Friday,  July 04, 2008

Policy Issues Impacting Father Absence

The Policy Office recommends exploring the formation of private/public partnerships that are geared toward strengthening, not weakening the ability of a father to provide emotionally, financially and spiritually for his children and family. Policy issues that have a negative effect on family formation must be examined to ensure that they do not encourage the disengagement of the father.

Alternative to Incarceration

The following is cited from research documented in "Broke But Not Deadbeat, Reconnecting Fathers and Families," published in July 1999 by the National Conference of State Legislatures:

"For decades low-income fathers have been categorized by news media, the general public and even State agencies as "deadbeats" who have fallen behind in the payment of their child support. As a result, more and more resources have been devoted to child support enforcement including record numbers of incarcerations and revocation of driver's licenses when payments accrue. However, research indicates that low-income fathers are no better off financially than the low-income mothers they are obligated to support financially and although they may desire to pay their child support in a timely manner, they lack the financial resources and face a multitude of barriers to supporting both themselves and a family."

Indeed, for fathers able to pay child support, but simply chose not to – known as the "deadbeat" father – child support enforcement should leverage every punitive measure allowed by law. There are, however, a significant number of fathers who willingly would pay but lack the financial resources to do so. For these, stronger enforcement measures do not result in increased payments, but rather increased incarcerations and significant strain on limited taxpayer dollars, which is an ineffective and very expensive approach to remedying the problem.

Efforts should be directed to ensure the following:

• Child support is set at an amount that a father can reasonably pay which allow him the ability to take of both himself and his children;

• Modification of child support proceeding is accessible and timely when a father's income changes up or down;

• Provide alternatives to incarceration that allows those fathers seeking to provide financially for their children the opportunity to do and at the same time reduce the burden on the state and the taxpayers;

• Services are provided to support fathers in obtaining gainful and consistent employment while having the opportunity to parent his child.
  

Demonstration efforts have shown that alternatives to incarceration for low-income fathers can be effective. Alternative to incarceration fatherhood programs should address the needs of the whole father, and encourage responsible fatherhood. In other words, programs should not only provide job placement and training but also counseling, parenting classes, information on legal rights and responsibilities, and peer discussions on the roles men play in both society and their families. Alternatives to incarceration programs have demonstrated to be more cost effective and produce better outcomes in child support collection than the current "incarcerate first" policy.

Parenting Time for Low-Income, Non-Custodial Fathers

Over the course of the last several years, the Policy Office has examined state policies and practices that hinder the ability of low-income fathers to effectively parent their children and provide the critical emotional and spiritual support their children need. One of the most easily identifiable barriers a low-income father faces is that there is no public or private agency or organization, which provides access and visitation services for low-income fathers. Therefore, many low-income fathers, even those who pay their child support each month on time, have no legal parenting time with their children and therefore have no ability to contribute to important decisions regarding their children's well being such as education, medical needs, etc. The only means of accomplishing a legal visitation order in the State of South Carolina at this time is to seek private legal counsel, which truly is not financially feasible for low-income fathers.

Unlike support services for women, there is no single point of access in which low-income fathers can obtain father-friendly services other than the 12 fatherhood programs funded by the Center. In fact, in the research conducted by the Policy Project Office in 2001-2002, the largest service provider for males in South Carolina is the State Department of Corrections, while state agencies that work to empower individuals predominantly have women as clients. Little attention has been given to channeling resources to strengthen a father's ability to financially, emotionally and spiritually support his children. The effort to increase access support services for fathers is not intended to diminish the resources available to mothers. It is intended, however, to strengthen the father's ability to meet the emotional and financial needs of his child.

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