1
U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Commerce
Economics and Statistics Administration
U.S. CENSUS BUREAU
Issued October 2000
P60-212
Child Support for Custodial
Mothers and Fathers
Consumer Income
By Timothy Grall
U S C E N S U S B U R E A U
Helping You Make Informed Decisions
Current
Population
Reports
Demographic Programs
1997
Custodial parents numbered
14 million in 1998.
In spring 1998, an estimated 14.0 million
parents had custody of 22.9 million chil-
dren under 21 years of age whose other
parent lived elsewhere. Custodial mothers
represented 85.1 percent of all custodial
parents while the remaining 14.9 percent
were fathers, statistically unchanged since
1994. See Table A. About 25.8 percent of
all children under 21 living in families had
a parent not living in the home.
More custodial parents worked,
and participation in public
programs declined, compared
with 1993.
The proportion of custodial
parents employed in full-time,
year-round jobs increased from
45.6 percent to 51.4 percent
between 1993 and 1997.1 Al-
though the percentage of
custodial mothers working full-
time increased from 40.9 per-
cent to 46.9 percent during
this time, they were still less
likely than custodial fathers to
be employed full-time
(76.9 percent in 1997). An ad-
ditional 31.7 percent of custo-
dial mothers and 16.8 percent
of custodial fathers worked
part-time during 1997. See
Figure 1.
As employment increased,
reliance on public assistance
NOTE: This report presents data on parents with children
whose other parent is not living with the family. It focuses on
the child support income that custodial parents reported receiv-
ing during the calendar year prior to the survey, as well as other
support provided, such as health insurance and noncash sup-
port. Because child support is frequently ordered until a child is
21 years old or completes college, this report specifically in-
cludes own children under 21, rather than the usual definition
used by the Census Bureau of children under 18 years of age.
Some children livin