Child Maintenance Policies in Iceland: Caring Mothers and Breadwinning Fathers
| Published date | 01 December 2012 |
| Author | Hrefna Friðriksdóttir,Guðný Björk Eydal |
| DOI | 10.1177/138826271201400404 |
| Date | 01 December 2012 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
European Jour nal of Social Secu rity, Volume 14 (2012), No. 4 267
CHILD MAINTENANCE POLICIES
IN ICELAND: CARING MOTHERS
AND BREADWINNING FATHERS
G B E* and H F**
Abstract
Iceland is one of the Nordic countries that are kno wn for their extensive welfare states.
Like the other Nordic countries, Iceland has a child maintenance regime, d ealing
with issues such as allocation of responsibility, asse ssment of the level of obligation,
and the payment and collection of chil d maintenance. In contrast to the other Nordic
countries, the development of child and family law, and changes in family forms,
have only been taken into consideration to a very limited extent when it comes to
the child maintenance regime in Iceland . e system, which has remained basically
unchanged since it was established in 1946, requires non-resident parents to pay
a specied minimum amount to the parent with care, regardle ss of circumstances,
such as their nancial situ ation or the level of contact they have with their children.
is article examine s the characteristics of the child maintenance regime in Icel and
by looking at how maintenance payment s are assessed for families in dierent
situations. Current debates about the contemporary system are also di scussed and
a proposal for substantial changes, whic h is currently under consideration, is br iey
considered.
Keywords: child maintenance; care provision; father; Iceland ; mother
1. INTRODUCTION
Iceland is one of the Nordic countries, someti mes referred to as the Scandi navian
countries, that are k nown for their extensive welfare states. e Icelandic welfare
* Guðný Björk Eydal is Profes sor in the Faculty of So cial Work, University of Iceland . Address: Oddi
v/ Sturlugotu, 101 Reykjav ík, Iceland; phone: +354–525 –4258; e-mail: ge@h i.is.
** Hrefna Friðri ksdóttir is Assoc iate Professor in the Facult y of Law, University of Iceland. Address :
Gimli v/ Sæmund argötu, 101 Reykjavík, Ice land; phone: +354–525–5974; e-mail: h refnafr@hi.is .
Guðný Björk Eydal and Href na Friðriksdót tir
268 Intersenti a
state developed along the lines of t he Nordic welfare model (Ólafsson 1999) and,
because of Nordic co-operation on issues of fam ily law, Icelandic family law is dened
as a part of the Nordic legal family (Melby et al. 1999, erborn 1993). However,
despite these close connections, the Icelandic welfare state has been less generous
than those of the ot her Nordic countries, and consequently Icelandic families with
children have enjoyed less public support (Bradshaw and Hatla nd 2008; Eydal and
Ólafsson 2008).
e struggle for gender equa lity during the 20th century led to ma rked changes in
the status and roles of mothers a nd fathers in Iceland. e labour market par ticipation
of Icelandic mothers is among the hig hest in the world, and Icelandic fathers have
been increasing their participation in the ca re of their children in recent times, as
is evident, for example, from the higher proportion of paid parental leave taken by
fathers in Iceland tha n by fathers in other Nordic countries (Eydal and Gísla son 2008).
is shi towards a dual income model has, in turn, inuenced the development of
family law, resulting in a n increasing emphasis on enabling both parents to share
the responsibility for and ca re of their children. ese cha nges are in line with
developments in most Western countries (Skinner et al. 2007). Yet, while other
Western countries have reviewed and reformed their laws and procedures on child
maintenance, the Icelandic child maintenance regime has changed very litt le since it
was established in 1946 .
is article examines the child maintenance regime in relation to circumstances
where children do not live with bot h parents. Child maintenance refers to mandatory
payments made by the non-resident parent to the parent with care, i n accordance
with Article54 of the Act in Respect of Children (No. 76/2003). Child maintenance
regime refers to the body of law that applies to issues relating to decisions about,
and the payment and collect ion of, child maintenance. e generosity of the child
maintenance regime w ill be discussed and the question of whether it plays a role in
preventing poverty will be addressed. e characteristics of the regime are explored
by examining how mai ntenance payments are calculated for families in dierent
situations, using vig nettes. Finally, the current debate about the contemporary
system is discussed and a proposal for introducing substantial changes is outli ned.1
e results presented in this article are based on ana lysis of Nordic law and legal
documents, as well as statistical data from the European Union Survey of Incomes
and Livi ng Conditions (EU-SILC) and from St atistics Iceland.
1 e authors of this art icle were both members of the com mittee that dra ed the proposed changes
to the child ma intenance regime.
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