Policy Issues Impacting Father Absence

The Center strives to advocate for changes to policy that have a negative consequence on the father/child relationship.  Most often these consequences are unintended and are the result of little attention being paid to the importance of a father's involvement in the life of his child.  Below is a list of some of the key policy issues that have been the focus of the policy office advocacy in recent years.

• Advocated for a raise in the self-support reserve in the South Carolina Child Support Guidelines, which was raised from $500 to $749 per month.  Result is that low-income fathers are more capable of paying for very basic living expenses while owing a duty of support.  This means more consistent payments over time and fewer fathers choosing to either work in an underground economy or leave the state to avoid incarceration.

    Strom Thurmond Institute Cost of Living analysis

• Advocated for alternative strategies to enforce child support against uneducated, unemployed and underemployed fathers.  Result is the very successful Jobs not Jail alternative sentencing component of the fatherhood programs.

  Sentencing Reform Commission briefing paper

• Advocated for uniform and plain language self-represented litigant forms for visitation rights by testifying in hearings held by the South Carolina Access to Justice Commission (SCATJC) and participated in an SCETV documentary.  The result is that Commission members have resolved to have a uniform visitation packet for self-represented litigants.

• Advocated for the inclusion of noncustodial fathers in the investigative stages of a Child Protective Services investigation.  The result is a Memorandum of Understanding with SCDSS to create a written protocol for including fathers early in their investigations and “father friendly” training for CPS caseworkers by June 2010.  The ultimate goal is to avoid children going to foster care who have willing and capable parents to provide their care.

  Fatherhood and Fostercare presentation
  Fatherhood and Fostercare presentation outline

• Working closely with workforce investment agencies to improve access to job training by addressing barriers in that system which prevent low-income people from accessing training to help them compete in today's emerging job markets.

• Advocated for ensuring that low-income fathers in the community are aware of the importance of placing their names in the newly enacted Putative Father Registry.

  Putative Fatherhood Registry briefing paper