Multi-partnered fertility and child support

Terry-Ann Craigie, Connecticut College

Parents having children with more than one partner or multi-partnered fertility, has been rising steadily in recent decades, particularly among unmarried parents. As divorce and remarriage become more mundane, it is without question that multi-partnered fertility will have increased relevance on a global stage. While this phenomenon has important implications for child welfare overall, one outcome likely to be acutely influenced is child support. Child support transfers are an important source of income for improving and sustaining child wellbeing, and it is therefore important to investigate whether it complicates or thwarts the child support process. This study therefore examines the effects of male and female multi-partnered fertility on child support transfers, focusing specifically on the transfers made by non-resident fathers. It clearly distinguishes between child support payments made when there is a formal court-established child support order and child support payments made when no child support order has been formally established. This distinction is critical to the child support debate given that some parents eschew formal child support orders in lieu of “informal” child support arrangements, which allow for more flexibility in payments and for which there is no court interference. Exploiting individual-level data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), the study confirms a robust adverse effect of male multi-partnered fertility on child support transfers in general; the effect of female multi-partnered fertility however, remains inconclusive. The study also uncovers novel evidence that a mother’s decision to establish a formal child support order is actually a non-random process based primarily on her comparative advantage in child support receipts. Child support policies for these complex families should subsequently be revisited and potentially reformed.