Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1916. / "Issued also by the Department of Public Welfare, City of Chicago, 1916." Bibliography: p. [68]-73.

The present study examines welfare problems of desertion of one parent of either sex, from the standpoint of both public and private welfare agencies. Deserted families come to the attention of welfare societies because of economic need, marital problems, and maladjusted children in their homes. The public agency may provide (a) temporary financial assistance while endeavouring to contact the deserter, and (b) protection services for the children in the home. Generally, the focus of the private agency is on (a) the marital problem and (b) the preservation of the home for the children, as well as (c) the exploration of resources within the community. Frequently, however, permanent plans can not be worked out due to the sporadic periods of desertion, and the family situation continues to deteriorate. This study is based on thirty records of deserted families from the Family Welfare Bureau of Vancouver, and twenty-five public agency records relating to Regina, from the Child Welfare Branch of Saskatchewan. The sample was confined to cases in which temporary or permanent desertion appeared to be the focal problem; and, in all cases studied, there were children in the home. The material used includes the files kept by the agencies on each case. The cases were studied and evaluated from three welfare viewpoints. The contact of the private or public agency on the deserter is vitally important for its influence on the outcome of the home situation; nevertheless, it is difficult to assess it, because the type of recording does not usually lend itself to a detailed analysis of the reaction between the client and the worker. The effects of desertion in the financial area can be evaluated in a more objective manner, from the effects on the family and the methods by which economic assistance were given. The third part of the study examines what happens to children in homes broken by desertion. From the group surveyed, children from twenty-five families were placed temporarily or permanently for periods varying from three months to permanent wardship (twenty-one years in Saskatchewan). The financial cost of the dependency of these children for each family studied would approximate $2400.00 per family. But this does not take into consideration the cost of maintaining the broken families on a public assistance level, nor the costs of lives damaged by desertion. There is evidence that the problems inherent in homes broken by desertion could be helped by (a) education for marriage, (b) better professional guidance from social and legal agencies, and (c) an expanding and more effective, community programme for family groups. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Lausanne.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1922. / Reprinted from The journal of delinquency, Sept.-Nov. 1922. Bibliography: p. 329-333.

The purpose of this study has been to review desertion legislation; and to examine social work participation in the administration of desertion laws. The key question posed is: Does legislation work in dealing with cases of desertion? In order to gather answers to the key question, pertinent legislation is reviewed. Included is: (a) The Canadian Criminal Code; (b) maintenance legislation of the provinces of Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia; (c) common law remedies; and (d) certain English and American laws which pertain to desertion. To gain an understanding of the policies and problems of administering desertion legislation, interviews were held with those who are working daily with eases of desertion and non-support. Interviewed were; Judges of the Family Court, Magistrates, police, probation officers, provincial and municipal social welfare administrators, and social workers. The Family Court is the acknowledge authority in dealing with problems of desertion. Because of this, its policies were used as a guide in reviewing the procedures followed by other social welfare agencies throughout British Columbia. This study suggests that; (a) certain minor revisions would strengthen the British Columbia Wives' and Children's Maintenance Act; (b) desertion Is as much a social problem as a legal problem; (c) social workers would be well advised to consider taking a more active part in court cases involving desertion; (d) in the final analysis a man cannot be forced to support his dependents if he wilfully refuses; and (e) skillful social work help can assist many deserters to assume their maintenance responsibilities. / Arts, Faculty of / Social Work, School of / Graduate

This study is premised on the plight of custodial women, who sometimes complain about lack of financial support and the physical absence or disengagement of non-custodial fathers in the lives of their children after divorce. A notable number of non-custodial fathers in the KSD Municipal area have been identified through this study to be disengaging themselves physically from the lives of their children after divorce. The research analysis point to a number of compelling factors for post-divorce paternal disengagement.The research study is an exploratory study in which a mixed method of both qualitative and quantitative research design have been utilised. The researcher was interested in using qualifying words and the use of statistical analysis to describe the father disengagement phenomenon. The hypothesis for this study is: psychological, social and structural factors contribute to the disengagement of non-custodial fathers after divorce. The researcher drew up a sample which Bailey (1982) defines as a subset or portion of the total population. The researcher selected respondents according to the purposive sample which Rubin and Babbie (1993:259) defines as a type of non-probability sampling method in which the researcher uses his own judgement in the selection of respondents. In sampling, 30 respondents who are non-custodial parents were selected to participate in the study. Disengaged non-custodial father was the unit of analysis.The data was collected by means of administering questionnaires and voice recordings. The researcher also utilized in-depth interviews as stated by Boyce and Neale (2006) as being useful when you want detailed information about a person’s thoughts and behaviours, or when the researcher wants to explore new ideas in-depth. The latter approach is most appropriate in qualitative data collection. However, data was analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively.The findings of the study have in many ways answered questions the researcher has been curious about. The ex-wives’ feelings, in-laws, lack of residence, lack of communication between the divorced parents, remarriages, a child or children’s refusal to meet his/her father after divorce have been cited by the respondents as mitigating factors to non-custodial father disengagement. The psychological state of the divorced parties, that of anger, depression, overwhelmed by parenting alone or anxiety or distraught emotional state all form psychological factors. The latter factors were found not to be properly managed well and have often resulted in post-divorce father disengagement. The emotional pain by the non-custodial fathers of not seeing their children for a long time even demonstrates that structural challenges are also contributing factors to post-divorce father disengagement.In the light of the above findings the researcher would recommended mandatory counseling for parenting after divorce, expansion of the family advocate office, provision of a national program for divorced men, creating positive pictures of fatherhood through the media, incorporation of fatherhood or parenthood into the curriculum in our institutions of higher learning and mobilization of men at all levels to take position actions in remedying the experience of divorce.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1922. / Reprinted from The journal of delinquency, Sept.-Nov. 1922. Bibliography: p. 329-333.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-73). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-73). Also available on the Internet.

Research has shown that both males and females agree that child-support payments should be consistent. However, census bureau data has indicated that nonpayment of child support is a significant problem in the United States. This study investigated the ways in which females make sense of the phenomenon of child support nonpayment via the construction of personal narratives.Ten adult females were interviewed to obtain stories of child-support nonpayment. The interviews were recorded and transcribed and discrete narratives were isolated for analysis. The constant comparative method was used to compare and contrast the data in order to discover the themes inherent to the process of sense-making through the construction of personal narratives.The analysis revealed three categories of narratives of child-support nonpayment: Action, Coping, and Prescriptive. The findings suggested that each of the categories revealed salient dimensions (i.e., themes) inherent to those categories. Furthermore, these themes were utilized to assign meaning to, and hence make sense of, the experience of child-support nonpayment. / Department of Speech Communication