Brief
In fiscal year 2018, noncustodial parents were obligated to pay nearly $33.6 billion in current child support on behalf of the 15 million children served by the Title IV-D child support program. One-third of that, or $11 billion, was not collected. Unemployment is the leading reason for non-payment of child support by noncustodial parents. This brief will explore the opportunities at the state and federal levels to provide employment services to noncustodial parents and increase child support payments in the process.
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Journal Article Young, minority, and poorly educated fathers in fragile families have little capacity to support their children financially and are hard-pressed to maintain stability in raising those children. In this article, Robert Lerman examines the capabilities and contributions of unwed fathers, how their capabilities and contributions fall short of those of married fathers, how those capabilities and contributions differ by the kind of relationship the fathers have with their child's mother, and how they change as infants grow into toddlers and kindergartners.Unwed fathers' employment and earnings…
Family Structure and the Economic Mobility of Children explores the relationship between parental marital status and intergenerational economic mobility. Co-authored by Thomas DeLeire of the University of Wisconsin and Leonard M. Lopoo of Syracuse University, the report compares the economic mobility outcomes for children who were born to single mothers, divorced parents, and continuously married parents. It finds that, across the income distribution, divorce is particularly harmful for children's economic mobility in both absolute and relative terms. The report also highlights the striking…
This book is for young couples becoming a family, either pregnant or with a new baby. It meets you where you are -- ready or not, and married or unmarried -- and helps you to be your very best. The love you bring your baby can help your baby grow and thrive. As two parents, working together, you have twice as much to give. And there are lots of good ways to get free or low cost help.
With three major sections -- on parenting, couples issues, and financial issues -- it offers a wealth of needed information and resources. For agencies, the book is an efficient and affordable way to…
Achieving balance between work and family--especially within a shrinking economy--is challenging for all families. The Obama-Biden plan for families includes several agenda items for supporting low-income and working families, and presents an overall strategy to strengthen families at home, to ensure that all American families can work and care for their children. This white paper notes lessons learned from the Office of Family Assistance Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood demonstration grantees. ICF recommends disseminating information on this ground-breaking work to promote…
Other, Brief
This paper analyzes legislative proposals that address marriage, and the potential impact on current fatherhood programs serving low-income families. The initiation of fatherhood programs following the passage of the Personal Responsibility Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act in 1996 is reviewed and current legislative proposals are described, including: the Child Support Distribution Act of 2001 and the Fathers Count Act of 1999, which combine child support reform measures with fatherhood provisions; the Strengthening Working Families Act, which contains child support distribution…
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Journal Article This article provides the first individual-level estimates of the change over time in the probability of nonresidence for initially resident fathers in the United States. Drawing on the 1968-1997 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we used discrete-time event history models to compute the probabilities of nonresidence for six 5-year periods. Our sample consists of men (N = 1,388) who are coresident with their biological children at the time of birth. We found that the observed probability of nonresidence doubled over the three decades of the study period, but not linearly. The risk…
Training Materials, Book
The Money Habitudes Professionals Guide is designed for those working with Money Habitudes cards and covering money-related issues. Easy to understand and broadly applicable, the guide helps counselors, educators, therapists, financial practitioners and coaches when working with individuals, couples or groups. It provides plans for short icebreakers and longer standalone activities (15 minutes to 2 hours) as well as suggestions for using Money Habitudes cards with other programs: pre-marital, marriage enrichment, couples counseling, communication, conflict management, and life skills, as well…
Training Materials, Book
The Money Habitudes Teen Guide is designed for those using Money Habitudes for Teens and covering money-related issues. The cards help teens discover the hidden messages that motivate the way they make money decisions. The guide provides educators, youth leaders and counselors five lesson plans which can each be used as five stand-alone lesson plans or combined for a more in-depth program of five classes or a half-day program. They can be used in-conjunction with programs in financial literacy, life skills, psychology or business to help teens develop a healthier relationship with money.…
Training Materials, Book
The Money Habitudes workbook is designed to be used with Money Habitudes cards and the Money Habitudes Training DVD. Its exercises help people discover how habits and attitudes about money support or sabotage their life, relationship, career and financial goals. The guide can be used in the context of a group training or can be used by individuals and couples working on their own. The workbook walks people through the steps to sort and interpret the Money Habitudes cards; provides space to record results and interpretations; includes tables relating Habitudes to typical financial and life…
