Policies Affecting Separated Families Around the World

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

The rise in union instability has transformed families around the world, with children in Europe and the Americas being particularly likely to live apart from their father (IFS and Wheatley Institution, 2019; Laplante et al., 2015; Liu et al, 2017). In a wide range of countries, single-mother families are disproportionately poor when compared to two-parent families (Cuesta, 2022). There are different policy approaches to the economic vulnerability of single mothers, with some countries providing modest government support—encouraging single mothers’ employment and nonresident fathers’ child support payments—and others with robust social safety nets—providing publicly-funded benefits to single-mother families. This panel brings together four papers that provide new, cross-disciplinary, cross-national evidence on how policies affect separated families around the world, with important implications for family and child well-being.

The first and second papers investigate the context of economic vulnerability by examining how single mothers leverage different economic resources in Latin America, Europe, and the United States (US). The first paper uses data from the Luxembourg Income Study (waves X–XII, 2017–2023) to examine how kin co-residence is associated with single mothers’ employment in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. The second paper uses the European Union Survey of Income and Living Conditions’ ad hoc module (EU-SILC 2021) and the U.S. Current Population Survey to examine income sources of single-mother families by type of child custody in six European Union countries (Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, France, and Spain) and the US.

The third and fourth papers focus on child support from nonresident fathers, a key policy affecting separated families. The third paper examines how child support obligations change when second families are formed in three Latin American countries, the US, and Finland using data obtained through extensive interviews with judicial and social service personnel in Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay and child support experts in the US and Finland. The fourth paper uses the Wisconsin Court Record Database (CRD) to examine the prevalence of income imputation in Wisconsin and how income imputation affects child support outcomes (i.e., amount ordered, likelihood of payment, amount paid, and ratio of paid to ordered amount).

The papers not only describe the policy context and policies in place in different countries, but also explore the effects of these policies on children’s economic well-being. The papers have implications for general income support, employment, child custody, and child support policy.

Two expert discussants will provide both a researcher’s and a practitioner’s perspective on the implications of these studies for research and policy.

Policy Area

• Family and Child Policy

Secondary Policy Area

• Poverty and Income Policy

Chair

• Daniel R. Meyer

Discussants

• Quentin H Riser, University of Wisconsin-Madison

• Jane Venohr, Center for Policy Research

Organizer

• Laura Cuesta, Rutgers University

Individual Presentations

• Does Living with Kin Support Single Mother’s Employment? A Comparative Study - Presenting Author: Angela Guarin, Universidad de los Andes

• Who Supports Children Post-Separation? An Analysis of Income Sources by Custody Type in 7 Countries - Presenting Author: Trisha Chanda, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Mari Haapanen

• How Does a Second Family Change Child Support Obligations? A Comparative Analysis of 4 Countries - Presenting Author: Laura Cuesta, Rutgers University; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Marisa Bucheli, Universidad de la Republica; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Daniel R. Meyer

• Income Imputation and Child Support Outcomes - Presenting Author: Yoona Kim, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Non-Presenting Co-Author: Molly A Costanzo, University of Wisconsin-Madison