IPPR Press Release 6.4.98

Weekend Dads Must Have Greater Contact Says IPPR

New Report Proposes Radical Changes To Child Support

Outdated benefit regulations and anti-dad laws should be scrapped in favour of new child support policies to allow separated fathers to have greater involvement with their children, according to a new report published today by the centre-left think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research.

The new proposals come as the government prepares its own report on child support, due to be published in a green paper in May.

The research reveals substantial holes in benefits rules and marriage laws which currently leave non-resident fathers out in the cold and discourage payment of child support.

At present a child benefit book can only be held by one parent. When a child is born the book is automatically issued to the mother. Without a benefit book a separated father is, in the eyes of the government, a single man unable to claim any of the back to work incentives and child care assistance made available to the lone mother.

Unlike unmarried mothers, unmarried fathers have to apply to the courts for parental responsibility - without which they do not even have to be consulted if their child is given up for adoption.

Fathers who have few opportunities to share in the major decisions concerning their offspring are the least likely to give financial support. But, non resident fathers who are involved in the day-to-day lives of their children not only pay more, but show a better adjustment to divorce, and better physical health.

Also, children receiving regular financial support from their non-resident parent do better than children supported to the same economic level from other sources.

In light of this the report proposes a number of radical reforms:

Eliminating, where possible, 'visitation' fatherhood, and helping both separated parents to provide substantial day-to-day care for their children.
Reforming benefit regulations so that parents with shared care arrangements can split child benefit between them, and can both claim other benefits for their children
Granting parental responsibility to unmarried fathers to help strengthen fathers' ties to parenting
Promoting shared residence, with children having 'homes' in both places. Research shows that children in shared residence perform as well as, or better than, children in sole residence on every single measure of educational and social adjustment
Replacing the terms parent with care and absent parent, used in child support literature, with the more neutral resident and non-resident parent
Introducing parent education programmes for divorcing couples
Imposing legal obligations on non-resident parents to maintain personal relations and direct contact with their children on a regular basis if it is what the child wants

Adrienne Burgess, the author of the report says:

"It is truly bizarre that the moment providing for children becomes defined as 'maintenance' or 'child support' it becomes seen as something the smart guy seeks to avoid being 'stung' for."

"This report seeks to redefine radically our perceptions of child support, and the role of non-resident fathers in providing care and assistance for their children. What is clear from the research is that the man who pays child support himself is, by that very act, improving his own child's life chances"

Ends

A Complete Parent - towards a new vision for child support is published on the 6th April 1998 and is available from the Institute for Public Policy Research (0171 470 6100)

Adrienne Burgess is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Public Policy Research and also works as a freelance journalist specialising in family relationships

Fatherhood Reclaimed by Adrienne Burgess, a wider survey of attitudes towards fatherhood, is also published today and is available from all goodbookshops (Vermilion: UK6.99 paperback), or on 01206 255 800

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is Britain's most influential centre-left think tank. It was established in 1988 by leading figures in the academic, business and trade union communities to provide an alternative to the free market think tanks

For more information contact: Jim Godfrey, IPPR Press Officer, 0171 470 6107