FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2002
Mike Bergman CB02-137
Public Information Office
(301) 763-3030/457-3670 (fax)
(301) 457-1037 (TDD) Detailed tables
e-mail: pio@census.gov Quotes & radio sound bites
Proportion of Single Moms in Poverty and
on Welfare Declines, Census Bureau Reports
The proportion of custodial mothers taking part in the nation's public
assistance programs -- a ratio of 4-in-5 are single -- fell from 26
percent to 11 percent over six years, according to a new report on child
support released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.
"Employment rates for custodial parents grew since 1993, with more than
half working full-time in 1999," said Timothy Grall, author of
Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 1999. [PDF 99.6kb]
"At the same time, the proportion of mothers and their children living in
poverty dropped 8 percentage points, to about 3-in-10 families."
The report also shows that, after increasing to 46 percent between 1993
and 1997, the proportion of custodial parents due support payments who
received the full amount did not change significantly between 1997 and
1999.
Other highlights:
- In spring 2000, an estimated 13.5 million parents had custody of
21.7 million children who were under age 21 and whose other parent
lived elsewhere. Of all custodial parents, 85 percent were mothers
and 15 percent were fathers.
- More than 60 percent of custodial mothers and 39 percent of
fathers had child support agreed on or awarded to them as of April
2000.
- Custodial mothers received about 60 percent of the support due to
them in 1999, while custodial fathers collected almost 48 percent.
- Custodial mothers who received any child support payments received
an average of $3,800 in 1999; fathers averaged $3,200.
- Despite the 7-percentage-point decline in poverty for all
custodial-parent families, the 26 percent rate remained about four
times higher than the rate for married-couple families with related
children in 1999 (6 percent).
The data were collected from the April 2000 supplement to the Current
Population Survey, cosponsored by the Census Bureau and the Department of
Health and Human Services' Office of Child Support Enforcement. Statistics
from sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.
available free from Adobe.
