Drawing on the findings of a small-scale qualitative survey of those affected by the Child Support Act 1991 - parents, new partners, child support officers and solicitors - this thesis focuses on the impact of this legislation on families, especially new families, concluding that financial, employment and family situations are complex and diverse and that the mechanistic and inflexible formula-based regulations introduced by the Act have failed to support children. Whilst acknowledging the real problems faced by lone parent families, this research argues that plans for reform pay insufficient attention to the fact that this issue increasingly affects two parent families, as couples separate and recombine, and that this omission has major implications for policy proposals in this area. The background to and history of child maintenance, in the context of the British welfare state, is examined, along with the fiscal crisis faced by the existing income-maintenance system. In addition, the multifarious pressures that are currently placed on the family - as regards being both the source of and the solution to the crisis in modern society - are revealed, exposing the dilemmas that face separating couples when reaching decisions about their children's futture. The current debate on poverty measurement is considered and the sample group are described in terms of the most commonly used indicators as well as in their own perceptions. The results of the research show that child welfare is a high priority - especially if considered in a wider than financial context - and that there is considerable support for community responsibility in this area. Having considered the child support systems in other countries, and with reference to the issues that policy is designed to address, proposals which embrace the welfare of all children are advanced as the starting point for meaningful child support reform.

Magister Legum - LLM

L’aggravation des besoins en matière de vieillesse, de dépendance, de handicap, d’isolement et d’exclusion en général, exacerbe les tensions entre solidarités familiales et solidarités collectives. Partout, la crise des solidarités inquiète : crise des solidarités familiales d’une part, en raison de l’individualisme et de la liberté qui fragilisent les responsabilités familiales, crise des solidarités collectives d’autre part, au regard des difficultés économiques et sociales de l’État-providence. L’articulation entre la solidarité familiale et la solidarité collective est une question centrale des politiques sociales et familiales menées par les États modernes. Le discours contemporain témoigne d’une redécouverte des solidarités familiales et d’une mise en valeur de la fonction économique de la famille, au travers des institutions juridiques de l’obligation alimentaire et de la transmission du patrimoine. L’attention portée aux solidarités de proximité vise à pallier la fragilisation des dispositifs de protection issus de la solidarité collective, ici entendue comme l’ensemble des aides sociales et des prestations non contributives de sécurité sociale. L’articulation de la solidarité familiale et de la solidarité collective interroge le législateur sur la place respective à assigner à la famille et à l’État dans la prise en charge de la personne dans le besoin. Cette étude propose de mettre en évidence le glissement d’un système d’articulation édifié sur la subsidiarité de la solidarité collective par rapport à la solidarité familiale vers un modèle fondé sur la complémentarité de la solidarité familiale et de la solidarité collective. Dans cette perspective, la thèse se propose d’étudier l’impact sur les solidarités familiales, des recours et des récupérations exercés par la collectivité contre les débiteurs alimentaires et les transmissions patrimoniales. / The increasing needs related to old age, dependency, disability, loneliness and more broadly exclusion leads to a tension’s exacerbationbetween family solidarities and collective solidarities. The solidarity crisis is a matter of concern as we observea familial solidarities crisis created by individualism and freedom leading to a weakening of familial liabilities and a collective solidarities crisis created by the welfare state’s economic difficulties. Thus, balance between familial and collective solidarities is a key issue regarding social policies conducted by modern States. The contemporary vision brings up the idea of a rediscovery of familial solidarities and an increasing role given to the economic role of the family through legal institutions such as the maintenance obligation and the assets transmission. The attention given to local solidarities tends to correct the weakening of collective solidarities, defined as the set of social supports and free social security benefits. The balance between familial solidarities and collective solidarities brings lawmaker to re think the role of State and family in regards of a person in need. This study demonstrates that solidarities are drifting from a system balanced by the subsidiarity between collective solidarity and familial solidarity to a new model based on complementarity between familial and collective solidarity. From that perspective, this thesis assesses the impact of familial solidarities, remedies and recoveries used by collectivities against food debtors and transmission of assets.