CLICK HERE FOR RESEARCH: This 2006 research covers aspects of child maintenance after divorce or family split.
It states that 65% of couples outside marriage split before their children reach 16, and 30% of marriages fail similarly. These figures may have increased since this paper was published in 2006.
The more non-resident parents see their children, the less problems
the resident parent has in obtaining maintenance money (page 841). Legal systems effectively award mothers authority over how often non resident parents see their children.
The author of this research paper presents the following paradox:
(1) he admits that enforcing high levels of maintenence generally leads to a loss of contact between the father and the child
(2) he claims that enforcement ‘may’ nonetheless ‘improve child welfare’.
He therefore implies that financial support is the paramount consideration when defining child welfare whilst providing links to research which contradict not only that view, but the views of 90% of the children concerned. Other researchers clearly support meaningful contact to safe non resident parents as the paramount consideration in child welfare following family split.
The author shows how the CSA in England has been set up to benefit the Treasury when collecting on behalf of single mothers on benefits and relegates non resident parent contact by forcing those mothers on to ‘trade’ contact for money.
The author concludes in part:
“The opposite direction of these associations is hard to reconcile with the
theory……..”
