April 2024 CSQ

Employment Demonstration (CSPED). I talked with many fathers, and
heard their trauma, pain, grief, despair, humor, and hope.
In about 1997, early advocates for low-income noncustodial parents made
a strategic decision to engage NCSEA in a dialogue. I remember the first
time they presented on “fragile families” and “deadbroke dads” at an
NCSEA conference. They were almost hissed off the stage, but they were
persuasive. I began to publish reports identifying more realistic child
support policies, became a national fatherhood leadership board member,
and worked with Congress to draft child support distribution and sections of
the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grant legislation that
ultimately passed as part of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA).
The child support program began in a different era. My then-husband
and I ran a dairy farm in the early 1970s. Early in my marriage, I was not
permitted to work outside the farm, drive the car, or have a checkbook. But
out of financial necessity, I then became the primary wage-earner. I applied
for a credit card at the very department store where I worked, but was
denied. Only my husband could open a credit card account, and only his
income counted. Later, when my husband and I separated, my car
insurance coverage was cancelled, although his policy continued. The
insurance agent explained marital coverture to me--under the law, man and
wife were considered one person, and unfortunately for me, that person
was the husband. I tried to get renter’s insurance, but found out that I was
uninsurable as a divorced mother.
At that time, divorced fathers weren’t encouraged to stick around. The
attitude was: “Let him get on with his life,” and “The new husband can take
care of the kids.” There was little appreciation for the traumatic loss
experienced by children and their parents. Voluntary acknowledgment of
parentage and child support enforcement has helped transform the way we
look at fathers.
Title IV-D was enacted to increase gender equity. Title IV-D of the
Social Security Act was enacted in 1975 with overwhelming support from
women’s rights and anti-poverty advocates. It was one of a series of laws
intended to level the playing field between men and women, such as the
Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974. As OCSS commissioner, I
participated in several international conferences, and learned that one of
the first steps taken by countries with emerging civil rights for women was
to adopt a family law code granting mothers the right to obtain child
support.