Child Support Enforcement

Abstract

is working better than we think Changes in child support enforcement since the 1970s have succeeded in improving collection efforts more than we think. Yet, sometimes it is difficult to see how far we have come because the dramatic shift in demographic make-up of single mothers hides the significant progress. The increase in the child support receipt rate has been much more pronounced among never-married mothers. Never-married mothers experienced a fourfold increase in their child support receipt rate, up from 4 percent to 18 percent between 1976 and 1997 [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED]. Previously married mothers, on the other hand, experienced overall a higher receipt rate of child support than never-married mothers. Despite the advantage of having a higher receipt rate, previously married mothers have experienced more modest improvements over time. The increase for previously married mothers has only risen from 36 percent to 42 percent [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED]. Despite these improvements, the overall proportion of single mothers receiving child support remained largely unchanged. A huge increase in the proportion of never-married mothers, however, masks the improvement in child support. In 1976, 83 percent of single mothers were divorced or separated, while only 17 percent had never married. By 1997, the fraction of single mothers who were divorced or separated had fallen to 54 percent of all single mothers. At the same time, the number of never-married mothers increased to 46 percent [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 2 OMITTED]. In other words, nearly half of single mothers have never been married. Never-married mothers are much less likely to receive child support than are previously married mothers. Federal-State Partnership The improvements seen today are partially the result of several child support enforcement policies enacted since the 1970s. An upward trend in child support receipt rate will likely continue for many single mothers, following child support provisions under the most recent round of welfare reform. Whether more single mothers will enjoy child support in the future will depend on other factors such as the extent to which fathers have the ability to pay child support and continued investment in the child support enforcement program. According to Meg Sollenberger, director of the Washington State Division of Child Support, the success of child support enforcement tools depends primarily on who the parent is. We need a broad range of tools to reach the broad range of fathers, she says. In the past, the states' court systems were responsible for establishing child support orders, determining their amount, and enforcing orders. Since 1975, however, the federal and state governments have taken a more active role in child support enforcement, in an effort to curb welfare costs and child poverty. In 1975, Congress enacted Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, establishing an open-ended entitlement to child support enforcement services to all families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), as well as to any family requesting such services. This legislation created a federal/state partnership to enforce child support that remains largely unchanged. Congress established the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) to oversee state child support enforcement programs, but left the basic responsibility for administering the programs to the states. Every state was required to establish a child support enforcement (IV-D) agency, and the federal government agreed to reimburse 75 percent (later reduced to 66 percent) of the administrative cost of running these programs. Major reforms of federal child support enforcement policies have been enacted by Congress since 1975. Many of these policies emerged from state efforts, which proved effective in enforcing child support. Once enforcement tools proved effective in specific states, the federal government oftentimes required that all states adopt them. …