Child Support Is an Integral Part of Financial Stability - Case Study Example

Midterm Week 5 I. ment of the Problem Child support is an integral part of financial stability for many families and if the parents separate or divorce, the living standard of the entire family generally drops because a family cannot live as cheaply when divided as it did when a single entity. Courts have to consider a number of issues before passing a decree that will be in the best interest of the child, an order fraught with risk since it cannot be predicted as to how child support will need to change as the child and the environment evolve with time and whether the custodian will be in a position to maintain the child as decreed. As a net result, the child has invariably been seen to suffer. II: Purpose of the Study If a child fails, who is at fault? Is it the parents or the government? This review analyses the factors that contribute to the failure of a child. After explaining the importance of the study, it divides the problems into sub-sections, the first looking at what the Government did or did not do, leading to avoidable complications with the inexorable systemic failure just round the corner. The second assesses the role of the state in alleviating child failure insofar as what laws should be passed by the states, who is to enforce these laws, who benefits most from these laws and whether the laws that govern the child support system in the United States are effective. Finally, it analyses the cascading side effects of the withdrawal of child support on the custodian, which, at times, forces the custodian to rely on welfare, to the detriment of the child’s prospects. III: Importance of this Study As rates of divorce and non-marital childbearing have increased in recent decades, the percentage of children and fathers who live apart from one another has also increased. Yet our knowledge of how father involvement affects children’s well-being in these situations is quite limited, since most research on fathers and children has focused on intact families. Child Trends has dwelt specifically on the role of the fathers in separated families, in a paper on what fathers contribute to children’s futures. Warmth, closeness, and nurturance are important aspects of a healthy parent- child relationship, regardless of whether the parent is a mother or father. But research also suggests that fathers contribute to their children’s healthy development in ways that are unique from mothers. For example, in one study of young children’s cognitive development, ‘Dads’ helped their child’s intellectual development and social competence through active physical games, whereas ‘Moms’ promoted these skills through verbal expressions and teaching activities. Very often, fathers are sorely missed by children handed over by Courts to their mothers for furtherance in life. Fathers can positively influence their children’s development by assuming a significant amount of the child care tasks. Several studies have found that when fathers spend more time on child care tasks, children benefit. Child Trends has quoted an instance of preschoolers. Boys whose fathers gave positive strokes and compliments performed better on tests of cognitive achievement than boys whose fathers were cool and aloof. In another study, fathers who were able to set appropriate limits for children and also give them sufficient freedom had sons with higher academic achievement. It is not always that fathers are the preferred parent. Males are prone to social disorders like excessive drinking, gambling, getting into arguments and fisticuffs. The analysis says that the child of the ‘whupped’ father suffers lasting emotional damage and this pent-up seething feeling manifests itself in later life as a youth with a proclivity to pick fights and deliberately hurt the opponent. Also, fathers’ use of harsh discipline had a negative effect on their sons’ emotional adjustment and class- room behavior, which was related to lower school achievement. Child support has a material aspect to it, viz., the effect of a better financial situation where the child is lodged. It also gives the children who receive it clear nonmaterial advantages, like higher academic achievement. As the Research Fact Sheet of the Center for Law and Social Policy, CLASP says, “child support improves young children’s cognitive development even after controlling for family income and other socio-economic family-background characteristics. The effects are strongest for African-American children in separated/divorced homes and white children whose parents are not married. Young girls often experience academic difficulties when their parents separate. Receipt of child support ameliorates these negative academic affects. Receipt of child support also has a positive effect on the academic achievement of older children. Those who receive child support obtain significantly more schooling, are more likely to finish high school and are more likely to attend college than those who do not receive support. There is also evidence that fathers who pay child support are more involved with their children, providing them with emotional as well as financial support.” It is thus quite clear that a broken family is detrimental to the cause of each member of that family. While parents adjust to separation without too much of a backlash, children who are easily influenced because of their tender age are prone to harbor negative feelings, which show up first as a recalcitrant attitude to academic training and later in life, anti-social behavioral patterns. III. Sub problems The first sub-problem is to determine the extent of the role of the federal government. What has it contributed to cut down on the child support cases? Has its input been a help or has it contributed to cut down on the child support cases? Has its input been a help or a hindrance? As long as parents provide a safe level of care, the government does not interfere. In fact, the federal government’s position is to unite the states and resolve macro issues that the states could not. During the 1990s, child support was declared inadequate by state and federal policy makers. This systemic failure was blamed for child poverty rates, long-term dependence on government assistance and the ‘feminization of poverty’. Courts were criticized for awarding support payments inequitably and inconsistently. As a reforming effort, the government created programs such as the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, utilized to locate parents who had or have reneged on paying child support. Despite such programs, the government failed to maintain their financial commitment. With states prohibited from using federal funds to assist in the programs developed, the outcome was a back log of child support cases, unpaid child support payments and neglected children. The second sub problem is to determine what laws should be passed by the states, who is to enforce these laws, who