For the roughly 3.3 million low-income fathers in America who are without custody of their children, love for their offspring can be overshadowed by the guilt and anger of not being able to provide them with adequate financial support. Limited education and work experience may make finding a legitimate, living-wage job difficult, and chronic unemployment or participation in underground or illegal activities may become a way of life. A prior criminal record, substance abuse or a strained relationship with the child's mother can further contribute to the economic and emotional distress of both…
The Parents' Fair Share demonstration program was implemented in seven sites to test an approach for helping noncustodial fathers meet their child support responsibilities. Employment and training services, support groups, mediation services, and modified child support enforcement activities were intended to improve job stability and child support payments, as well as father-child relationships. The evaluation of the project compared outcomes for fathers who participated in the Parents' Fair Share program with fathers who were randomly assigned to a control group from 1994 to 1996. Overall…
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…
