Abolish the Child Support System
Child support should no longer be feasible in the United States, because it is outdated, tough on low-income fathers and most importantly undermines the efforts of the fathers who do get involve in their child’s life. Sadly, the government merely focus on the enforcement portion of the law. Child support in this day and age has prolonged its deceptive theory of actually supporting the child with the absence of a parent; typically a father. In the United States, “when parents do not live together, children most often live with their mothers” (Grall 2009). Granted that more women and government have taken advantage of the absences of fathers; without facing any repercussions for their actions. In the end, such absences carry detrimental effect on most children who are raised by a single parent with the government hypothetical assistance. These pressing issues are becoming prominent as “most children in the U.S. spends some portion of their childhood living apart from at least one of their parents” (Grall 2009). Part of this occurs mainly because of high divorce rates as well as an unprecedented increase of childbirth to unmarried parents. In fact, one of the “greatest indicator for poverty and welfare dependency is a child born to a single mother headed household” (McCormick 2004). This concept does not merely dismantle the importance of family values, but it also promotes the continuous cycle of single-parenting. For this reason, having a
About four in every ten children born in America in 2008 were born outside of marriage, and they are disproportionately minority and poor. “Only about 6 percent of college-educated mothers’ births are nonmarital versus 60 percent of those of high school dropouts” (5). Scholars responded to this by studying single-parent families.
All across the globe, there are children growing up in single-parent households, and through some research
Did you know that more than one fourth of all children in the United States live with only one parent? Single parenting has become more common today than in the 1800s, when it was sometimes frowned upon. As the years have gone by, it has become easier and easier for women to become single parents. In the 1800’s if husbands died or abandoned their families, women had no choice but to work for extremely low and unfair wages. Today, most men and women are treated equal and receive equal wages making it easier for women to be single parents. This concept is shown in Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer through Aunt Polly in the 19th century, single parenting is also common today.
Children born to single or unwed parents causes serious problems and discussions not only within society, but also the welfare system. Becoming a parent seems to be one of the most beautiful things life has to offer to people. The laughter of children warms the heart like nothing else can, and the way their eyes light up when they receive something as small as a piece of candy reminds us all that the little things in life are the most important. However, children require time and money which often gets overlooked by many people. Raising a child with two married parents seems difficult enough, but today many people are having children out-of -wedlock which also seems to create more single parent homes and puts more pressure on that one parent who struggles to support the child. From 1960 to 2000, out-of-wedlock births grew by 600%
However, by rising to these challenges, custodial single parents develop significant strengths. The positive benefits of being a single parent are that the child receives a lesson in independence. The child sees how strong the one parent is at providing them with everything they need without having to depend on someone else. The parents are showing their children that it is possible to live on their own, have an enjoyable life and take care of others while doing so. The children will know that they are a priority to the parent. When there is a second parent around the house, it can be easy to put responsibility off on them, but when the children see how hard the parent is working for them, they will understand how important they are to their parent. (Dowd, 1997)
In 2002, number of children living with their single parent was 16.5 million (Davidson). The most important thing is that each single-parent family is different from the other. Children who live with a widowed mother will definitely be living a different home life from children with divorced parents or the one whose parents were never married. Children of the parents who were divorced will always have some kind of relationship with parents and parents’ partners. But it is obvious that children from single-parent families face tougher times economically as well as
As time progresses, family structures are rapidly shifting. In 2007, unmarried parents produced 40% of US children. This was over twice the 18 percent in 1980 and about eight times greater than the 5% in 1960 (Waldfogel, Craigie, Brooks-Gunn, 2). In a study of 5000 children in many large cities, 3,700 of them were born to unmarried mothers. According to Waldfogel, Craigie, and Brooks-Gunn, such familiar conditions are dangerous because of the way that single mothers and unmarried parents tend to have less stable lives and relationships
American families have never been as diverse as they are today. There is a constant changing definition of what we call “family”. We as Americans are straying further and further from the idea of a classic nuclear family. One of the biggest reasons is a dramatic rise in kids living with a single parent. In 2014, just 14% of children younger than 18 lived with a stay-at-home mother and a working father who were in their first marriage (Livingston, 2015). This research will address in depth why households are now more diverse than ever, what’s the normal family now, and why aren’t the laws adjusting to how the average American family lives today.
For the last two decades, Ontario has encountered escalating degrees of neo-liberal economic impetus. Many of these reforms targeted social benefits, which led to marginalization of certain sections of the society (Dumbrill, 2006). Political views and interests of the dominant policy community predominantly influence policy making (Yee, 2005). The underrepresentation of marginalized sections of society in the Ontario child welfare policy calls for an anti-oppression approach to policy making and service delivery. This essay will discuss the context of the present problems in Ontario’s child welfare policies, with a particular emphasis on analyzing the effects of anti-oppression paradigm in dealing with the Ontario’s child welfare problems and service delivery.
Many noncustodial parents think that they are paying too much money for child support and that the courts were unfair to them. In general the courts will base
Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing are now epidemic in American society. Both forms of disrupted families are harmful to children and to society. The children of single parents are more likely to do poorly in school, commit crimes, and become single parents themselves. In addition, the increase in single-parent families contributes to such social problems as poverty, crime, and a decline in the quality of public education.
Throughout history a one-parent household has been deemed as a nontraditional family, but in today’s society it seems more and more common with every day. Although the reason and causes vary, each year the number of children raised by a single parent increases. Most people don’t seem to realize how much this can change a child’s future. The impact of childhood experiences simply set the disposition of adulthood and the rest of their lives. There is not one sole factor that affects child development, but one very important one is the role and relationship created with one’s parents. How a child is parented and raised leaves a lasting impression on them, commonly for a
According to a recent study from CBS, the United States has the highest divorce rate of any country at 45%. Due to this high rate of divorce, many families find that there is an imbalance of family roles in these newly created single parent households. Being a single parent has its own set of challenges for the individual and creates challenges for the family such as, spending smaller amounts of time with your children, having an excessive work load and disrupting the wellbeing of the children.
Single parent households are a sensitive topic that is highly debated today. This topic is one that has repercussions for both the parents and the children involved. However, regardless of the different consequences, these households continue to grow in the coming years. “In 1970, traditional two-parent married households dominated, making up 81 % of all households in the United States (US). By 2012 this number dropped to around 66 % … In 2012, approximately 21 million children, or 28 % of all children in the US, lived with one parent” (Kramer, 2015). It is interesting to look at the way the single parent households continue to grow throughout the years, all while being a hot topic for discussion on its consequences. When thinking about a book to read for this course, there was no real choice. I stumbled upon this book and knew right away that I could benefit from this book, as well as connect to it on a deeper level and relate to it personally.
Married couples make up 68% of all families with children under 18, compared to 93% in 1950 (US 2015 Census). This demonstrates that more and more children are living in households with single parents. Single parents have to deal with jobs and other sources of stress making it difficult to give their children the attention they need. Additionally, single parents are the only ones that are providing for the family so they have a lot on their plate. This can provide stress on the child because they can feel unloved or even hated. As the rate of single parents go up, so does the amount of children that are not receiving enough