Integrating children's perspectives in policy-making to combat poverty and social exclusion experienced by single-parent families: a transnational comparative approach

This is the final report of a research project that addressed social exclusion and poverty as it relates to single parent families and their children in particular. The rising numbers of single parent families and children throughout the EU and the increased likelihood that these families will live in poverty and experience many different forms of social exclusion in their daily lives brings in sharp focus the need to address the issue as an urgent one in our efforts to eradicate poverty and social exclusion. The focus on the children of single parent families seeks to rectify a long-standing problem in our knowledge and understanding of single parent families and the social problems they face, namely, the fact that little, if anything, is known about how these children experience and understand their lives as members of these families. The research set out to contribute to policy development and the transnational exchange of best practice by adding a much-neglected dimension on single parent families. The project used a cross-national comparative qualitative research design and methods (Mangen 1999) which involved all partners in the design of each research phase including the analysis; partners were England, Cyprus and Greece

Parenting in Post-Divorce Estonian Families: A Qualitative Study

Estonia is a society characterised by persistence of traditional gender role attitudes. Accordingly, taking care of children is considered to be mainly mother\'s task and children's living arrangements following divorce are usually solved in the most traditional way children stay with their mother. Based on qualitative interviews with divorced mothers the study focused on the attitudes of mothers towards fathers\' involvement in parenting following divorce. It was possible to differentiate between three post-divorce parenting patterns: (1) cooperative parenting with nonresident father involved with his children, (2) distant parenting characterized by loose contacts between children and nonresident father, and (3) sole parenting without any paternal involvement or financial support. The interviewees basically agreed that shared parental responsibilities would be the ideal form of post-divorce parenting but in practice their expectations concerning father\'s involvement were rather modest. The interviewees mostly approved prevailing in Estonia normative gendered parental role obligations with mother as the primary parent who had to take main responsibility for children both in the marriage as well as in the post-divorce period.Divorce; Parenting Patterns; Traditional Gender Roles; Qualitative Study; Estonia

New Hampshire Got it Right: Statutes, Case Law and Related Issues Involving Post- Secondary Education Payments and Divorced Parents

[Excerpt] “Divorced parents in New Hampshire can rest a little easier these days. While there are a myriad of economic reasons why a divorce can become contentious, financing a child’s college education can no longer be included among those reasons. In January 2004, in a rather bold and unconventional move, the New Hampshire legislature overruled years of legal precedent and enacted a new statutory amendment that should alleviate some of the financial pressures divorced parents inevitably face. The amendment, RSA § 458:17(XI-a), is a victory for divorcees across the state because it prohibits superior court judges from issuing orders forcing divorced parents to contribute to their adult child’s college expenses. […] This article will use the recent New Hampshire amendment, prohibiting judges from ordering parents to pay for college expenses, as a backdrop for advocating that all states pass similar statutes. Part II of this article begins with a discussion of the state of the law in New Hampshire before the statute was amended in 2004. Next, the article discusses the relevant portions of the recent New Hampshire amendment. The article next outlines laws from various states in order to compare and contrast views from the rest of the country. In Part III, the focus shifts to the equal protection arguments both for and against divorced parents in relation to mandatory post-secondary education orders. Part IV of this article will analyze the laws from various states and address problems courts have either failed to address or have inadequately addressed. Finally, this article concludes by advocating in favor of the New Hampshire amendment and arguing that other states should follow New Hampshire’s lead and adopt similar versions of RSA § 458:17(XI-a).

The Changing Face of The Family in Ireland: Parenting Issues

This report examines family policy in Ireland, highlighting the substantial amount of service activity which are currently supporting families and, at the same time, the general awareness that significant gaps exist in services. Consequently, Mckeown and Clarke outline a selection of project ideas which might be used to fill some of these gaps, particularly with regard to supporting parents. These are based on a consideration of the statutory initiatives in place, some broadly focussed voluntary organisations and voluntary activity at local level

Children of prisoners: exploring the impact of families' reappraisal of the role and status of the imprisoned parent on children's coping strategies

Qualitative data from a larger study on the impact of parental imprisonment in four countries found that children of prisoners face fundamentally similar psychological and social challenges. The ways that children cope, however, are influenced by the interpretative frame adopted by the adults around them, and by how issues of parental imprisonment are talked about in their families. This article argues that families have to reappraise their view of the imprisoned parent and then decide on their policy for how to deal with this publicly. Their approach may be based on openness and honesty or may emphasise privacy and secrecy, or a combination of these. Children are likely to be influenced by their parents'/carers' views, although these may cause conflict for them. Where parents/carers retain a positive view of the imprisoned parent, children are likely to benefit; where parents/carers feel issues of shame and stigma acutely, this is likely to be transmitted to their children. This is important for social workers and practitioners involved in supporting prisoners' families and for parenting programmes

Promoting Responsible Fatherhood

Outlines the need to engage fathers in improving long-term outcomes for vulnerable children at Casey's Making Connections sites. Offers a guide to the elements and principles of effective fatherhood programs, challenges, promising examples, and resources

Alimony: What Social Science and Popular Culture Tell Us About Women, Guilt, and Spousal Support After Divorce

Over the past few decades, fewer divorcing women have received alimony, and when alimony awards are made, they are in declining amounts and for shorter periods of time. Conventional explanations of this trend focus on legal changes that have made divorces easier to obtain, as well as social changes that have led to larger numbers of married women in the paid workforce, and to greater social tolerance of divorce. Certainly these changes partly explain the downward trend in alimony, but they do not fully explain why alimony awards continue to decline, even among women who do not have viable job skills at the time of divorce and who experience severe post-divorce financial hardship. This article looks to the women themselves and uses social science research to examine gender differences in emotional reactions to marriage and divorce. The article argues that women\u27s tendency to assume emotional responsibility for the success of the marriage and parenting, and in particular women’s greater susceptibility to feelings of guilt and shame about divorce and parenting, make it difficult for many women to successfully negotiate for alimony. Further, the article looks at women\u27s feelings and behaviors in negotiation situations, arguing that social pressures exacerbate the feelings of guilt over the divorce and lead women to accept unfavorable outcomes. Ultimately, this article concludes that the legal system may need to impose solutions, such as mandatory pre-nuptial agreements or alimony formulas, in order to achieve a degree of predictability and fairness in alimony outcomes

Divorced Fathers' Proximity and Children's Long Run Outcomes: Evidence from Norwegian Registry Data

This study examines the link between divorced nonresident fathers' proximity and children's long-run outcomes using high-quality data from Norwegian population registers. We follow (from birth to young adulthood) 15,992 children born into married households in Norway in the years 1975-1979 whose parents divorce during his or her childhood. We observe the proximity of the child to his or her father in each year following the divorce and link proximity to children's educational and economic outcomes in young adulthood, controlling for a wide range of observable characteristics of the parents and the child. Our results show that closer proximity to the father following a divorce has, on average, a modest negative association with offspring's young-adult outcomes. The negative associations are stronger among children of highly-educated fathers. Complementary Norwegian survey data show that highly-educated fathers report more post-divorce conflict with their ex-wives as well as more contact with their children (measured in terms of the number of nights that the child spends at the fathers' house). Consequently, the father's relocation to a more distant location following the divorce may shelter the child from disruptions in the structure of the child's life as they split time between households and/or from post-divorce interparental conflict.fathers' proximity, divorce, child development, long-run outcomes, relocation