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Objective and Background: Previous research shows the benefits of formal child support to children during their childhood; however, the long‐term effect of child support receipt on outcomes as adults has not been studied. This inquiry examines whether adults who received formal child support as children have different labor market outcomes than those who did not. Method: We conducted two sets of analyses with complementary strengths to examine young adults' earnings and employment status. Our primary method exploited experimental variation in child support receipt among welfare participants, as part of the Wisconsin Child Support Demonstration Evaluation; the secondary analyses used propensity score matching to construct statistically equivalent comparison groups drawn from a broader population included in Wisconsin Court Record Data. Results: Across both studies, we found the receipt of child support was associated with a substantive and statistically significant increase in adult earnings; results for employment status were mixed. Conclusion: Findings suggest that formal child support may disrupt patterns of intergenerational disadvantage, reducing the economic vulnerability of children living with resident mothers, and then improving those children's earnings as adults. In addition to contributing to our understanding of the relationship between childhood economic status and adult outcomes, the findings provide critical new information to policymakers assessing family policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, children live in both parents' homes equally after parental separation, but little is known about whether social security policy supports these shared‐residence families. We propose that a determination of support for shared residence in various policies can be based on two criteria: whether both parents can receive benefits and whether the total amount received is greater than what would have been received if children lived with only one parent. We categorise support for shared residence in child benefits, housing assistance, social assistance, and guaranteed child support in 13 countries (Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States), using a 2017 questionnaire, policy documents, and previous research. Norway is the only country supporting shared residence in all four policy domains; three countries do not support shared residence in any. Policies on shared residence across domains are inconsistent. This research highlights the need to clarify policy for these families and to consider whether parents who manage shared parental responsibilities post‐separation should be assisted in new ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most children in the United States will spend at least part of their childhood living apart from one of their parents; the child support system is designed to ensure that they nonetheless receive financial support. While the system is largely effective when noncustodial parents have substantial regular earnings, many noncustodial parents, including a disproportionate share of those whose children live in poverty, have limited earnings and ability to pay child support. The system's response to nonpayment is primarily "sticks," that is, threats and punishments. Nonexperimental evaluations of alternative approaches have shown promise. The National Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED), a large‐scale random‐assignment evaluation enrolling more than 10,000 noncustodial parents across 18 locations in eight states, was designed to test the effectiveness of an alternative approach—adjusting child support orders, reducing punitive enforcement, and offering employment and parenting services. We find that CSPED, using carrots in place of sticks, substantially increased the satisfaction of noncustodial parents with child support services, lowered the amount of support owed, and increased noncustodial parents' sense of responsibility for their children. However, CSPED had limited to no effects on child support compliance, child support payments, or employment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective Background Method Results Conclusion Implications We examine the relationship between shared placement and parenting stress for low‐income fathers.Shared placement (joint physical custody), a living arrangement in which children whose parents live apart spend a significant amount of time living with each, has increased among families in the United States. Little is known about how this placement affects fathers' well‐being, especially fathers with lower incomes and who have had a nonmarital birth.Our sample included 5,755 noncustodial fathers who enrolled in the National Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration. Using regression approaches, we estimate associations between measures of self‐reported placement and parenting stress.We found that shared placement was statistically significantly associated with lower parenting stress levels (estimated magnitude of 5%–10%) compared with fathers without shared placement. This held for fathers with equal placement and those with substantial, but not equal, time. These results were consistent when accounting for confounding characteristics, suggesting the association may not be fully explained by selection into shared placement.Shared placement is associated with lower levels of parenting stress for low‐income noncustodial fathers compared with those fathers without it. We find that this holds true for any shared placement, equal placement, mother primary shared placement, and father primary shared placement.Given the potential benefits of shared care, examining whether policy and practice are supporting this for lower resourced families may be particularly important. Fatherhood and other family‐strengthening programs can support fathers in navigating potential stress driven by shared parenting arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We document the dramatic decline in the United States of mother sole custody arrangements following divorce. Our empirical analysis uses Wisconsin court records data spanning more than two decades (1988-2010). Updating earlier analyses that showed significant increases in shared custody, we estimate that shared custody (where children spend at least 25% of time with each parent) has now replaced sole-mother custody as the most common post-divorce parenting arrangement-accounting for just over half (50.3%) of all cases in the most recent cohort available. We discuss the institutional context for these changes in custody in the United States, the sociodemographic factors associated with custody outcomes, and the implications for policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors examined whether nonresident fathers provide informal support to their children and whether support stops if their ex-partner goes on to have a child with a new man. A logistic regression analysis of longitudinal survey and administrative data for 434 women who received welfare in Wisconsin showed that fathers are less likely to provide informal support when their ex-partner has a child with a new partner. Alternative models that control for unobserved characteristics suggest somewhat different results, providing stronger evidence of declines in support that can be shared across family members than in support that can be directed to a particular child. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underlying theory behind child support guidelines implies that child support orders should change when the incomes of noncustodial parents change. This paper documents changes in noncustodial fathers' earnings over a five‐year period and examines the relationship between the changes in earnings and modifications in child support orders. Using detailed longitudinal administrative data from Wisconsin, the authors examine the history of orders and earnings for fathers in couples who had their first child support ordered in 2000. A substantial proportion of fathers experience large changes in earnings, but relatively few of the associated child support orders are modified. Using discrete‐time multinomial event history models that consider time‐varying variables and control for censored observations, we find some evidence of changes in earnings being associated with changes in orders, all else equal, but the relationship is relatively weak and order changes are not proportional to earnings changes. The findings highlight the challenges and importance of developing policies that result in child support orders being more responsive to changes in fathers' incomes. © 2010 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article investigates whether mothers receiving public assistance in the U.S. should be allowed to keep any child support paid on behalf of their children rather than having that support substituting government costs. It has been found that in most U.S. states Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child support administrative are offset by child support paid on behalf on TANF participants. Also, paternity establishment occurs more quickly when custodial mothers keep all child support paid on their behalf.

