Fathers Who Don't Pay Child Support

The present study is intended to gain an understanding of how fathers who are in breach of child support obligations actually construct their non-payment position, in order to develop a coherent understanding of their behaviour.

Abstract

In dealing with separating and divorced families where child support is not being paid, clinicians, lawyers, mediators and judges are often at a loss as to how they may intervene successfully. Although popular beliefs abound regarding motivation for non-pay- ment, we still have a poor understanding of the ways in which fathers rationalize a position of partial or non-payment The justifications giv- en, both in literature and in clinical practice, often are not supported by other relevant data. The research undertaken in this exploratory qualitative study was de- signed to develop a phenomenological understanding of fathers' decisions not to pay obligatory child support following separatiddivm. It is hoped that such an understanding will aid practitioners in identifying contributing di£hlties and in developing constructive interventions. Al- though a spccif~c subgroup of noncompliant fathers are described in Lhis r e p t , thematic areas are identified which may be relevant to a broad range of fathers. In terms of expressed w n k d Ulese are: stated reasons for noncompliance, experiences and perceptions of the legal system, role and identity, and personal goals and political solutions. In addition, clini- cally relevant themes which emerged from h e analysis are: compliance/ co-operation, conflation of the legal system and (he spouse, transforma- tions in roles and identity, and the need to be heard/suppo&d. Implications for professional practice are discussed