The current deadbeat drama has led me to read more on child support and of course whether it can be a solution in the Kenyan case. ( So far, what I’ve found suggests that the answer leans towards No)
Anyway, in the process of my reading, I’ve found some really interesting bits.
One that, that all our colonizers have more single parent households than we do. For some reason, Kenya’s single parent ( or what we call single mothers) phenomenon, is usually blown out of proportion. I would have imagined from the noise made, that we lead the world when it comes to having the highest number of single parents.
Imagine my shock when we are not even top 33. Developed countries like the US, UK, and France lead the pack. Latin American countries also feature prominently.
In Africa, Egypt is the leading country with lone parents.
Note that these aren’t widowed households. Or widowers. The UN report is focused on statistics of a parent being the lone parent while the other one is available ( or alive).
Anyway, I came here to tell you that there are countries whose governments pay child support on behalf of the other absent parent, should they fail to. In simple terms, they shoulder the burden of raising the kids, regardless of whether the other parent loses a job or just doesn’t feel like paying.
The catch? The child support abdicating parent now owes the government as much money as they’ve paid for her or him.
These countries are Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland. They differ in the nitty gritties though. Like Norway doesn’t pay child support for high income lone parent households.