The Two-Income Trap - Elizabeth Warren [59]
So how can a single-parent family get out of the trap? We begin with the solution put forth by nearly every politician, women’s group, and angry mother: Make Dad pay more.
The argument has plenty of emotional appeal. It resonates with some of our most basic values: equity between men and women, following through on commitments, protecting our children. It also fits with our common sense. After all, everyone knows some unfortunate woman who is having a dreadful time making ends meet since she got stiffed by her ex. And we have all heard news reports about the men who are absconding without making their payments.
The experts of a generation ago (and even today) predicted with such confidence that better child support enforcement would ensure financial security for single mothers. But does increasing child support really hold the key to survival for millions of middle-class single mothers? Do ex-husbands hold the untapped wealth that single mothers need for financial security, and all that remains is to seek it out?
America has spent a generation hunting down the devious deadbeat dad, but single mothers are in more trouble than ever. It doesn’t come through in most news reports, but the overwhelming majority of middle-class fathers today are like Brad Pritchard. They pay the support they owe. According to one survey, nonresident fathers who earned more than $30,000 a year reported that they were paying more than 95 percent of their court-ordered child support.36 This statistic may be somewhat distorted by men who overestimate their own payments. (Single mothers usually report receiving less than fathers report paying.) But another survey of single mothers found similar results. Among fathers who were steadily employed (which includes a number of men who work for low wages), 80 percent of their ex-wives reported receiving full payment.37 These numbers stand as a reminder that there is not much left to collect. Additional enforcement of child support can provide only limited help to struggling middle-class women and their children.
And what about the dads who don’t pay? About two-thirds of these men do not pay because they are not legally required to pay; they have not had paternity established or they are separated but not yet divorced. 38 What about those who have child support orders in place but don’t pay what they owe, the infamous “deadbeat dads”? It turns out that the nonpayers are far more likely to have low incomes and to live in poverty.39 According to one estimate, six out of ten nonresident fathers who fail to pay child support either have low incomes, are substance abusers, or have outstanding obligations to support new children. 40 Another study found that most nonpayers had recently been unemployed.41 These guys may be down on their luck, irresponsible, or just plain mean, but the stone-cold reality is that unemployment, poverty-level wages, drug addiction, and additional kids to provide for make it far more difficult for these men to come up with regular support payments. And no amount of legal pressure will change that.
Share the Pain?
Some activists argue that women like Gayle Pritchard are in financial trouble because, as Lenore Weitzman observed: “Current child support awards are too low . . . and place a disproportionate financial burden on mothers.”42 According to this line of thinking, judges should demand more money from men in the beginning, making child support awards substantially larger. Again, the arguments are highly charged. Women’s groups point to the