Abstract
This chapter sets the scene for a deeper understanding of the context in which the 1991 Child Support Act was formulated, and how the ‘problem’ was constructed. It provides an historical and contextual background, looking at the trends relating to lone-parent families in Britain. This chapter demonstrates that the period preceding the creation of the 1991 Child Support Act was one of considerable change, not only in terms of the changing landscape of lone parents, but also a change through the introduction of New Right ideas within the Government and the popular press.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Barnes, G., Thompson, G. P., Daniel, G., & Burchardt, N. (1998). Growing Up in Stepfamilies. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Boden, R., & Childs, M. (1996). Paying for Procreation: Child Support Arrangements in the UK. IV Feminist Legal Studies, 131, 147.
Bradshaw, J., & Millar, J. (1991). Lone Parent Families in the UK (Department of Social Security Research Report No. 6). London: HMSO.
Central Statistics Office. (1992). Social Trends 27. London: HMSO.
Clarke, K., Craig, G., & Glendinning, C. with Thompson M. (1993). Children Come First? The Child Support Act and Lone Parent Families. London: Childcare Consortium.
Clarke, L., & Henwood, M. (1997). Great Britain: The Lone Parent as the New Norm? In F.-X. Kaufmann, A. Kuijsten, H.-J. Schulze., & K. P. Strohmeier (Eds.), Family Life and Family Policies in Europe. Volume 1: Structures and Trends in the 1980. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Davis, G., Wikeley, N., & Young, R. (1998). Child Support in Action. Oxford: Hart.
Department of Health and Social Security, Report of the Committee on One-Parent Families. (1974). The Finer Report, Cmnd 5629. London: HMSO.
Duncan, S., & Edwards, R. (1999). Lone Mothers, Paid Work and Gendered Moral Rationalities. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Evans, T., & Thane, P. (2012). Sinners? Scroungers? Saints? Unmarried Motherhood in Twentieth-Century England. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Evans Woolfe Production. (12th, 19th and 26th September 1999). In Association with Brook Lapping for Channel Four, Can’t Pay Won’t Pay. London: Evans Woolfe.
Ford, R., & Millar, J. (Eds.). (1998). Private Lives and Public Responses. Lone Parenthood and Future Policy in the UK. London: Policy Studies Institute.
General Household Survey. (1991) OPCS, HMSO, 1993.
Haskey, J. (1993a). Populations Trends 65, OPCS, Autumn 1991.
Haskey, J. (1993b). Populations Trends. OPCS, Spring 1993.
Irwin, S. (1999). Reproductive Regimes: Gender, Generation and Changing Patterns of Fertility. Leeds: Centre for Research on Family, Kinship and Childhood, University of Leeds.
Kiernan, K., Land, H., & Lewis, J. (1998). Lone Motherhood in Twentieth Century Britain. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Macaskill, H. (1993). From the Workhouse to the Workplace. London: NCOPF.
McKay, S. (1998). Exploring the Dynamics of Family Change: Lone Parenthood in Great Britain. In L. Leisering & R. Walker (Eds.), The Dynamics of Modern Society. Bristol: The Policy Press.
McRae, S. (Ed.). (1999). Changing Britain. Families and Households in the 1990s. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Millar, J. (1994). Lone Parents and Social Security Policy in the UK. In S. Baldwin & J. Falkingham (Eds.), Social Security and Social Change. Harvester Wheatsheaf: Hemel Hempstead.
Murray, C. (1989, November 26). The British Underclass. The Sunday Times.
Seidman, E., & Rappaport, J. (1986). Framing the Issues. In E. Seidman & J. Rappaport (Eds.), Redefining Social Problems. New York: Plenum.
Parliamentary and Government Publications and Records
Department of Social Security: Support for Lone Parent Families (HC 328), Session 1989–90, National Audit Office (1991), Department Of Social Security: Support For Lone-Parent Families (HC 153, Session 1989–90). London: HMSO.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
McCarthy-Cotter, L. (2019). The Background: ‘Setting the Scene’. In: The 1991 Child Support Act. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98761-3_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98761-3_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98760-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98761-3
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)