Hundreds of potential cases are selected at random before careful checks are made to be sure that the cases chosen are representative and that depicting them would not be harmful to children. Miller said the sampling and selection process gives a glimpse of how things are changing in the realm of child support. What we noticed this time is that more of the custodial parents, the parents who are caring for the children, are working now compared to in the past. Nine of twelve custodial parents are working, in the cases we depict. That makes child support payments all the more important.
Child support is crucial when people are moving off of public assistance.
Miller offered another observation noted by his staff as they developed the poster. We see that a lot more enforcement action has been taken by the Child Support Recovery Unit than in the past. There's been more activity on the cases. He said this probably reflects that additional recovery tools have been developed in recent years, many of them automated, such as driver license suspension, implementation of requirements to seek work, and a project allowing judges to require community service from parents who claim they have no resources to pay child support. Miller emphasized that most parents pay child support voluntarily and responsibly.