Introduction to Child Maintenance Schemes across Five Countries
| Published date | 01 December 2012 |
| Date | 01 December 2012 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/138826271201400401 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
222 Intersenti a
INTRODUCTION TO CHILD MAINTENANCE
SCHEMES ACROSS FIVE COUNTRIES
C S*, JD**
and M H***
1. INTRODUCTION
e aim of this speci al issue is to provide new research evidence on child ma intenance
schemes in ve dierent countries, as well as produce a new comparative ana lysis of
that research to show how child maintena nce outcomes dier internationally. e data
are collected using a v ignette technique which sets up ctit ious families in controlled
scenarios in order to explore key factors such as how child maintenance schemes
across countries deal with lone parent families on low incomes; changes in parents’
employment patterns; divorcing fami lies on middle incomes; and reconstituted
cohabiting famil ies where a new child is born to the father in a subs equent relationship
following divorce. e vignet te technique has proven to be a highly succes sful research
method in mak ing international comparisons of child maintena nce schemes and the
authors follow the earlier work of Corden (2001) and Skinner et al.(2007). is special
issue comprises ve detailed country papers, al l of which provide new evidence and
can be read as stand alone case studies. Alongside these, t he nal paper provides a new
comparative analysis of ch ild maintenance outcomes using purchasing power paritie s
in US dollars ($ppp). e comparative analysis also ex plores the important but tricky
question of who is expected to pay chi ld maintenance in dierent family scenarios
(the state or the parent), and touches on whether and how child maintenance s chemes
might interact with social benet schemes. Other important questions are a lso
* Dr Christi ne Skinner is a Sen ior Lecturer in So cial Policy, University of York. Addre ss: Department
of Social Polic y and Social Work, Univers ity of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK;
phone: +44 1904–321251; e-mail: c hristine.sk inner@york.ac.u k.
** Dr Jacqueline Dav idson was, until recent ly, a Research Fellow in the Socia l Policy Research Unit,
University of York.
*** Dr Mia Hakovi rta is a Senior L ecturer in S ocial Policy at t he Depart ment of Social Res earch,
University of Turku. Addres s: Depart ment of Social Rese arch, University of Turku, F I-20014,
Finland; phone: +358–2–333 6213; e-mail: m iahak@utu. .
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