Panel:
From Enforcement to Engagement: Strengthening Connections between Child Support and Public Benefits Programs to Improve Family and Child Well-Being
(Family and Child Policy)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Several decades of policy efforts have strengthened the enforcement mechanisms available to child support agencies to collect child support, yet many obligations remain unpaid or are not paid in full. Mounting evidence of the high levels of economic disadvantage faced by many noncustodial fathers has generated interest in identifying alternative approaches that agencies can use to support noncustodial parents in making formal contributions to their nonresident children.
To inform the work of policymakers and practitioners who are leading initiatives in this area, this session brings together four papers that use a diverse set of methodological approaches to consider the implications of connections between the child support program and other federal safety-net programs for family and child well-being.
The first paper focuses on strategies and services for agencies to increase child support compliance. Focus groups interviews conducted as part of a federal child support demonstration indicate that employment services to help low-skilled noncustodial parents enter into higher-paying jobs; individualized child support services to right-size order amounts and reduce state-owed arrears; and supportive services for addressing barriers related to mental health, substance use, and unmet legal needs could help noncustodial parents overcome barriers to compliance. Â
The second paper focuses on the state choice of how to treat child support payments in determining Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) eligibility. When states exclude child support paid by the noncustodial parent from total gross household income at the very beginning of the SNAP eligibility calculation, more noncustodial parents qualify for SNAP. Not only is this approach likely to improve noncustodial parent well-being by increasing access to SNAP benefits, to the extent that it encourages child support payments, it may also lead to increased economic resources for custodial parents and their children.
The third paper examines the relationship between receipt of unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and child support payments and compliance among UI-eligible fathers who are behind in their child support payments and experiencing employment difficulties. Federal law allows child support agencies to collect child support owed on IV-D cases from UI benefits, but many low-income workers do not take-up benefits even when they are eligible. The study highlights the potential for UI to increase economic resources available to nonresident children.
The fourth paper focuses on the relationship between child support regularity and child well-being and underscores the importance of noncustodial parents’ compliance with child support obligations. When noncustodial parents make full and consistent payments, custodial parents and children can rely on a regular source of income. Therefore, child support regularity may play an important role in reducing welfare dependency and food insecurity during early childhood.
Together these papers inform current understanding of the ways in which connections between child support and other public programs can be strengthened to meet the complex needs of noncustodial parents and, by extension, help to improve the economic well-being of custodial parents and their children. The discussants will connect these findings to research on low-income men and fatherhood and discuss implications for child support policy and practice.
