CHAPTER ONE

Prior to about 1960, the state placed a low priority on getting involved in the domestic affairs of married couples and their families. However, the states' paradigm (concerning child support enforcement, child custody and the regulation of domestic affairs) changed when abandoned children, and custodial parents sought financial aid, welfare benefits, and medical assistance from the state. So, in an attempt to stem the loss of its revenue, the state implemented and used a legal theory from England called parens patriae to assert control over American families and stop the economic bleeding coming from its own coffers.