1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910825160603321

Autore

Mincy Ronald B.

Titolo

Failing our fathers : confronting the crisis of economically vulnerable, nonresident fathers / / Ronald B. Mincy, Monique Jethwani, Serena Klempin

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Oxford, [England] ; ; New York, New York : , : Oxford University Press, , 2015

©2015

ISBN

0-19-937116-4

0-19-937115-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (209 p.)

Disciplina

306.8742

Soggetti

Absentee fathers - United States

Fatherhood - United States

Father and child - United States

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Failing Our Fathers; Copyright; Contents; Acknowledgments; About the Authors; Preface; Juan's Story; 1 Introduction; Nonresident Fathers: The Residue of Marital Decline; Economic Trends and Vulnerable Fathers; Economically Vulnerable Nonresident Fathers; Overview: How and What We Present; Franco's Story; 2 Employment; Victims of "the Slowdown"; Did Nonresident Fathers Fare Better or Worse Than Other Men During The Recession?; Making Ends Meet; Chronically Unemployed Workers: Experiencing the Consequences of Incarceration; Felony Convictions Damage Future Employment Prospects

Work and the Chronically UnemployedAdjusting Employment Arrangements to Meet the Child Support Expense; Regular Work Preferred; Kelly's Story; 3 Child Support; Informal Child Support; Formal Child Support; The Economy and Child Support Compliance; "It's Better That Way": When Automatic Wage Withholding Helps Maintain Compliance; "I Would Have Become Homeless": When Automatic Wage Withholding Becomes a Burden; "They Will Work With You": Successful Child Support Modifications; "I'm Pretty Sure It's a Long Process":



Obstacles to Child Support Modifications; Help From Fatherhood Programs

Sanctions"A No Win Situation": Suspension of Driver's License; Sanctions; Frozen Bank Accounts and Damaged Credit: Financial Enforcement; "If I Knew I Was Getting Money Back, I Would File": Seizure of Tax Refunds; "Why Do You Keep Trying to Lock Me Up?": Enforcement Through Incarceration; Ernest's Story; 4 The Roles Nonresident Fathers Play; The Breadwinner Role: Strain and Regret; Strain; Educational Regret; Non Financial Roles: Staying Present as Teachers, Friends, Advisors and Disciplinarians; Teachers: Providing Educational Support; Friends: Forming Emotional Bonds

Advisors: Imparting Values and Life LessonsDisciplinarians: Correcting and Molding; If Not the Breadwinner, Then What?; Quality Engagement Matters: It's Not Just About Time and Money; Dewight's Story; 5 The Challenges of Nonresident Fatherhood; Mother-Father Relationships: Its Not Just about Fathers and Children; Co-Parenting: After the Love Is Gone; Gatekeeping: "You Shouldn't Use the Child as Your Way to Get Back at Me"; Re-partnering and Multipartner Fertility: Competing Responsibilities; Domestic Violence: The Deal Breaker

Distance and Limited Visitation: "Our Time Is Not as Much as I Would Like"Personal Battles: Substance Abuse, Incarceration, and Street Life; Substance Abuse: "Living in an Underground Tomb"; Incarceration: Forgotten and Abandoned; Street Life: Getting Caught Up in the Game; That Empty Loneliness Feeling; The Father Merry-Go-Round; Willie's Story; 6 Policy Reforms to Help Vulnerable Fathers; Why So Rough?; Can We All Get Along?; Oops!; Setting the Order; Self-Support Reserve, Low-Income Standards, and Minimum Orders: What's the Difference?; Getting It Right in the First Place; Imputing Income

Making a Bad Situation Worse

Sommario/riassunto

Slandered as irresponsible, deadbeat dads, nonresident fathers are a greatly misunderstood population. These fathers are overlooked in discussions of poverty and economic vulnerability-often being viewed as the cause of social problems, rather than as having been abandoned by society. In Failing our Fathers, Ron Mincy and his colleagues present a more comprehensive picture of how these men face significant obstacles and explore unintended effects of policies designed to secure financial support for their children, the effectiveness of the few policies that have been designed to offer relief. A