Child Support Obligations and Low‐Income Fathers

Using the 1994-1998 waves of the Current Population Survey-Child Support Supplement (N = 5,387), the aims of this study are to document child support obligation rates of non-resident fathers, to examine the effect of the obligation rate on child support compliance, and to calculate the trade-off between fathers' financial responsibility and children's well-being, paying particular attention to low-income fathers. The results indicate that low-income fathers have high child support obligation rates, which significantly reduce their child support compliance. Although lowering the obligation rate for these fathers may improve their compliance, it does not fully offset the lowered obligation amounts and leads to a 30% net payment loss for welfare mothers and a 43% loss for nonwelfare mothers. Policy implications are discussed. Key Words: child support compliance, child support obligation, child support order, low-income fathers. The number of children in single-mother families in the United States has increased dramatically over the past three decades. In 1970, about 7.5 million children (or 11% of total children) in America lived in single-mother families. By 2002, the numbers had increased to 16.5 million (23% of total children) (U.S. House of Representatives, 2004). In an effort to prevent nonresident fathers from financially abandoning their children, both federal and state governments have devoted considerable resources to child support enforcement. Real spending on enforcement increased from $0.8 billion in 1978 to $5.2 billion in 2002 (in 2002 dollars) (U.S. House of Representatives). Nevertheless, the majority of children eligible for child support do not receive any payment from their fathers (case, Lin, & McLanahan, 2003; Sorensen & Hill, 2004). This calls into question the prevailing approach to child support enforcement (Garfinkel, 2001). One factor relevant to low child support payments is the level of child support obligations fathers are required to pay. Studies indicate that child support obligations are high for some fathers, particularly low-income fathers (Miller, Garfinkel, & McLanahan, 1997; Pirog, Elliot, & Grieshop, 2001). In an ideal case, a high child support obligation, although placing a heavier burden on the nonresident father, would lead to greater economic well-being for the child(ren). Empirical evidence from Wisconsin data, however, finds that a high child support obligation rate is associated with low compliance (Bartfeld & Meyer, 1994; Meyer, 1999; Meyer & Bartfeld, 1996). The high obligations reduce fathers' willingness to comply with their child support orders and therefore may not be a good method of stimulating child support payments (Lin, 2000; Waller & Plotnick, 2000). The level of child support obligation and the trade-off between high obligation of nonresident fathers and economic well-being of their children have not been addressed empirically using national data. The main goals of this article are to document the level of child support obligations, to examine the effects of the obligation on compliance, and to calculate the trade-off between fathers' financial responsibility and children's well-being, using nationally representative data. Information on the effect of the level of child support obligations would contribute to a vital picture of child support obligation in the United States, and knowledge of the inherent trade-offs would provide important background for future policy decisions. BACKGROUND AND PREVIOUS RESEARCH In the past 20 years, Congress has passed new laws almost every year to strengthen the child support enforcement system (Lerman & Sorenson, 2000). The 1984, 1988, and 1996 bills were the most important. The 1984 Child Support Enforcement Amendments required states to enact laws to require employers to withhold child support obligations of delinquent obligors. The Family Support Act of 1988 required automatic withholding of child support obligations from the outset for all IV-D cases (i. …