In spring
1998, 22.9 million children under 21 years of age lived with 14 million
custodial parents while their other parent lived elsewhere. These children
comprised about 25.8 percent of all children under 21 years old living
in families.
About
11.9 million (85.1 percent) of the 14 million custodial parents were women
and the remaining 2.1 million custodial parents (14.9 percent) were
men in spring 1998.
Custodial
mothers in 1997 were as likely to be divorced or to have never married
(about 31 percent each), while 21.9 percent were currently married.
Among
custodial fathers in 1997, a much higher proportion were divorced (45.2
percent), 25.5 percent were currently married, and 18.1 percent had never
married.
In 1997,
about 56.1 percent of custodial mothers were non-Hispanic white, compared
with 74.4 percent of custodial fathers. Over one-quarter of custodial mothers
were black (27.9 percent), compared with 10.2 percent of custodial fathers.
The proportions of custodial mothers and custodial fathers of Hispanic
origin were about 14 percent each.
In 1997,
over half (56.9 percent) of all custodial parents had only one child; about
44.5 percent of custodial mothers and 34.6 percent of custodial fathers
had two or more children living with them.
Child support awards:
59.5 percent of
mothers who requested child support payments in spring 1998 were awarded
child support.
38.2 percent of
fathers who requested child support payments in spring 1998 were awarded
child support.
Child support agreements:
Of the
14 million custodial parents in 1998, 7.9 million (56.3 percent) had some
type of support agreement or award for their children.
About
.6 million or 8 percent of these agreements were non-legal informal agreements
or understandings.
The remaining
6.1 million custodial parents had no child support agreements, while about
.2 million agreements were pending.
Reasons for not having child support agreements:
The three most
common reasons stated in 1998 by custodial parents with no child support
award were: that they did not feel the need to have a legal agreement (32.4
percent), that the child's other parents could not afford to pay (24.5
percent), and that the child's other parent provides what they can (22.9
percent).
Other
reasons for not having a legal agreement established: did not want other
parent to pay (18.9 percent), did not legally establish paternity (17.5
percent), did not want to have contact with other parent (15.9 percent),
could not locate other parent (13.3 percent), and child stays with other
parent part of the time (12.7 percent).
Custodial parents and income:
Child support
constituted 17 percent of women's income and 11 percent of men's income
in 1995.
In 1995, custodial
mothers who received child support that was due had total individual incomes
of about three-fourths the amount of custodial fathers receiving child
support - $21,829 compared with $30,030.
The average
income of custodial mothers with child support income that worked year-round,
full-time was $29,672 in 1995 or 81 percent of custodial fathers' income
of $36,834.
Differences in
labor force participation and earnings contribute to women's lower income
in 1995. Approximately 82 percent of custodial mothers receiving child
support worked, compared to 87 percent of custodial fathers.
The full-time
employment of custodial mothers increased from 40 percent to 46.9 percent
between 1993 and 1997.
Only
46.9 percent of custodial mothers receiving child support worked year-round,
full-time, compared with 76.9 percent of custodial fathers in 1997.
An additional
31.7 percent of custodial mothers and 16.8 percent of custodial fathers
worked part-time during 1997.
Child support received:
Overall, 58.8
percent (or 17.1 billion) of the money owed from agreements or awards for
child support was paid in 1997.
Overall,
custodial mothers with agreements or awards received $15.8 billion of the
$26.4 billion in support they were due (59.8 percent) in 1997.
Overall,
custodial fathers with agreements or awards were due $2.7 billon and reported
receiving $1.3 billon, or 48.1 percent, in 1997.
The custodial
parents without awards in 1997 reported receiving $2.1 billion.
Among
the 7 million parents due payments in 1997, about 67.4 percent reported
receiving either partial or full payment of child support due, statistically
unchanged since 1993.
The amount
of child support received by custodial mothers who received payment for
1997 was $3,700, not statistically different from the average received
by custodial fathers ($3,300).
The number of
custodial parents that received the full amount of child support due increased
from 34.1 percent in 1993 to 40.9 percent in 1997.
Payments
to the 2.9 million custodial parents receiving the full child support obligation
they were due averaged $4,700 in 1997. Among this group custodial mothers
tended to receive more ($4,800) than custodial fathers ($4,000).
Custodial mothers receiving child support by socioeconomic groups in 1995:
Poverty status: Of poor women due child support payments in 1995, 62 percent received payments. The receipt rate for non-poor women due payments was 73 percent.
Race and Hispanic origin: The percent of white women who received child support payments that were due to them was 73 percent, compared with 59 percent for black women and 58 percent for Hispanic women.
Age: Women 30 and over were more likely to receive child support payments owed to them (71 percent) than women under age 30 (65 percent).
Martial status: The percentage of never married women who were due child support and received payments was 56 percent, compared with 73 of ever-married women.
Educational attainment: Women with at least a bachelor's degree were more likely to receive the child support due to them (79 percent) than women with less education (68 percent).
Poverty of custodial parents:
The proportion
of custodial parents and their children living below poverty decreased
from 33.3 percent to 28.9 percent between 1993 and 1997.
In 1997,
custodial mothers were three times as likely as custodial fathers to be
poor, 32.1 percent and 10.7 percent, respectively, due in in part to the
differential rates of employment.
The poverty
level for custodial fathers declined from 17 percent to 11 percent between
1993 and 1997.
The proportion
of all custodial parents participating in at least one public assistance
program (Medicaid, food stamps, public housing or rent subsidy, Temporary
Assistance for Needy families (TANF) or Aid to Families with Dependent
Children, or general assistance) decreased from 40.7 percent in 1993 to
34.1 percent in 1997.
The rate
of program participation for custodial mothers declined from 45.2 percent
in 1993 to 38.1 percent in 1997.
The affect of visitation rights on receiving child support payments:
Among
the 7 million custodial parents due child support payments in 1997, 84.3
percent had arrangements with the noncustodial parents for joint child
custody or visitation privileges with their children.
73.3
percent of these custodial parents due child support received either full
or partial payments.
The highest
rate of receiving at least some support (83.2 percent) in 1997 occurred
when the noncustodial parent had both joint custody and visitation privileges.
The 1.1
million custodial parents due support but without joint custody or visitation
arrangements had a much lower rate of receiving support, 35.5 percent,
in 1997.
Noncash support received by custodial parents:
Over
half (56.4 percent) of all custodial parents received at least one type
of noncash support from the noncustodial parents. This proportion was higher
among the 7.9 million parents with agreements or awards (63.2 percent)
than among the 6.1 million custodial parents without them (47.5 percent).
The type
of noncash support most often received was birthday, holiday, or other
gifts (53.6 percent).
About
35 percent received clothes from the noncustodial parents, 23.1 percent
received food or groceries, 18.6 percent had medical expenses paid (other
than health insurance) and 8.9 percent had partial or full payments for
child care or summer camp.
Health insurance received by custodial parents:
Health
insurance for children was included in about 4.6 million child support
agreements or awards in 1997. Of these agreements, the noncustodial parent
provided health insurance 43.8 percent of the time.
About
13.5 percent of 2.7 million agreements where health insurance was not a
provision of the child support award still provided health insurance in
1997.
* Please note that the reporting of amounts paid to custodial parents is not confirmed by the noncustodial parents.
Sources:
Child Support for Custodial Mothers and Fathers: 1995, U.S. Census Bureau, published March 1999.
Child Support for Custodial Mothers and Fathers: 1997, U.S. Census Bureau, published October 2000.
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