When Parents Fail: Addressing Delinquent Child Maintenance Through Informal Resources

Abstract

The success rate using formal mechanisms by Ghanaian social workers to ensure the best outcomes for the child when there is default in child maintenance payments is low; hence the need to explore other strategies. The objective of this research was to explore informal support resources that could be helpful to families involved with social services on delinquent child maintenance (DCM). Guided by a practice research approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 17 parents involved with a regional-level social service organization in Ghana. Their narratives were analyzed thematically using the NVivo software. Findings revealed that DCM is a problem for both sexes. Parents reported information, financial, and material support from relatives and neighbors to be relevant resources in addressing the problem. The study’s findings suggest the need for social workers to focus on informal support when addressing DCM and emphasize parental roles as situation-based not gender-based.

Introduction: Special Issue on Global Approaches to Family Social Work Research

“…This systematic review by Toros touches on a very important aspect of child protection services and the need to study further the reasons behind the research findings. Manful et al (2021) explore the informal alternatives to formal means of addressing parents who default in paying for the upkeep of their children after parental separation in Ghana. In their article, "When Parents Fail: Addressing Delinquent Child Maintenance Through Informal Resources," the authors describe how in-depth interviews of parents working with a social service institution in Ghana were organized with the help of social work practitioners to find the common themes among them and what informal resources exist to address the problem of delinquent child maintenance.…”