There is little research on knowledge of the policy rules that could affect individuals, either in general or in evaluations of new programs. The lack of research is surprising, given that knowledge gaps could limit the effectiveness of reforms or lead to incorrect inferences regarding the effects of a policy change. In this article, we use survey data to examine the level and sources of welfare participants' policy knowledge in the context of a substantial change in child support and welfare policy in Wisconsin. We find very low levels of knowledge of child support policy rules. Multivariate analyses suggest that people tend to learn policy rules by experience; we find less consistent support for knowledge being primarily imparted through interactions with caseworkers. A difference-in-difference analysis suggests that if participants had been more knowledgeable, program impacts would have been larger. Implications of this research for policy implementation and policy evaluations are discussed. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents a study on allternative measures of economic success among Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) participants. Survey and administrative data which was taken from a sample of TANF participants illustrate the sensitivity of conclusions to alternative ways of measuring each indicator. Also considered is the extent to which dependence, poverty, and hardship coincide, or capture important differences in outcomes. The principles underlying TANF reforms have implications for appropriate measures of economic well-being, as the empirical importance of these implications demonstrates.

This article traces poverty status and welfare use in the five years following an exit from the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). The goal of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 is examined, and its success is judged. The authors found that women with higher earning potential had a higher level of success, especially those with higher levels of education and fewer/older children. More than forty percent of women, however, remain poor even five years after exiting the AFDC program.

This article examines compliance patterns of child support cases taking place in Wisconsin from 1986 through 1988. The researchers find that sixty-five percent of child support is paid during each of the first five years following divorce, dispelling the notion that child support payments decline over time. The researchers also find a large polarization between full-payers and complete non-payers, as those who tend to comply during the first year tend to indicate a long-term compliance. An examination of divorced and unmarried fathers is also given.

The article studies the effects of child support numerical guidelines implemented in the U.S., for the amount of child support orders in Wisconsin. The national policymakers in the U.S. have made efforts to increase child support, which includes a shift to numerical guidelines for the amount of child support orders. These guidelines generally reflect an income-sharing philosophy, in which support is expected of all nonresident parents, regardless of resident-parent resources. The federal Child Support Enforcement Amendments to the Social Security Act of 1984 required all states to develop a numerical formula that could be used to determine the amount of child support ordered by the court. In 1987 Wisconsin adopted a policy that made the guideline presumptive rather than advisory. Wisconsin has made substantial progress toward a system of child support based on income sharing. The authors find that the negative impact of the mother's income on the size of child support orders has fallen substantially.

This article examines compliance with child support orders by divorced fathers in Wisconsin during 1981-1989. The child support system has received an increasing amount of attention as policy makers have focused on the high poverty rates among children in single-parent families, the increase in the number of children who live in these families, and the public cost of supporting children through welfare programs. Specifically, the impact of four kinds of variables on compliance with child support orders has been examined: those reflecting the stringency of the enforcement system, the ability of the father to pay support, the strength of the family ties between the father and his ex-spouse and children, and the economic need of the mother and children. It has been noted that the father's ability to pay is strongly related to compliance; Compliance increases as the father's income increases. The "burden" of orders does not affect compliance unless the order is for more than 35% of the father's income. More stringent enforcement systems also increase compliance. This analysis of the characteristics of fathers who are not paying child support suggests that although these fathers are not a high-income group, they are generally not so poor that they could not afford to pay at least some support.

The article evaluates myths concerning custodial fathers and child custody. It is observed that men are increasingly receiving custody of their children and single-father families with children are increasing at a faster rate than even single-mother families. However, many observers still believe that there are few custodial fathers. The authors note five commonly held beliefs about custodial fathers. These are: There are not very many father-only families; Most custodial fathers have remarried; Many of the single fathers are widowers and very few have never been married; Custodial fathers have high incomes; and the last is that fathers primarily receive custody of older boys. On examining several data and statistics, the authors found that many of these beliefs about custodial fathers are not true. The changes in the composition of father-only families by marital status actually are quite similar to the changes in the composition of mother-only families. Further, it was found that even though the incomes of father-only families are substantially higher than those of mother-only families, a significant number of father-only families live in poverty.

The article evaluates child support orders, in an attempt to make Wisconsin's child support cases more adequate and up-to-date. This article is divided into four sections. The first provides an overview of the Wisconsin child support system, the need for review, and the policy context of the revision project. The second describes the data and method of collection used by participating county staff. The third provides the results of the project in closing, it explores the policy and program implications of the revision project and make recommendations. One of the factors driving the current welfare reform debate is the idea that taxpayers are being asked to support children in poor single-parent families because parents who do not live with their children are not providing them with adequate financial support. The child support and welfare systems are again receiving attention as policymakers search for ways to shift responsibility for the economic support of single-parent families from the government to the non-custodial parent.

The article provides information on the level of implementation, and the effect of three child support reforms in Wisconsin, which were reviewed by the Institute for Research on Poverty. Concern about the well-being of single-parent families, particularly those headed by women, has intensified in the last two decades. Two of the chief factors fueling this concern are the growth in mother-only families and the increase in the child poverty rate. The rising numbers and deteriorating circumstances of children in single-parent families have contributed to researchers' and policymakers' growing interest in the child support system. Exposure of these problems led to significant reforms in the child support system at both the state and national levels. Child support reform in Wisconsin was based on the Child Support Assurance. This system reflects the philosophy that all parents-those who live with their children and those who live apart from them-are obligated to share their income with their children.