Child Support

In April 2006, the District of Columbia implemented a child support pass-through and disregard policy for families in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseload, passing through the first $150 per month of child support paid to these families and disregarding this amount when determining their TANF benefits. This study provides a process evaluation of the policy implementation and uses a difference-in-difference framework to assess policy impacts. Our results suggest that noncustodial parents with a current support order for children on TANF paid 5.6 percent more child support as a result of the pass-through policy.

New York's Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Initiative is an innovative approach to helping low-income fathers find work and pay child support. Enacted in 2006, the initiative offered a state earned income tax credit and job-oriented programs to noncustodial parents. Our evaluation shows that the approach worked-the tax credit increased work and child support compliance among those with low child support orders and the job-oriented programs increased participants' earnings and child support payments. These positive results suggest that further investments in this approach are worthy of consideration.

In 2006, New York instituted a noncustodial parent earned income tax credit (NCP EITC) to encourage low-income noncustodial parents to work and pay child support. This study examines the credit’s impacts through 2009. We use a regression discontinuity approach exploiting a drop in NCP EITC eligibility when taxpayers’ youngest children turn 18, and find the NCP EITC increased the proportion of noncustodial parents paying their child support in full by approximately 1 percentage point. Effects were stronger among parents with low child support orders. Our estimates may represent upper-bound impacts, but reflect only the first four years of implementation.

Public housing expert Sue Popkin testifies before the U.S. Senate the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative.

Human services programs-the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, etc.-and their clients can benefit from national health reform. Applicants for health coverage can be linked to human services programs, cutting such programs’ administrative costs and improving access. Human services programs can also: (a) help Medicaid reach eligible consumers; (b) access time-limited federal funds for modernizing eligibility computer systems while protecting current funding streams; (c) keep social services offices available for health coverage applicants; and (d) use a forthcoming Medicaid expansion to accomplish core human services goals related to employment and child development.

Research shows that work programs for noncustodial parents can increase employment and child support payments. Yet very few state TANF programs provide these work activities even though the estimated cost of implementing a requirement is zero. Congress needs to reaffirm its intent to impose a work requirement on noncustodial parents through the child support program and clearly state that child support funds may be used to fund the work programs. 

The goal of this evaluation was to understand the planning, implementation, and execution of the Put Families First program as it is administered by Functional Family Therapy (FFT) in the District of Columbia (D.C.). The primary question is whether FFT has been implemented with high fidelity and quality, and whether there are local factors or circumstances that either facilitate or interfere with its reliable implementation. The current implementation evaluation shows promise for the effective implementation of FFT for youth at risk of out-of-home placement in D.C. For those who do complete the program, implementation is generally close to program benchmarks and showing improvement.

New York state implemented a pilot employment program from 2006 to 2009 for parents behind in their child support. These pilot programs, part of the Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Initiative, provided employment-oriented services, fatherhood/parenting workshops, case management, and other support services to nearly 4,000 parents behind in their child support in four New York communities. Our evaluation shows that these programs successfully helped participants find work, increase their earnings, and pay more child support. These gains continued for at least a year after enrollment, the length of time participant outcomes were followed.