The Effects of Child Support and the Relationship with the Child

The Effects of Child Support and the Relationship with the Child Kendra Jones Psych 545 September 2, 2013 Dr. Daniel Williams Jr. The Effects of Fathers on Child Support and the Relationship with the Children A parents responsibility is the welfare and wellbeing of the child by spending time with them or spending money on them. Parents who live together, they both contribute to the household and their children. When parents live in separate households, they must come to an agreement in contributing to the childs welfare, often time these factors are difficult to achieve. Recent changes in the child support system have altered the demands in which decisions are made about the demand of time and how much money is to be given to the child, as a result, parents tend to avoid paying child support due to the increase of the amount of child support paid. According to Rawlings, 1993, Stronger child support enforcement may also increase parental conflict, either by increasing contact between parents who would otherwise avoid one another, by encouraging resident mothers to be more assertive in obtaining child support, or by increasing nonresident fathers dissatisfaction with the system. In this paper, the effects of child support on fathers and the relationship it has on the child will be explained. Introduction According to Bumpass, It is estimated that 71.5 million children in the United States in 1996, 25 lived with a single parent (Fields 2001 p. 2) and it is estimated that half of all American children will spend time in single parent families during their childhoods (Bumpass 1984). The majority of these children live with their mothers (Fields 2001 p. 6), and that single- mother families are more likely to be poor than single father families (Fields and Casper 2001 p. 8) Theory suggests that stricter child support enforcement will increase or decrease, as a result will affect the involvement Fathers would spend with their children. It is noted that paying child