Low‐Income and Never‐Married Families: Service and Support at the Intersection of Family Court and Child Support Agency Systems

Abstract

State child support enforcement agencies facilitate the legal establishment of paternity for children born outside of marriage and enforce the payment of child support by noncustodial parents. They are directed to move cash resources from a nonresident parent to the home of his/her child. Ideally, this income transfer provides financial support for children and security for custodial families. This article describes how the agency is challenged in the fulfillment of this responsibility by the adversarial nature of its own process and by the intractable poverty and unemployment (among other barriers to economic security) of a significant portion of its caseload.