Child Support Reform: Lessons from Wisconsin

Abstract

The level of implementation and the effects of 3 child support reforms in Wisconsin are reviewed. Setting child support orders according to a percentage-of income standard decreases the variability in orders. Expressing an order as a percentage of the noncustodial parent's income so that it changes automatically if income changes increases both the amount of orders and payments. Finally, routinely withholding child support from the noncustodial parent's income increases child support payments. Concern about the well-being of single-parent families, particularly those headed by women, has intensified ed in the last two decades. Two of the chief factors fueling this concern are the growth in mother-only families and the increase in the child poverty rate. The proportion of children living with only one parent has risen dramatically, from 9% in 1960 to almost 27% in 1993 (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1994). Further, over half of mother-only families with children were poor in 1993, making them the most impoverished major demographic group (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1995). The rising numbers and deteriorating circumstances of children in singleparent families have contributed to researchers' and policymakers' growing interest in the child support system. Beginning in the late 1970s, researchers documented a number of deficiencies in the existing child support system: (a) Few custodial parents had child support orders. (b) When there was an order, the dollar amount was low and was not updated over time. (c) Cases with very similar circumstances frequently received very different treatment. (d) Even when support was owed, compliance rates were low (Garfinkel, 1992). Exposure of these problems led to significant reforms in the child support system at both the state and national levels. The state of Wisconsin was at the forefront of child support reform, introducing changes that were subsequently implemented nationwide via federal legislation. Further, Wisconsin has funded an extensive and ongoing evaluation of these reforms, carried out by the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP). Many of these research findings have been available only as reports to the state and, thus, are not widely known; yet these evaluations have yielded important insights of relevance to those who formulate and implement child support policy at all levels of government. In this article, we provide a synthesis of the key findings from Wisconsin's child support evaluation, focusing on the implementation of reforms and the impact of those reforms on child support orders and compliance rates. In the following section, we provide a brief overview of child support reform in Wisconsin and nationwide; next, we describe the data that have been used to evaluate Wisconsin's reforms; we then discuss key findings from IRP's evaluation; and we close with a discussion of implications for those who formulate and carry out child support policy nationwide. Child support reform in Wisconsin was based on the Child Support Assurance System (CSAS) proposed by Garfinkel and Melli (1982). This system reflects the philosophy that all parentsthose who live with their children and those who live apart from them-are obligated to share their income with their children. The government's primary role is to enforce the responsibility of parents to provide for their own children, rather than to provide an alternative means of support. A secondary role for the government under this proposal is to supplement child support when the amount paid by the noncustodial parent is lower than an established minimum. This public funding was envisioned as an extension of the U.S. Social Security system. Like Survivors' Insurance, child support assurance was designed to replace a portion of the earnings of an absent parent. As originally proposed, the CSAS had three main components: 1. All custodial-parent families should have a child support obligation, and this obligation should be set according to a numerical formula. …