While there are many aspects involved in raising children in split families, we will focus on the resources available to both custodial and non-custodial parents. Custodial parents have a vast network of resources to ensure that they receive the child support they are entitled to for raising their children. There are far less resources for non-custodial parents who only seek to be an active part of their children’s lives.

The offices of Child Support Enforcement in every state are federally funded to secure and enforce payment of child support. They are given a lot of authority to enforce the child support orders to include taking away the non-custodial parents’ drivers and/or business licenses, having them arrested for non-payment, and even reporting their default of payment to the credit bureaus (http://ww.acf.dh

hs.gov/programs/cse). These enforcement offices can basically ruin a non-custodial parent’s life for not fulfilling their financial obligations to their children.

The National Institutes of Health funded a research project, the National Survey of Families and Households, which surveyed over 13,000 people in 1987. Braver, Fenaughty, and Wolchik reviewed this survey in-depth and found that children’s contact with their non-custodial parent was not always in their best interests (230-38). However, the survey’s findings also show that when there is little or no conflict between parents, there is a decrease in behavioral problems when contact is encouraged and allowed. Hence, the importance of non-custodial parents active involvement in their children’s daily activities. The Children's Rights Council, one of very few organizations that stress the significance of active relationships between children and their non-custodial parent, released statistics at their 1993 Candlelight Vigil and estimated that over six million children were having their visitation denied or interfered with by the custodial parent (http://members.tripod.com/epweek/denyaccess.html).

Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. 93.597 Grants to States for Access and Visitation Programs. United States federal Government: General Services Administration, 2002. Website Address: http://www.cfda.gov/public/viewprog.asp?progid=1294

What comes to mind when

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