Raising children in America is hard: raising them as a single parent is harder still. Money is often scarce – and financial support can offer a crucial lifeline. 

For custodial fathers, the difficulties are often manifold. Our analysis pinpoints the key challenges facing the U.S.’s 3,022,000 custodial fathers, including those lacking child support agreements.

Custodial fathers with a formal agreement in place are still subject to huge disparities depending on their race, level of education, marital status and age. The data highlights the urgent need for better awareness of implicit issues, policy improvements, and increased support to custodial fathers to effect better results.

Custodial Fathers with a Child Support Agreement in Place: the Facts

Although divorce rates in the U.S. are declining, one-quarter of all children under 21 years old live with a single parent. In the vast majority of such cases, the non-custodial parent is legally obligated to provide financial support to help cover the costs of raising the child or children.

Yet levels of support widely vary. Of the 33.4% (1,008,000) of custodial fathers with a child support agreement in place, the statistics reveal some significant disparities. Our analysis has found key differences in:

  • Age: 61.4% of custodial fathers with a formal child support agreement in place are 40 years old or older, while only 5.7% are under 30 years old.
  • Race and ethnicity: White, non-Hispanic fathers make up 57.2% of those with child support agreements.
  • Education: Custodial fathers with some college education (but no bachelor’s degree) are more likely to have a child support agreement (33.4%) than high school graduates (30.6%), and those with bachelor’s degrees or higher (27.5%).
  • Employment: A large majority (73.3%) of custodial fathers with a child support agreement in place work full-time (which is slightly higher than the number of custodial fathers without a child support agreement (72.8%)).
  • Marital status: Divorced fathers are much more likely to have a child support agreement in place (37.5%) than separated fathers (5.3%).

Our analysis uncovered numerous other key factors. For example, fathers with three or more children are twice as likely to have arranged a child support agreement than fathers with less than three children.

58.1% of fathers with a child support agreement benefit from some form of public aid, in particular free or reduced-price school lunches. And yet so many custodial fathers are not getting other kinds of support to which they’re entitled.

As our study reveals, only 5.5% of custodial fathers with child support agreements participate in WIC programs (a special supplemental nutrition program that provides key foods to low-income families).

Only 5.4% receive public housing assistance, and less still (5%) take advantage of money-saving energy assistance programs. Non-working custodial fathers make up just 10.2% of those with child support agreements, and custodial fathers who left education before high school represent 8.5% of those with child support agreements.

Two Thirds of Custodial Fathers Have No Formal Child Support Agreement

The vast majority (66.6%, or 2,014,000) of custodial fathers in the U.S. don’t have a child support agreement. Only 5.3% of separated fathers have arranged a child support agreement.

And our analysis also shows that black custodial fathers are far less likely to have a child support agreement in place than white, non-Hispanic custodial fathers. Just 14.4% of those fathers with child support agreements are black; yet black custodial fathers make up 21.8 % of those without one.

White non-Hispanic fathers make up 57.2% of those with child support agreements, and only 52.4% of those without. Additionally, Hispanic custodial fathers account for 20.1% of those with child support agreements, but 24.1% of those without.

Overall, the data clearly revealed two particular things. Firstly, for those custodial fathers with child support agreements, more need to be made aware of all available benefits.

Secondly, custodial fathers without child support agreements need to be made more aware of what’s available to them so they can claim the support they need. Better transparency regarding information and service outreach to minorities is essential.

It may well be the case that the way child support agreements are implemented needs to be improved. Ultimately, we at Delino Family Law Group understand the importance and urgency of policies and resources that are appropriate and sufficient for custodial fathers and their families.

With two-thirds of custodial fathers lacking formal child support agreements, our study clarifies the issues around custodial father support, the delivery of which affects the financial and emotional stability of millions of families across the United States.