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.
Unpublished Paper
The structure of marriage and child-rearing in U.S. households has undergone two marked shifts in the last three decades: a steep decline in the prevalence of marriage among young adults, and a sharp rise in the fraction of children born to unmarried mothers or living in single-headed households. A potential contributor to both phenomena is the declining labor-market opportunities faced by males, which make them less valuable as marital partners. We exploit large scale, plausibly exogenous labor-demand shocks stemming from rising international manufacturing competition to test how shifts in…
Other
The "hollowing out" of the middle class has more than just economic implications. The declining prospects of securing stable, well-paying employment arguably have diminished men's economic attractiveness as potential husbands and contributed to the delay in marriage among young adults. This profile explores trends in male employment and income by marital status using data from the 1995, 2005, and 2015 Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement, focusing on civilian men ages 25-44. All wages are adjusted to 2015 dollars. Overall, the proportion of men working full-time has…
This report describes program design and implementation of two Healthy Marriage programs that are part of the Parents and Children Together evaluation: The Healthy Opportunities for Marriage Enrichment program from The El Paso Center for Children in El Paso, Texas; and the Supporting Healthy Relationships program from University Behavioral Associates in Bronx, New York. The report includes a focus on the job and career advancement services offered by the two grantees, and presents data on enrollment, initial participation, retention, and the amount of services couples received from July 2013…
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Training Materials There are not many guys in the world who can actually say they were ready to be a father—or knew how to be one— before it happened. This manual tells you what new dads have figured out and wished they had known in the beginning about “having a baby.” By sharing what they’ve learned, we can take some of the mystery out of the process. (Author abstract modified)
Other
The federal government’s support of fatherhood initiatives raises a wide array of issues. This report briefly examines the role of the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) agency in fatherhood programs, discusses initiatives to promote and support father-child interaction outside the parents’ relationship, and talks aboutthe need most see for work-oriented programs that enable noncustodial parents to have the financial ability to meet their child support obligations in a consistent and timely manner. (Author abstract modified)
The Responsible Fatherhood, Healthy Marriage and Family Strengthening Grants for Incarcerated and Reentering Fathers and Their Partners (MFS-IP) initiative was established in 2006 by the federal Office of Family Assistance (OFA), and required grantees serve fathers who were either incarcerated or recently released, as well as their spouses or committed partners. The grantees were required to deliver services to support healthy marriage and were also permitted to provide activities designed to improve parenting and support economic stability. From 2006 to 2011, the 12 MFS-IP sites delivered a…
As America recovers from the Great Recession, many of our fellow citizens remain mired in poverty. Economic trends, cultural changes, and changes in family and marriage patterns are combining in new ways that make it harder for those born on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder to lift themselves up. One ray of hope is that Republicans and Democrats are increasingly talking about the intertwined problems of poverty and opportunity. Experts on both sides of the political aisle understand that poverty is changing, and policy responses must change, too. This comprehensive report is the result…
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Journal Article Marriage between two parents, compared with other family living arrangements, appears, on average, to enhance children's wellbeing and development. Some of the positive association between marriage and children's wellbeing comes from positive associations between marriage and other things that also contribute to children's wellbeing. David Ribar first sets up a standard economic rational-choice model to show that, all else equal, marriage should produce advantages that can improve children’s wellbeing, such as better coordination between parents and economies of scale that make limited…
Brief
This brief provides a general overview of four Responsible Fatherhood (RF) grantees involved in the Parents and Children Together (PACT) Evaluation. The brief: 1) provides a general overview of two approaches to service delivery in fatherhood programs; 2) documents how service delivery is linked to fathers’ characteristics; and 3) describes how service delivery approach may be linked to program participation and retention rates. Data gathered via staff interviews, program observations conducted during site visits in fall 2013; ongoing interactions with leadership at each program; and data on…
