Child Support in shared Care Cases: Do Child support Policies in 13 Countries Reflect Family Policy Models

TY - JOUR

T1 - Child Support in shared Care Cases

T2 - Do Child support Policies in 13 Countries Reflect Family Policy Models

AU - Hakovirta, Mia

AU - Meyer, Daniel

AU - Skinner, Christine Bridget

N1 - © The Author(s), 2021.

PY - 2022/10/1

Y1 - 2022/10/1

N2 - Increasingly, parents in separated families expect to equally share care of their children post-separation. In this article we extend a well-known family policy model to generate hypotheses about the level of child support to be paid by separated parents when children live primarily with their mother (‘sole custody’) in contrast to when children spend equal time with both parents (‘shared care’). We test these hypotheses with data collected from 13 countries. In sole custody cases, countries with an earner-carer policy model do have lower child support expectations than countries with a traditional family policy model or a market-oriented model, as predicted. Countries with a traditional family policy model do have the highest orders in the shared case, as predicted. However, there is as much variation within models as there is between, suggesting new analytic frameworks for considering child support in family policy need to be developed.

AB - Increasingly, parents in separated families expect to equally share care of their children post-separation. In this article we extend a well-known family policy model to generate hypotheses about the level of child support to be paid by separated parents when children live primarily with their mother (‘sole custody’) in contrast to when children spend equal time with both parents (‘shared care’). We test these hypotheses with data collected from 13 countries. In sole custody cases, countries with an earner-carer policy model do have lower child support expectations than countries with a traditional family policy model or a market-oriented model, as predicted. Countries with a traditional family policy model do have the highest orders in the shared case, as predicted. However, there is as much variation within models as there is between, suggesting new analytic frameworks for considering child support in family policy need to be developed.

KW - child support, child maintenance, shared care, shared physical custody, family policy, comparative studies

U2 - 10.1017/S1474746421000300

DO - 10.1017/S1474746421000300

M3 - Article

SN - 1474-7464

VL - 21

SP - 542

EP - 559

JO - Social Policy and Society

JF - Social Policy and Society

IS - 4

ER -