When intact families have financial problems, they try to solve them internally. They may file bankruptcy in the worst cases, or substantially restrict their expenses in the best. the only other alternative is to find ways of generating more income.
Divorcing parents often can't work together to solve the problem - child support can't be paid, and may be cut, leaving the custodial parent and children a victim of the other parent's circumstances. An interesting article on the front page of the NYTimes Saturday discusses the issue.
I won't repeat the discussion here, but the key point to remember is that child support is modifiable on a change of circumstances in most jurisdictions, and job losses usually qualify. This cuts both way, but the result is similar to what would happen to an intact family - there isn't enough money to continue to live the way you once did.
