CHILD-SUPPORT - BROADENING THE DEFINITION FOR UNEMPLOYED FATHERS

Recent attention has focused on child support and the courts' effectiveness in enforcing support orders among non-custodial parents. Fathers continue to make up the majority of non-custodial parents. However, the new Child Support Enforcement legislation criminalizes those fathers who traditionally have little or no financial resources. Unable to fulfill their role as ''breadwinners,'' many non-custodial fathers abandon their child(ren) and their co-parenting role. This article proposes a broader definition of child support to include non-financial, ''in kind'' services. Implications for divorce mediators are addressed.