Children Of Divorce More Likely To Live In Poverty: Census Report

By Conor Dougherty of the Wall Street Journal

Children of divorce are more likely to be in poverty and to live with their mothers, according to a new Census report on marriage released today.

According to the report, three-quarters of children in divorced families lived with their mother in 2009 while some 28% of them were below the poverty rate, versus a 19% poverty rate among other children. The first-of-its kind Census report is a compendium of marriage trends and statistics cut by age, race and geography. Some stats:

1) In 2009, women who divorced in the previous 12 months were more likely to be in poverty and reported less household income than recently divorced men. Some 27% of recently divorced women had less than $25,000 in annual household income compared with 17% of recently divorced men.

2) The national divorce rate was 9.2% for men and 9.7% for women.

Read entire post here

Read more at the WSJ:

Workplace Homicides And Suicides Fell in 2010

Factory Expansion Continues in Kansas City Fed District

Secondary Sources: Divorce, Ditching Doha, Treasury Buyers

Comments

[Kenneth Muratore]

10:23 AM on 08/28/2011

Poverty: the inability to sustain your household, is not due to divorce nor the supposed abandonment of children, but lack of a living wage as described in the following post...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Kenneth_Muratore/divorce-poverty-children-census_n_936896_105009378.html

We are now ruled by collectivism: Collectively earning others a profit, individually receiving “unliberating” wages. Instead of increasing the wealth of our households, it now takes the collective income of the household just to sustain it‘s members.

Further, divorce is not abandonment and current “child support” legislation violates the personal property rights of individuals as mentioned…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Kenneth_Muratore/divorce-poverty-children-census_n_936896_105132185.html

proper understanding of this is needed in legislating just laws.

Divorce itself is liberty, it’s a provision given to us by our Creator to protect families from a spouse who is no longer pleased with their marriage. Divorce allows an unbeliever in the marriage to depart, and in their departure, peace is restored to the home. Though the causes of divorce are not without guilt, the liberty to divorce is good, and just. For divorce is neither good, nor bad, but liberty. Just as prisons are neither good, nor bad, but liberty; separating the innocent from those who exercise their wills in an unjust manner.

To maintain liberty and justice for all; the liberty to exercise our will as given to us by our Creator and protected by our Constitution, must be honored.

[displaced1]

11:56 PM on 08/27/2011

Duh. For the vast majority of US citizens, it takes 2 incomes just to get by.

[Helena Williamstom]

06:15 PM on 08/27/2011

Are you surprised? I'm not. There are countess stories where men divorce women and with-hold child support as a way to get back at their ex. I guess it never dawns on them that they are hurting the child. On the flip side, a lot of women do not pay child support to their spouses.

Show me five couples that are celebrating their 20th anniversary, and I can show you ten that are divorced or divorcing..

Sad but true...

[globalguy]

06:03 PM on 08/27/2011

With exceptions divorce is typically the result of selfishness.

The victims? The chidren...

[jf12]

04:46 PM on 08/26/2011

Actually, for well over half of children in single parent homes, the parents were *never* married, neither before or after children being born. Women whose first birth was outside marriage were more than four times, four times!, as likely to be in poverty and require government assitance, than women whose first birth was within marriage. This includes divorces.

The poverty rate for families headed by divorced single mothers is exactly halfway between the poverty rate for intact familes and the poverty rate for never married single mothers. If anything, being married with children, and sadly getting divorced is a *solution* to poverty compared to never being married.

[Sassydays]

04:37 PM on 08/26/2011

How many of these were planned pregnancies? Just sayin...

Perhaps the problem is that fools get pregnant by fools and then get married and then once they realize marriage is challenging especially with kids they split...perhaps women should be more choosy about whom they breed with.

[Susan Shaffer]

04:33 PM on 08/27/2011

sure but it also gets lonely once people start to pair up. even in the old days women were worried about being left on the shelf. it is the human condition to want to share your life with someone. Unfortunately there is so much to have and people expect or want it all.
my friend recently had to spend thousand to rewire her old house. there were not enough circuits to manage the number of lights and power points required for modern living.

[Kenneth Muratore]

08:35 AM on 08/28/2011

I think you are correct. "Unfortunat­ely there is so much to have and people expect or want it all."

The foundation of any marriage is simple...food, clothing and the marriage bed. I realize marriage can be more, much more, but the wisdom of marriage and it's foundation is astounding to me.

Naturally what can separate me from my spouse....only death. Anything else that separates is caused by man. How amazing is the Wisdom of our Creator.

If you have food in you belly this day, clothes on your back this day, be content and give one another the marriage bed as often as each would. Contentment in godliness is great gain, it truly is.

[Jennifer Zirn]

05:04 PM on 08/27/2011

Was it always the women who get blamed for things like this?

They shouldn't wear clothes like that, they should be picky who they "breed" with. It always seems to fall to the women to make the wise choice, and if they fail, then they are dumb. I think the men involved are just as much, if not more, responsible for this. Blame the men for once.

