‘We support child support:’ American women’s activism through the association for children for enforcement of support, 1984–2005

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the United States, the fair and efficient enforcement of child support obligations has long posed challenges to all levels of government, often to the detriment of single-mother families. This article traces the local-to-national activism of the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support (ACES), one of the largest child support enforcement organizations in the country. Established in Toledo, Ohio, and comprised overwhelmingly of women, it demanded an end to unsympathetic characterizations of mother-led families as deviant, while simultaneously working to increase the stigma surrounding those who evaded child support – the so-called ‘Deadbeat Dads.’ Examining ACES’ work provides insight into ways in which women’s organizations drew from both conservative and liberal ideas, as well as creative activism, to gain bipartisan support for stricter enforcement of child support from 1984 to 2005. Confronted with the complexities of federalism, ACES did not fully achieve its goal for a federalized support collections system through the US Internal Revenue Service; nonetheless, its lobbying efforts played a significant role in transforming court-ordered child support in the US from a largely nonobligatory system to one where payment was more systematically enforced.