America's Fathers and Public Policy Report of a Workshop (1994) / Chapter Skim
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Pages 19-29
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From page 19... ...
The paternal grandmother also can play a role in encouraging or discouraging the young man's involvement. If she likes the mother and is convinced her son is the father, she may encourage marriage or at least child support; if she thinks her son is not the father, she may discourage him from involvement (Anderson, 1992a)
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From page 20... ...
The high rate of births to unmarried women in inner cities has been partly attributed by some to lack of employment prospects for young men. The loss of jobs in the inner city has also led to a loss of male mentors and positive role models for young men.
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From page 21... ...
federal and state funds currently is expended for establishing the paternity of children born to unmarried women. Issues surrounding child custody A significant amount of following divorce were also discussed at some length, as was preventing teenage males from becoming fathers in the first place.
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From page 22... ...
Child Support Enforcement As noted above, many fathers do not pay child support even when they have been ordered by the courts to do so. The Social Security Act of 1975 made the federal government a party in efforts to collect support from noncustodial fathers.
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From page 23... ...
The federal government also reimburses state and local programs for 90 percent of the costs of genetic testing to establish paternity. CSE programs locate fathers, arrange to establish paternity, handle the procedures for obtaining child support awards, and collect payments.
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From page 24... ...
In the past few years the federal government has put increasing pressure on state governments to strengthen their programs for establishing paternity and obtaining child support. The Family Support Act of 1988 (P.L.
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From page 25... ...
Other program practices that were associated with higher paternity rates were running routine checks on criminal and school records to locate fathers, paying for genetic screening rather than seeking paternal reimbursement, using computerized forms, and maintaining the county child support program in the same agency at state and local levels. One participant reported that some members of Congress would like to put more pressure on unmarried mothers applying for AFDC by refusing them welfare benefits until they identify the fathers of their children, withholding full benefits until paternity is established, and terminating all benefits if the mother gives a false name.
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From page 26... ...
Under a condition of "medium" improvement in the child support awards and collection without a minimum assured benefit, custodial parents would receive a net increase in income regardless of race, although white families benefitted the most. The addition of a $2,000 assured benefit improved all custodial families' incomes even more, with the biggest improvement over the no assured benefit situation in black families.
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From page 27... ...
, with some states even mandating joint legal custody in most cases. Fineman (1988, 1989, 1992)
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From page 28... ...
The Family Support Act of 1988 set up demonstration programs to ensure fathers' visitation rights, a number of which included mandatory mediation. While the idea of a neutral mediator helping parents learn to communicate and amicably work out their divorce settlement was appealing to many of the workshop participants, several of those most closely involved in family law urged caution in applying mandatory mediation.
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From page 29... ...
Since not all children born to teenage mothers have teenage fathers, much of the discussion included young men in their 20s as well as teenage males. Young men who father children while in their teens are less likely than other absent fathers to provide child support.
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