[yeswecanjane]

08:32 PM on 08/27/2011

I would be nice:)

[ucpprod3]

06:55 PM on 08/29/2011

Let us look at the reality of the situation. How does marriage benefit most men? It usually results in a decrease of his net worth as he assumes the debts and obligations of his lower income earning female spouse. He is expected to provide a promise of betrothal (ring) expensive enough to make his fiance's friends jealous and give her bragging rights. If she is over the age of 30, he will be expected to also financially participate in the cost of wedding as her father is often unable to significantly provide the funding. If she is under the age of 30, he will be expected to financially participate because her father is no longer connected to her and her mother. The breeding comment was just plain ignorant as most pregnancies are "announcements" whether they occur in a marriage or not. There are few pregnancies and births that are the result of the two people deciding on some mutually agreed upon timetable to begin their family. Women should be held accountable for this reason alone as the men are given the so called right to "pay and participate" in the birthing of children. If a female, whether married or not, chooses not to retain a pregnancy, she is given access to the "it's her body" justification. If she does retain it, she can still give up for adoption any child with the ability to walk away without consequences. Let a man say he wants no part after the childs birth,

[yeswecanjane]

04:24 PM on 08/26/2011

Take away the deadbeats' future Soc Sec and Medicare etc to pay for their child(ren)'s current living expenses.Don't let them just walk away from their responsibility!

[Joseph Glackin]

05:39 PM on 08/26/2011

The Federal Gov't, and many states, automatically withhold child support from pay. A lady friend divorced her husband in Conn. He worked for the Feds. Her atty filed papers, and 17.5% of her ex's gross salary was sent to her son. They set up a separate account in his name. He was about 4 at the time. The atty explained, "This is not about you. This is about the rights of your son, and the state of Conn. is his advocate."

[yeswecanjane]

08:28 PM on 08/27/2011

I am talking about deadbeats...the ones who will do anything to not pay.

[Chris Sirhc]

09:35 AM on 08/27/2011

I know of no study that shows draconian child support collection methods improve collection rates, especially of poor fathers, but I would be pleased to review yours.

Most of those "deadbeats" are dead poor. Even the six billion dollar federal Office of Child Support Enforcement's wage garnishment program isn't that effective. The OCSE states that wage garnishment is the most effective method of collecting child support. It accounts for 67.4% of all collections. But conflating "effectiveness" with the size of receipts is disingenuous.

The irony is that wage garnishment has little empirical support. In the late 1980s the state of Wisconsin conducted a pilot program to compare the effectiveness of garnishment as a method of raising child support collections. See Marieka M. Klawitter,and Irwin Garfinkel, "CHILD SUPPORT, ROUTINE INCOME WITHHOLDING, AND POST-DIVORCE INCOME", Contemporary Economic Policy, Volume 10, Issue 1, pages 52–64, January 1992.
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1465-7287.1992.tb00211.x/abstract

The authors are clearly disappointed with the results. They write:

"This article assesses the effects on post-divorce income by using data from a demonstration of routine withholding in ten Wisconsin counties. Unfortunately, these data conclude that routine income withholding has little effect on post-divorce income, at least in the year following divorce. "

[yeswecanjane]

08:24 PM on 08/27/2011

I know that if you leave a car by the side of the road because the car stalled and you do not want to pay for it anymore you will be forced to pay cause it is your responsibility...the same should go for those deadbeats. And if they can not pay then the Child support system should be allowed to use the deadbeat"s future benefits to support their child(ren). It is the only fair thing to do for the child(ren).

[FreedomHaawk]

03:28 PM on 08/26/2011

I blame the government! The family laws on the books hurt the children. The laws KICK the fathers to the curb. Fathers are treated like DEAD DOGS in the family court.

[Greg Albright]

07:55 PM on 08/26/2011

We get bullied by the judges, lawyers and mediators into accepting the big child support settlements and every other weekend rigmarole, BUT YOU DON"T HAVE TO ACCEPT IT! Object to court scheduled visitation. Make use of your "reasonable and liberal parenting time". Call her a liar to her face in court when she says she was afraid of you. They have to listen to you.

It is hard, but men can and do win in divorce court.

[FreedomHaawk]

09:45 PM on 08/26/2011

The problem I have with the system is that it's not fair! The Judges and County Attorney's treat the men as if they are scums.
Very soon there is going to be a MASSIVE uprising. When fathers complain they are quickly Labeled as DEAD BEAT! Even if you pay!
The only way Government understand will be via a Tunisian Style uprising.

[November2008]

09:57 PM on 08/26/2011

Why does it have to get to family court?

[FreedomHaawk]

10:06 PM on 08/26/2011

If fathers pay $10,000 per month the Custodial parent will say it's not enough. Get the picture?

[soccerdoll]

01:33 PM on 08/26/2011

Carefully choose your spouse.

