How low-income dads really provide

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-06/jhu-lam061515.php

Public Release: 15-Jun-2015
Johns Hopkins University

Low-income fathers who might be labeled "deadbeat dads" often spend as much on their children as parents in formal child-support arrangements, but they choose to give goods like food and clothing rather than cash, a Johns Hopkins-led study found.

In the first examination of the magnitude of in-kind child support, published this month in the Journal of Marriage and Family, the team found many disadvantaged noncustodial fathers spend an average of $60 a month on in-kind provisions, while dads paying formal child support spend about $38 a month.

Men who were the most disadvantaged tended to give a higher proportion of their support in gifts, the study found.

"The most disadvantaged dads end up looking like they're completely distanced from their kids but they're actually giving quite a lot," said co-author Kathryn Edin, a Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of sociology. "I was really surprised by how much these disadvantaged guys, these truly marginally employed men, are putting all of this thought and what little resources they have into showing their children that they care."

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