Lone Parents and Civil Law: Their Experience of Problems and Their Advice-seeking Behavior

1. Lone Parents and Civil Law: Their Experience of Problems and Their Advice-seeking Behavior Alexy Buck, Pascoe Pleasence, Nigel Balmer, Aoife O’Grady and Hazel Genn 報告人：葉晉愷

2. Introduction • UK has highest Lone-parent family proportion in Europe with the widest standard of living gap(38%) • Increase in lone parenthood: • divorce rate ↑ • cohabiting, having children and then breakdown ↑ (domestic violence) • number of single mother ↑

3. Diversity within lone-parent population • Lone parenthood as a part of lifecycle(avg. 5.5 yrs) • Other aspects: parent’s age, children’s age, family financial situations, employment patterns, housing, support networks, childcare arrangements, level of contacts w/ non-resident parents, gender(most female) and ethnicity

4. Financial situation of lone parent families • Impact on living standard for relationship-breakdown lone parents and their children • May experience housing, poverty and debt problems • Families with dependent children have more stresses • Consequence of poverty: housing, ill health and disability

5. Government Policies • Encourages lone parents into work (New Deal for Lone Parent) • Proposes strategies to cut teenage pregnancy rate • Ensure absent parents to contribute financially to their children’s upbringing • Children tax credit • To sum up, lone parents need initiatives to help them avoid poverty and social exclusion

6. The goal of this study • Lone parents’ experience of judiciable problems • Discuss key findings from large-scale survey • From England and Wells(223 lone parents) • Social demographic profile and incidence of judiciable problems among lone parents • Analysis of advice-seeking behavior, impact on life of dealing with problem and type of fund received to assist lone parents to obtain advice

7. Methods: The LSRC national periodic survey of justiciable problems • Survey conduced by Legal Services Research Center(LSRC), first in summer 2001 and follow- up in 2004 • Interviews in respondents’ home, by Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing(CAPI) • Methodology of survey developed from the Paths to Justice(Genn 1999) with some refinements

8. Methods: The LSRC national periodic survey of justiciable problems • Respondent were asked if they had “any problems that ere difficult to solve ” in variety of categories (reflecting problems with potential legal solution) • 5,611 Adults drawn from 3,348 household • Questionaire: screen section(all) and main section(only those reporting problems)

9. Methods: The LSRC national periodic survey of justiciable problems • 18 justiciable problem categories used • Respondent were asked if they had experienced legal problems in three “catch-all” categories : whether thought of taking legal action, if being threatened w/ legal action ,or if legal action had been taken against them • The type of advisor, nature of advice, general awareness to advice services, funding obtained and cost incurred as well as objective to resolve the problem and impact on people’s life • Problems between Jan. 1998 and summer 2001

10. Methods: Analysis • Exam socio-demographic characteristic of lone parents • Appraised difference in experience of problem of problems between family type, overall and by individual problem type • Family type: couples w/ children, couples w/o children, single households and lone parents

11. Methods: Analysis • Predict experience of each problem type by binary logistic regression w/ socio-demographic predictors • Use Kruskal-Wallis test to assess whether lone parent experience more problems • Examine whether problem-handling strategies adopted by different family type differ, choice of advisor and source of funding and level of stress experienced

12. Methods: Analysis • Hypothesis: • Socio-demographic characteristics of lone parents in the survey similar to previous research • Lone parents experience more problems and their advice-seeking behavior differs form other group in the population

13. Results: Demographics of lone parents • Youngest of the 4 categories(avg. age 34) • Lowest annual gross income(median ￡6,000- ￡7,999) • More likely to be female(85%) • Male had higher income and more like to have full-time work • Part-time work and receipt of benefit is common for female • More lone parents were at home caring another person

14. Results: Demographics of lone parents • More live in flats and far fewer in detached house • Majority live in rent houses with the majority of this renting in the public sector • Large proportion not having use of motorized transport • Fewer were in work, (part-time more than full time) • Far more likely to be in benefit receipt

15. Results: Experience of problems: all problems • 2,017 of 5,611 respondents(37%) experienced one or more justiciable problems • 66 % of 233 lone parents(4%) reported having experienced one or more problems • Use binary logistic regression to predict experience of justiciable problem w/ social-demo graphic predictors • Family type is significant, lone parents more likely to have experienced a problem • No significant difference in problem occurrence between gender of lone parents

16. Results: Experience of specific problem types

17. Number of problems

18. Broad Strategy √ √

19. Obtaining advice

20. Results: Funding of problem • Lone parents tend to receive legal aid than respondents within other family groups (35% covered costs in full) • Report more frequent their cost met in part by legal-aid funding and less often paying their cost in full

21. Results: Experience of stress as a consequences of dealing with a judiciable problem

22. Discussion: Lone parents • Relatively few of them reported long-term illness/ disability • Likely to have “family” and housing problems, and be threatened to w/ legal action • Likely to obtain advice in response to problems • Contact to solicitor first relate to use of family courts • Experience stress in dealing with problem but tend to think life improved

23. Discussion: Lone parents • High incidence of justiciable problem results from interplay factors • Past problematic relationship, separation or death of child’s other parent • Responsible for child • High levels of benefit receipt and low income • Average age of 34 falls in range(25-45) likely to experience problems • Financial is not the dominate factor