Document Type
Journal Article
Faculty
Faculty of Computing, Health and Science
School
School of Psychology and Social Science
RAS ID
14172
Abstract
One in three Australian marriages end in divorce, and over half of such divorces involve children. Research indicates that men tend to repartner within 1 to 2 years of a divorce and women within 3 to 5 years. A significant issue for repartnered men is the provision of financial support for children from both their first and second families. Although only 6% of all Australian first family children spend near/equal time (shared care) after divorce with both parents, fathers in Australia are mandated under child support legislation to provide financial support for their first family children, whether they reside with them or not. However, it is argued by this study's nonresidential fathers that the Child Support Agency, when considering the level of financial support for first family children, tends to overlook the needs of second family children, thus creating an advantaged and disadvantaged set of siblings. This finding is reviewed through a distributive justice theory lens. Finally, some future directions for research aimed at exploring the impact of Child Support Legislation on second families are suggested.
DOI
10.1080/01494929.2012.714721
Access Rights
free_to_read
Comments
This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of: Stambulich, D., Pooley, J. , Gately, N. J., & Taylor, M. F. (2012). "Some of My Children Are Worth More Than Others": Perceptions of Nonresidential Fathers with Second Families as to the Fairness of the Australian Child Support Agency's Handling of First Family Child Support Financial Arrangements. Marriage and Family Review, 48(8), 769-791.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Marriage & Family Review on 2012,available online: here