¶ … Child Support Programs and their contribution in making United States a welfare state
The current essay is aimed at exploring the legislations and policies related to child support and welfare and how it helped United States to be a welfare state. The author has analyzed the child support programs and whether these programs have been helpful for the parents of children. The author has also discussed the problems related to these support programs as well as their benefits.
Welfare and Child Support Receipt
In 2005, there were 6.8 million custodial parents in need of child support through either legal awards or unofficial arrangements there were spend an annual average of $5,600 annually, or an average of $465 monthly. "Overall, custodial parents reported receiving $25.9 billion directly from the non-custodial parent for support of their children in 2005." According to the April 2006 Current Population Survey, "sixty-one percent of all custodial parents received at least one type of non-cash support, such as gifts or coverage of expenses, on behalf of their children." Custodial parents who had a child support order or agreement were more likely to receive non-cash support (65.3%) than those custodial parents who did not have awards (55.3%). The most common type of non-cash support received by custodial parents was birthday, holiday, or other gifts. Other support received included clothing, diapers, groceries, medical expenses unrelated to health insurance, and child care . [1: Grall, T.S. "Custodial mothers and fathers and their child support: 2005." (U.S. Census Bureau Current Population Reports, P 60-234). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau. (2007).] [2: Ibid. 230. ] [3: Ibid. 234.]
There are many issues that involve the welfare system and child support distribution and receipt policies. Many rules and regulations are established by these policies, which can confuse low-income parents and policymakers alike. Below is a discussion of the history of welfare reform policies and their effects on child support receipt and enforcement is discussed.
The History of Child Support Program
On August 14, 1935, the Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) program was introduced under the Social Security Act and it was part of this act . This program allowed states to financially help the families have low income who met specific requirements, such as a non-custodial parent not providing child support. The 1935 Social Security Act was the first major piece of welfare legislation in the United States. The ADC program was renamed Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1962. The words "families with" were added because of concern that program rules discouraged marriage . [4: Wisconsin Historical Society. "A brief explanation of the Social Security Act." (April 1936) Retrieved November 18, 2011 from hrrp://content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/tp,3891] [5: Blank, R.M., & Ellwood, D.T."The Clinton legacy for America's poor." In J. Frankel & P. Orszag (Eds.), American economic policy in the 1990s. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (2002): 749-800]
The first major federal child support legislation was the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA) in 1950. This act provided a system for interstate enforcement of child support without the custodial parent having to travel to the state where the non-custodial parent lived. It also helped to set up fatherhood, situate missing noncustodial parents, and also assisted in either establishing, modifying, or enforcing an order that may support across state lines. In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed into law Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, through which the federal child support enforcement system was established. This program was to be a partnership between state and federal governments, with state governments having primary responsibility to operate the program. The federal government was responsible for such tasks as to establish a service to locate parent, to provide technical help, and to certify cases that are necessary to be referral to federal courts and the Internal Revenue Service for enforcement and collection . States were provided federal matching funds for child support enforcement for AFDC cases. Federal legislation was also passed that would allow the government to garnish the wages of non-custodial parents in order to satisfy child support obligations . Since under the federal law of 1975, it is required that child support obligations will remain in position even if the non-custodial parent declares bankruptcy . So from the 1981, perditions have been given to child support agencies to gather spousal support in support of custodial parents. Similarly in 1984 it was made obligatory that custodial parents will be required to appeal for medical support through most the child support orders [6: Pirog, M.A., & Ziol-Guest, K.M. "Child support enforcement: Programs and policies, impacts and questions." Journal of Policy Analysis...
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