y:
from: f Capitol: Woman", a newsletter
of the Michigan Hou Committee on
Constitutional Revision and Women's
RiPtJ
SI G - recent inform tion
rele by the tional Cenference of
State Legislatures CSL has focused
on the . ue of "Poverty: The Effect of
onsupport,"
Leading off ith the thought pro 0-
tatement that "If current trend
continue mother and their "children
compo almost 1 00 percent of the
po erty p pulation by the year 2000:
the arti Ie re ei recent r rch on the
jrnp ct of divorce on omen and child-
ren.
the decade of the 90's approach
the ine or ble mov to rd m .
po erty n elusively fern nd child
conditi n b mar ed b le t n
50 per ent of children ndin their
entir childh d ith both parents and
5 per ent 0 th chi dren ith
e p r nt livin ith their mothers,
ith th intr ductory ta th
report e plore the vari u myths
urrounding di rce nd po rty.
or e mple th myth of the tradi-
tional en n family of four with
in the uburb nd amother ho
r in the home is e ily put to re t
with data indic tin th t:
o
-Fifty percent of the mother in
America wor outsi de the home.
=Forty-three percent of the married
women who are working ha e children
under the ge of . .
-Twenty percent of all children
under the e of 10 or 18 million child
ren live in sing parent home .
Obviously, the definition of the 'typ
ical" American family need to be
rewritten to more accur tely reflect that
the reality f cin women nd children
today.
A SECOND MYTH is that men ho
are divorced do not fare well financially
becau they are "strapped with main
tenance or pport p yment ."
Data ugge that this myth I far
from reality: one year after divorce a
oman' andard of living decrea
73 percent, bile a man' andard of
li . increased 42 percent.
omen in median income familie
( 20 000 to 29,000) have a post-divorce
income that i le than 50 percent of
their income while married.
t the same time, men ho are po -
di orce in this same income range ha
a living ndard that· 97 percent of
their pre-divorce andard.
Thi pattern of gro disparity in
tandard of living doe not appear to b
ffected by the pa e of time: Yen
year after divorce, a oman' tandard
of living ha remained in a decline, and
e i . ely to be e perien . g declin
of 29 percent in term of income avail
able to meet ba ·c needs.
At the same time the man who i
po t-di rce h e perienced a 17 p rcent
incre in his economic position.
E CE,O A 0 i
only awarded in 14 percent of the case ,
hi e child upport is only awarded in
59.1 percent of the c here children
are involved.
But, even if child upport i ordered
'it is e imated that 28 percent of all
farnilie do not receive the ordered pay
ment while another 23 percent only
receive partial p yment.
DECE SER 14 - 20, 1983 THE CITIZE
PAGE 3
Dat from 1978 from the U . D -
partment of Commerce indicate that th
avera e amount of upport J i800
to 2300 per year for two children. Thu ,
there can be no b . for continuing to
pport the myth that mo divorced
omen receive all of their income from
child support or elfare paymen .
According to the Friend of the
Court A . tion, Stati . al Report,
1982, the d ta in i higan are no be ter.
In 1982, in reportin countie the
- a rage child upport order ranged from
payment in dditi I to her p bli
an e grant b au child upport
is used to off t the grant.
A FIFTH
YTH IS THAT
mothers can m
payments.
. . simply not
econ my wh re omen earn on e
avera e 59 cnet for every 1 earned b
up for 10
m .
objecting to gregated
St. Louis. In 1980 Senior .s. i ri t
Judge James eredith ordered limited
busin for de gregation within the ci y.
Hungate, who too over th c
ilj
ASH I GTO D.C.- Congre
man ar Siljander (R - Thr e Ri er
i the 10 e rated member of the
. chigan congressi onal dele ti n
ccording to an article in The ichigan
obilizer, the CP ne etter.
The CP took the ranking of
privately funded non-parti con-
ultin fum Congr ional Edu tion
ccordin to that fum Senator
Donald Riegle and Carl Levin ored
5 percent and 90 percent respecti ely
on ey minority roll call ote.
