Divorce and the American Family: Its Problems and Effects

In society today, divorce is becoming a way of life for many people. Millions of children have been a part of divorced families since 1972. It is estimated that over one third of the nation's children will be affected by divorce before the age of 18.

At each level of society, it appears that families are trying to make their marriages work. It is felt sometimes that parents should stay together "for the sake of the children". However, if divorce is unavoidable, older children are sometimes called upon to participate in the divorce process to determine custody. Legally, one parent gets custody and makes most of the decisions, while the other supports the children financially. Socially, a family no longer shares a household, but may have two homes to live in at different times.

Until the 20^th Century, custody usually went to the fathers. Today, this has changed. Ninety percent of the time the mothers receive custody of their children. Some people, however, feel joint custody is better, the best of both worlds, and works best for the children involved. Most often today, custody is given to mothers because fathers do not want the responsibility of primary custody.

Today, child support is a big issue in the United States. A government survey taken by the US Census Bureau, discovered that only 40.7% of divorced parents were receiving child support. The father's excuse often is that he doesn't get to see the children often enough. They feel that visitation determines whether or not they pay their support or not. This, as we know the law to be now, is not the case. Fathers are saying that if the government wants to take money out of their pay for not paying child support, they will not see the children at all. In this case, the children are the ones who suffer the most. The lack of clothes and food means that there is nowhere else for the mother to go except welfare; if she is unable to support her children on her own financially.