THE NATURE OF CHILD SUPPORT AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN ITS RECOVERY Human & Economic Rights/Social Policy Perspectives 10 November 2015

Historical Perspective in the United States  English origin  No established legal duty for parent to support his child  Moral duty recognized by Sir William Blackstone  Early America  Court imposed duty  Justified by public policy: prevent child poverty and government dependency  State criminal laws

Historical Perspective in the United States  Federal law  Aid to Families with Dependent Children Designed to protect economic security of children Partnership between federal government and the states  Title IV-D Child Support Enforcement Program Response to increasing welfare rolls as a result of absent parents failing to pay child support Federal dissatisfaction with state initiatives to enforce child support obligations

Historical Perspective in the United States  Initial Goal for the Child Support Enforcement Program:  Obtain support from the absent parent  Use collections to reimburse the state for AFDC payments  Pay any excess amounts to AFDC families

Child Support Enforcement Today  Evolved from government assistance recovery to a family support program providing services for millions of parents and children  Last reported fiscal year, the program distributed over $28 billion in child support  Almost $11.5 billion in support was distributed to families who never received cash assistance from the government

Child Support Enforcement Today  Goal today seeks to increase reliability of child support paid by parents who live apart from their children by:  Locating the parents  Establishing paternity  Establishing and enforcing fair support orders  Removing barriers to payment such as: Referring parents to employment services Supporting healthy co-parenting relationships and responsible fatherhood Helping to prevent and reduce family violence

The Nature of Child Support  Legal v. moral obligation  Civil v. criminal laws  Threshold support amount  Tied to needs of child  Tied to government assistance provided to family  Tied to the ability of parents to pay support

The Role of Government  Facilitate: Laws, programs, tools, and procedures designed to provide a mechanism for parents to support their children  Core of the child support program  Establishment and modification of support orders  Income withholding  Establishing payment venues and monitoring payments  Interjurisdictional laws

The Role of Government  Enforce: Laws, tools and procedures designed to force parents to support their children  Jail  Driver’s license suspension  Public exposure and credit reporting  Enable: Programs designed to help parents support their children  Job programs  Problem solving courts

Child Support Program Resources

Thank you! Contact Information Diane Potts,