No. B-69 in Series, "New Federalism: National Survey of America's Families"
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In 2002, 4.7 million children lived apart from their mothers, up from 3.7 million in 1997. Understanding who these mothers are and how their children are faring is important for social policy in general and, specifically, for the child support program. Despite their large and growing numbers and policy relevance, nonresident mothers and their children have remained largely under the radar.1 Considerable research has been devoted to understanding nonresident fathers and their children, but this literature does not necessarily offer insight into nonresident mothers and their support of nonresident children.
This brief provides a national portrait of nonresident mothers and their children, contrasting them with nonresident fathers and their children. The brief uses data from the 2002 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF), one of the few nationally representative surveys with data on nonresident mothers. It shows that nonresident mothers have demographic characteristics similar to nonresident fathers but differ in two important ways: nonresident mothers are more likely to be living with some of their children than nonresident fathers, and fewer nonresident mothers are working. Most children who live apart from their mothers do not receive child support, but these children tend to live in economically secure families. Children living apart from both their parents, however, experience relatively high rates of poverty and, depending on the circumstances of these arrangements, may benefit from increased child support enforcement.
Notes from this section of the report
1. Throughout this brief we refer to parents who are not living with their children as "nonresident." These parents have responded affirmatively to a question in the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) that asks, "Do you have any children under 18 years of age living outside of this household?"
The NSAF includes a household roster that identifies whether the biological or adoptive parents
of the focal child are usual residents in the household. If either parent is missing from the household roster, the survey asks the most knowledgeable adult (MKA) of the focal child the following questions: "Does (child) have a mother who lives somewhere else?" and "Does (child) have a father who lives somewhere else?" If the MKA says yes to either question, then the MKA is referred to as a "resident" parent or non-parental caregiver. This means, however, that a child is only identified as having a nonresident parent if a parent is missing from the household roster and the MKA answers affirmatively to the questions about a parent living elsewhere.
If a child is living with a stepparent and neither biological or adoptive parent is in the household, we consider this stepparent a "non-parental" caregiver. Stepparents are not "legal" parents in the sense that they do not have custodial rights nor do they have the legal obligation to financially provide for their stepchildren. Thus, it seemed more appropriate to classify them as relative caregivers than parents.
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