluctant to pay support because they do not trust the mother to spend it all on the children. (Sherwood,1992). Fathers’ failure to monitor how the resident mother spends child support money lowers payments. Compared to fathers who live with their children, nonresident fathers enjoy fewer of the benefits of being a father, which also discourages payments. The longer parents are separated, the less child support fathers pay and the less likely the nonresident father is to pay any child support. Finally, when payment is withheld from fathers’ earnings, compliance with child support orders is higher (Garfinkel & Klawitter, …show more content…
When parents separate, their children go through the loss of one parent’s time and attention. Indirect forms of communication, such as mail and telephone do not make up for this small amount of contact (Furstenberg & Nord,1985). Fathers of children born outside of marriage are twice as likely to lose touch with their child as fathers who are separated from their child because of divorce. About 30% of fathers who see their children spend significant portions of time with them. From the child’s point of view, even those who have little contact with their nonresident parent view their relationship as close (Maccoby, 1993). Nonresident fathers who stay involved with their children generally pursue recreational activities together rather than instrumental activities, such as doing homework