[offmyrocker]

09:54 AM on 08/26/2011

We will always have those who make it and those that don't. It makes for some strong people when those kids who do make it take charge. To the parents buz off

[mustardhead98]

08:34 AM on 08/26/2011

Another good argument for marriage. Nowadays people don't try to work out their marriages-at the first sign of trouble, they divorce. It's so sad. My spouse and I just celebrated twenty years of marriage last week-lots of rocky times but we stuck through it and our son benefited from it.

This society has become so utterly selfish, we focus so much on "me", "mine" and "my" we've forgotten about "us", "we", "ours" and "others".

[capercaper]

10:55 AM on 08/26/2011

Well said.

Kudos to you and yours!

[Susan Shaffer]

04:39 PM on 08/27/2011

yeah, i think divorce is too easy. no fault? of course it has to be someone's fault if things don't work out. marriage is 50:50 but sometimes it is 60;40 and other times it is 30:70. If the proportions are too much in one direction then someone is going to get fed up. I think once you have kids then the kids have to come first. It is really hard when they are young and it is sad when women have to work in those early years. Some sacrifice has to come into the relationship

[JoJoBo44]

08:05 AM on 08/26/2011

66% of all divorces are initiated by women, a majority of which are earning minimum wage, work part time or do not work at all. So, what do the courts do? Give the children to the parent who can't earn enough to clothe, feed, and shelter the kids. Then, slap an unsustainable child support order on the Dad and put him in the poor house too. Of course, this is all done in the best interest of the children according to family law. Here's another interesting statistic; women of divorce that earn little or no money and are awarded custody of the children are 10x more likely to rack up financial judgements against them AFTER the divorce. Judgements like skipping out on paying department store credit cards (mama needs a new wardrobe), major credit cards (mama needs new jewelry), attorney bills (attorney's used after the divorce to come after the dad for more $$$), etc. etc. The divorce industry has created some real monsters.........

[capercaper]

10:57 AM on 08/26/2011

Gotta love no fault divorce. . . promoted by feminists in the interest of freeing women from male oppression!

[Jennifer Zirn]

05:16 PM on 08/27/2011

Love how people lump others together. Why do the women seek divorce? Because the man cheated, abuse her, abuse alcohol, or some other reason.

My mother was not working when my father cheated, she would of worked it out if he quit seeing the girl, but he wouldn't, so she kicked him out and found a job. She worked 60+ hrs a week, and had some child support. He fought for us, but that was because he didn't want to pay, as I found out when I visited him for a month and was ignored by him, his gf paid more attention to me. She raised four kids, and yes we were in poverty, but she did the best she could.

[SgtMom]

10:39 AM on 09/22/2011

My son in laws ex wife got pregnant while he was deployed. He had joined the Marines to help pay for her father's cancer treatment. She smoked during her first pregnancy and the child was born with major health problems.

He was awarded custody but had to relinquish the child to the mother when he was DEPLOYED again.

Now he is married to my daughter. It will cost $80,000. retainer to try to regain custody of his first child who's mother has been busy with parental alienation. They BOTH live in fear his ex will take him to court to up the child support payments. The child they have together will be the major loser in this one - there are no enforced payments for subsequent children.

[ken607]

08:00 AM on 08/26/2011

it doesnt take a report to tell anyone this. after all the last 30 years most families need 2 sources of income to support a family. and need not be divorced to experience such poverty!

[h0tr0d]

06:49 AM on 08/26/2011

Sounds like another great case for joint custody.

[Grinling Gibbons]

09:46 AM on 08/26/2011

Yes, because the kind of fathers who let their kids live in poverty should instead be given custody of those kids. Because as MRAs constantly remind us, men can't love their children unless they get to "own" them.

[h0tr0d]

09:55 AM on 08/26/2011

strawman, distortion, hate speech. nothing new here.

[J R M]

02:36 AM on 08/26/2011

Surprise. What else is new? Divorce has always been a disaster for families. And women file for divorce ~66% of the time. Go figure.

[Joseph Glackin]

05:27 PM on 08/26/2011

They should stay? Are you one of those "for the kids" @holes?
If you don't find the bodies, you can see the scars on the "kids" psyches.

[Greg Albright]

07:49 PM on 08/26/2011

People make choices in their lives, just deal with that. Yes, sometime married people make bad choices and break up otherwise functional marriages, which ends up harming children.

Yes, once you are married, and have children, you should make the choice to make it work.

No, when you are claiming he is a wife beater after 10 years of marriage and not a single police report to back it, no I think are you lying about that.

Here at age 40, of couples that I know intimately, and my own marriage, she left for reasons that amounted to "going to find herself" which is fine with me.

Just stop expecting us men who were the bread winners in this family unit to pay for it. ~Any~ sense of entitlement after seperation and divorce amounts to gold digging and nothing more.

There seems to be a real sense of entitlement on this thread where a certain segment wants the divorce, but don't want to face any of the consequences of that decision.

[displaced1]

12:02 AM on 08/28/2011

That's why for most of human history we've had patriarchal societies.

"I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability." As Good as It Gets