Child support enforcement in the United States: Has policy made a difference?

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Abstract

Over the past few decades, the federal government has intensified child support enforcement policies in response to high rates of child poverty and single-mother households. This study provides a comprehensive review of empirical, peer-reviewed articles from the past 20 years on the direct effects of child support enforcement policies on payments to custodial mothers and the indirect effects of these policies on behaviors such as fertility, sexual activity, welfare utilization, father involvement, and labor participation. The review indicates that child support enforcement has contributed to an increase in child support payments to custodial mothers. Additionally, strong enforcement is associated with low nonmarital fertility, risky sexual behavior, and welfare utilization and high father involvement. Policy implications are discussed.

Highlights

► Number of single-mother families has increased substantially over the past decades. ► Government has strengthened child support enforcement to protect children. ► Child support enforcement improved child support collection and reduced poverty. ► Child support enforcement had positive effects on fertility and welfare behavior. ► The effects benefit children, men, and women for their long-term potential.

Introduction

The increase of nonmarital births and divorces in the 1970s and 1980s has resulted in the growth of single-mother families in the United States (Cancian and Danziger, 2009, Garfinkel and McLanahan, 1986, McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994, U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). In 1960, approximately 8% of children lived in single-mother families, and this figure increased to 10.8% in 1970, 18.0% in 1980, 21.6% in 1990, 23.1% in 2000, and finally appeared to stabilize at 23–24% in the 2000s (U.S. House of Representatives, 2009). In 2010, this percentage equated to 17 million children (23.1%) living in single-mother families (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010).

The economic insecurity of single-mother families, however, remains dangerously high. In 1973, about 32% of single-mother families were poor (below 100% of the poverty line) compared to 5% of two-parent families. In 2010, the numbers were 32% and 6%, respectively (DeNavas-Walt, Proctor, & Smith, 2011). In addition to economic hardship, children in single-mother families tend to experience lower educational achievement and more behavioral problems than do children in two-parent families (Amato, 2005, McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994). The literature on child well-being has often identified limited financial involvement by nonresident fathers as a primary contributor to these negative outcomes (Lamb, 2004, McLanahan and Sandefur, 1994).

In response to these trends, the federal government has implemented several measures over the past 3 decades to strengthen child support enforcement so that nonresident fathers are more likely to support their children financially (Garfinkel et al., 1998, Pirog and Ziol-Guest, 2006). Therefore, the first aim of this paper is to evaluate the effects of child support enforcement on child support collection and the income of single-mother families. Furthermore, child support enforcement, like other public policies, may change people's incentives on fertility and sexual behavior, welfare utilization, father involvement, and labor participation. To assess total effects of child support enforcement, the second aim of this paper is to investigate the indirect effects of child support enforcement on these behaviors. Understanding the direct and indirect effects of child support enforcement on related outcomes helps policymakers assess the net effects of child support enforcement on the well-being of mothers, children, fathers, and society at large. This is particularly important given the high child-poverty and unmarried-birth rates in the United States (Cancian and Danziger, 2009, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010).

The paper begins with an overview how the child support system has developed over time. This discussion is followed by a comprehensive review of empirical, peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters from the past 20 years that examined the direct effects of child support enforcement on payments to custodial mothers and the indirect effects of child support enforcement on the related outcomes noted above. We used estimates of child support enforcement from regression analyses to gauge the effects of child support enforcement on related outcomes across studies. However, because different studies have controlled for different independent variables in their regression models, comparing regression estimates across studies may be problematic. Deeper evaluations of regression models were conducted and presented when results from the empirical studies were mixed. The method is similar to the approach used in Pirog and Ziol-Guest's (2006) article. Additionally, this paper extends Pirog and Ziol-Guest's work by including more recent studies and by examining indirect effects in different dimensions, such as risky sexual behavior. Understanding the effects of child support enforcement on risky sexual behavior is particularly imperative given the high teen pregnancy and birth rates in the United States and the negative effects that risky sexual behavior tends to have on the well-being of young women, their children, and men (Brown and Eisenberg, 1995, Maynard, 1997; Singh & Darroch, 2000; Ventura et al., 2003, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010).

Section snippets

Development of child support enforcement

In 1975, Congress created the Child Support Enforcement program to establish state enforcement offices and authorize federal matching funds for states to help locate absent parents, establish paternity, establish child support orders, and obtain child support payments. From 1981 to1999 (with the exception of 1983, 1985, and 1991), Congress passed new laws every year to improve the child support system (Lerman & Sorenson, 2000). For instance, the 1984 Child Support Amendments required states to

Direct effects of child support enforcement

The main goal of child support enforcement is to help eligible mothers establish child support orders and collect payments to increase the incomes and reduce the poverty of single-mother families. Despite decades of legislation and increased expenditures, child support outcomes for single mothers have changed little over time (March–April Current Population Survey, various years; see Fig. 1). In 1985, 61% of single mothers had a child support order and 37% of mothers received child support

Indirect effects of child support enforcement

As is the case with any public policy, child support enforcement has had indirect effects on individuals' behaviors. In particular, studies have shown that, in response to changes in the child support enforcement system, people have adjusted their fertility and sexual behavior, welfare participation, father involvement, and labor participation.

Conclusion

The United States is a country marked by both vast wealth and high rates of child poverty. Empirical studies have provided ample evidence on the detrimental effects of poverty on children's well-being and for society as a whole (Duncan and Brooks-Gunn, 1997, Shonkoff and Phillips, 2000). One of the main contributing factors to the increasing child-poverty rate in the United States over the past 40 years has been the increase in single mothers, who often struggle to make ends meet.

The federal

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      Early studies suggest that the level of enforcement actions found by Beron in Michigan was probably much higher than that in other states (Chambers, 1979). With a new awareness in the 1970s and 1980s of the problems in enforcing child support, the child support enforcement environment began to change (e.g., Garfinkel, Meyer, & McLanahan, 1988; Huang & Han, 2012; Pirog & Ziol-Guest, 2006). Federal incentives have encouraged states to reform child support enforcement practice, and states have responded with increasingly cost-effective enforcement strategies (e.g., Cassetty & Hutson, 2005).

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