The verage Senate re 50 per-
10 of 12.82 per in Ot
Crawford and Kalka Counties to a
high of 57 per wee in ayne County,
with mo counti s grouped t pproxi
mately 20 per week aver ge upport
ordered.
FOURTH MYTH is that Aid to
F amilie with Dependent Children
( FDC is the • remedy for the femini
zation of po erty."
Data confirm that thi i simply not
true.
The 3 million omen and 7.2 million
children who compri e the families on
AFOC, pend an aver e of 18 m nth
on a istan e.
In 30 percent of the ses the
m ther i wor ing, in addition to re eiv-
ing ist n e.
The average family size of n FDC
c se in j higan i 1.91 members ith an
rage payment per hou eh Id of
367.92 per month in fi cal ye r 1983.
This represents decrea in ver-
monthly income from high of
380.87 per month in fi cal ye r ] 9 2.
If a worn n receives FDC, she is
not eligible to receive child support
In 1980 bite head of
household ere or-
in had medl n nnual income of
11 900.
nd Hispani omen h
ere similarly ituated h d a median
annual in orne of 900.
I f a oman children are youn �
her median in ome is oin to be e en
Ie : white ith children und r
00
income
partrnent of Labor p erty 1 ndard
8, 00 per family of three.
The c nclusi none rn
fr rn the foregoing d ta re in
not on1y are om n and children in th
f ste t gro ing p erty group but their
conditi n i be in e cerabated
courts hich order rel ti el I up
port p yment i they ordered t
II nd a failure t enforce th up rt
orders on e they are III de.
Appeals court hears S
•
Louis desegregation case
Tim ry
from The 'ational Leader
ST. LOUIS - An unu at gathering
of all 10 judges of the 8th UiS. Circuit
Court of ppe ha heard argument
in leg 1 sho down over th landmar
St. Louis school desegr tion ca •
The judges eduled an extraordi-
nary 0 hour of arguments.
F voting the plan i the St. Loui
Bo rd of Education, the AACP nd
001 eli ric in suburban St. Loui
County.
The mo outspoken opponent h
been ttomey General J obn A croft
ho obj t to a pro . . n that the tate
p y mo of the plan' co Ashcroft
attended the hearing but did not argu
th t te' ca .
Under the plan, which went into
effect thi fall inner<ity Blac s are
110 ed voluntarily to tr nsfer to pre
dominantly whit hools in burban
t. Loui county.
By 1988 s many
expected
Education experts nationwide have
id theagreement, approved July 5 by
U.S. District Judge William Hungate,
i tbe largest voluntary school desegrega
tion effort in the U.S.
Hungate ordered the plan to go into
effect this fall, when nearly 3 000 u
dent volunt rily transferring to n
schools. Enrollment in the 56 000 stu
dent city publi hool system is more
than 75 percent Bia .
But the appeal court this fall ban-
ned further tran en until the ate'
objection ere heard. The court is ex
pected to decide the in January.
The city of St. Loui oppo s a sec
tion of the plan giving the courts po er
to order tax increa s to help pay for the
plan.
That provi . on a believed to have
been factor in the defeat this month
of a hool bond . e. Hungate had
ordered the election in n effort to rai
money to fIX deterior ted school build-
be au of eredith ill hIt r
ruled that the limited plan h d f il d to
de gregate th hoo. H� rdered
a tudy of plan for metropoli n h 1
de grega ti n.
cent. ·chigan' Hou member a er
a ed 58 percent 0 erall.
ichigan Republican ored
a e of 43 percen compar to
36 percent for all of the Hou mem-
ber the CP report .
. dugan Democr t re
gr ter n ·tivity to min rity . ue
orin an e e of percent.
Howard olpe and Dal . d
scored perfect r tin
The t 0 Blac Congre en, John
Conye and Geo e Croc ett red
75 per ent and 90 per ctl -
ly.