benefits most from these laws and whether the laws that govern the child support system in the United States were effective. The enforcement of the laws was primarily to recover costs and assist the state and federal government to disburse welfare costs. The government recognized the support system as more of a social service and income support program for families. They believed the changing mission of the support program fit the broad goal and purpose of welfare reform to move families toward self-sufficiency. If laws are in place for the purpose of cost recovery, why is it that ‘state collected child support is not reaching its beneficiaries’? “Studies have shown that single parents who leave welfare are three times more likely to return to welfare if they don’t get the child support they are owed,” Senator Chuck Grassley told Foxnews.com., indirectly introducing welfare as a contributory factor in child support. Those familiar with the states system say apathetic bureaucracies in many states have not only rendered child support systems ineffective, but have also forced custodial parents to hire detectives to get the money owed to their children. This is a hardship on the parents no doubt, but viewed in totality, it is ultimately the children who suffer in the long run. Child support affects children the most as it provides them with enough resources to live a comfortable and normal life. When child support is not available, single parents have to take on extra jobs, which mean that they spend less time with their children, have less to give their offspring, ultimately detracting from the memorable experiences that children retain of their growing up period. If the custodian throws his hands up, he might end up on the welfare row. Welfare affects the poor the most, as it sometimes helps people get on their feet but, for the most part, it paralyzes people and makes it difficult for them to return to a normal life above the poverty line. IV. Hypotheses The first hypothesis is that both the parents and the government have failed their children. The second hypothesis is to identify what the federal government has contributed to the child support system and whether it has helped or hindered the system in its objective. The third hypothesis is the development of laws as they pertain to the child support system and how they aid in the collection of dues owed in the child support payments. The fourth hypothesis is to evaluate the child support system vs. the welfare system. Delimitations The research will not predict the success of the child support system. The research will not provide the governments attributes to the child support system. The research will not specify where the child support payments go when collected and not distributed properly. Assumptions The first assumption. The first assumption is that the need for the involvement of the federal government will continue. The second assumption. The second assumption is that court-ordered child support is a shot in the dark. The third assumption. The third assumption is that the government recognized the support system as more of a social service and income support program for families. The fourth assumption. The fourth assumption is that single parents who leave welfare are more than likely to return to welfare if they don’t get the child support they are owed. Annotated Bibliography Drew, D. (1999, March). The American Intervention of Child Support Dependency and Punishment in Early America Child Support Law. Yale Law Journal. This article reveals the history of child support. Garfinkel, I., Mclahahan, S., & Robins, P.K. (1994). Child support and child well –being. Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press This article gives the basic overview of the child support system, and who is responsible for administering the program. It also provides the major role of the government in dictating the major designs of the state programs. It is repeatedly referred to by all other authors. Hill, M.S. (1998, May). The role of economic resources and dual-family status in child support Payments. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. The article sets standards as to how child support orders are established. Argys, L., Peters, E., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Smith, J. (1998). The Impact of Child Support on Cognitive Outcomes of Young Children. Demography, 35(2), 159-173. Deals with the role fathers play in the all-round growth of the child. Shackleford T.K., Weekes-Shackleford, V. A., & Schmitt, D.P (2005). An evolutionary perspective on why men refuse or reduce their child support payments. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 27, (297-306). The article is important as it provides the overview of child support enforcement, and of what is considered as a dead beat parent. Gay, Roger. The Lectric Library. Child support policy and the welfare of women and children. The article provides an overview of the welfare reform. It provides data based on the Census Badar, N., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1994). The Dynamics of Child Support and Its Consequences for Children. Refers to I. Garfinkel, S. McLanahan, & P. Robins (Eds.), Child Support and Child Well-Being (pp. 257-284). Washington, DC: The Urban Institute Press. This book presents the same arguments as Garfinkel, McLanahan & Robins, with a slightly different approach as it glosses over Governmental failures and dwells on the increased family financial stability and independence made possible by this child support. Knox, V. (1996). The Effects of Child Support Payments on Developmental Outcomes for Elementary School-age Children. Journal of Human Resources, 31(4), 816-840; This book deals with how child support payments benefit children in non-economic as well as economic ways with passing reference to Garfinkel, McLanahan & Robins Graham, J., Beller, A., & Hernandez, P. (1994). The Effects of Child Support on Educational Attainment. This book looks at the effect of child support income on children’s educational attainment. Lamb, M.E., (1997). The Development of Father-Infant Relationships in M. E. Lamb (Ed.), The Role of the Father in Child Development. (pp. 104-120). New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. This book reinforces the fact that child support payments have an independent effect on educational attainment that is separate from that of family income. Clasp Center for Law and Social Policy, an organization that promotes policies that support child development and the needs of low-income working parents, including the case of single parents. Child Trends Research Brief, 2007. This article, written by Suzanne Le Menestrel, Ph.D., summarizes the findings of a research on the role of the father in Child Care with a reference to Garfinkel, McLanahan & Robins. Bureau of the Poverty Level. Advises as to the authority level of congress. And the prevalent root cause of child support non-payments. Read More