A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
Single mothers and the child support system in Finland
Authors: Haapanen Mari, Hakovirta Mia
Editors: Cook Kay, Meysen Thomas, Byrt Adrienne
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.
Publishing place: Cheltenham
Publication year: 2024
Book title : Single Parents and Child Support Systems : An International Comparison
Journal name in source: Single Parents and Child Support Systems
Series title: New Horizons in Social Policy Series
First page : 92
Last page: 108
Number of pages: 246
ISBN: 978-1-80088-239-3
eISBN: 978-1-80088-240-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800882409.00011
Web address : https://www.elgaronline.com/edcollchap/book/9781800882409/book-part-9781800882409-11.xml
In Finland, most single mothers provide for themselves through paid work and thus, they have not been morally stigmatised. Nonetheless, single mothers are economically disadvantaged and have high poverty rates. The most common living arrangement for children post separation is that the child lives with the mother. However, the number of children having shared care - where a child lives an almost equal time with each parent in post-separation - has increased over the years. Child support forms a small amount of single mothers’ income, and non-compliance is a core issue. Cross-nationally the amount of orders and received child support is relatively low. In cases of non-compliance, the government guarantees child support, providing additional resources to those whose orders are low or do not receive child support.