{
  "id": "RL32875",
  "type": "CRS Report",
  "typeId": "REPORTS",
  "number": "RL32875",
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  "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
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      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 455848,
      "date": "2016-09-14",
      "retrieved": "2016-11-28T21:35:39.039695",
      "title": "The Child Support Enforcement Program: A Review of the Data",
      "summary": "The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program is a federal/state program that is designed to promote self-sufficiency of families in which one of the biological parents is living outside of the home. The program achieves its mission by trying to ensure that noncustodial parents meet their financial responsibility to their children. The CSE program provides several services on behalf of children including parent location, paternity establishment, establishment of child support orders, and collection and distribution of child support payments.\nIn FY1978, families who received cash welfare comprised 85% of the CSE caseload and 45% of CSE collections. By FY2015, they comprised only 10.5% of the CSE caseload and 5% of CSE collections. Using a more recent classification of the CSE caseload, in FY2015 current Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) families and Title IV-E foster care families comprised 10.5% of the CSE caseload and 3% of collections, and former TANF families and Title IV-E foster care families comprised 42.8% of the CSE caseload and 31% of collections. Families that had never received TANF or Title IV-E foster care comprised 46.7% of the CSE caseload and almost 66% of collections. This reflects the underlying premise of the CSE program: as child support becomes a more consistent and stable income source/support, former cash welfare families will not have to return to the cash welfare rolls, and families that never resorted to cash welfare will not have to do so. \nIn FY2015, the CSE caseload was 14.7 million families. The CSE program is estimated to handle about 60% of all child support cases; the remaining cases are handled by private attorneys, by collection agencies, or through mutual agreements between the parents. All of the data in this report are exclusively CSE program data.\nBefore a state can enforce/collect a child support obligation, paternity must be determined and a child support order must be established. During the period FY2011-FY2015, the number of paternities established or acknowledged fell 12% nationwide, from nearly 1.7 million to 1.5 million. During that same period, the number of cases with a child support order established dropped 1% nationwide, from 12.8 million to 12.6 million.\nThe CSE program is characterized by paradoxes. It collected only 20% of the child support obligations for which it had responsibility in FY2015 (i.e., 65% of all current collections and 7% of obligations that were past due). However, during the period FY1999-FY2015 child support payments collected by CSE agencies increased 80% nationally, from $15.9 billion to $28.6 billion. Child support collections have continued to increase even though the CSE caseload has declined. Although the number and percentage of CSE cases with collections have been increasing over time, the average monthly child support payment for families that actually receive one has been decreasing and is relatively small, amounting to $264 per month in FY2015. Although the national cost of the CSE program was $5.7 billion in FY2015, $5.26 in child support was collected for every $1 spent on CSE activities. The CSE program began as a welfare cost-recovery program; however, in FY2015 93% of CSE collections went to CSE families (rather than the federal government or the states); the comparable figure in FY1979 was 56%.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
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    {
      "source": "EveryCRSReport.com",
      "id": 346817,
      "date": "2005-04-21",
      "retrieved": "2016-04-07T19:46:28.118029",
      "title": "The Child Support Enforcement Program: A Review of the Data",
      "summary": "The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program is a federal/state program that promotes self-sufficiency of families in which one of the biological parents is living outside of the home by ensuring that noncustodial parents meet their financial responsibility to their children. The CSE program provides several services on behalf of children including parent location, paternity establishment, establishment of child support orders, and collection and distribution of child support payments.\nIn FY1978, families who received cash welfare comprised 85% of the CSE caseload. By FY2003, they comprised only 17% of the CSE caseload and 9% of CSE collections. In FY2003, former cash welfare recipients comprised 47% of the CSE caseload and 40% of CSE collections. Families that had never received cash welfare comprised 36% of the CSE caseload and almost 52% of CSE collections. This is consistent with the underlying premise of the CSE program: as child support becomes a more consistent and stable income source/support, former cash welfare families will never have to return to the cash welfare rolls and families that never resorted to cash welfare will never have to do so. In FY2003, the CSE caseload was comprised of 15.9 million families. The CSE program is estimated to handle about 60% of all child support cases; the remaining cases are handled by private attorneys, collection agencies, or through mutual agreements between the parents. All of the data in this report are exclusively CSE program data.\nBefore a state can enforce/collect a child support obligation, paternity must be determined and a child support order must be established. During the period FY1999-FY2003, the number of paternities established or acknowledged fell 5% nationwide, from 1.6 million to 1.5 million. During the period FY1998-FY2002, the number of cases with a support order established dropped 2% nationwide, from 11.5 million to 11.3 million.\nThe CSE program is a program of paradoxes. The CSE program only collected 18% of the child support obligations for which it had responsibility in FY2003 (i.e., 58% of all current collections and 7% of obligations that were past-due). But, during the period FY1999-FY2003, child support payments collected by CSE agencies increased 33% for the nation as a whole, from $15.9 billion to $21.2 billion. Child support collections have continued to increase even though the CSE caseload has declined. Although the number and percent of CSE cases with collections have been increasing over time, the average monthly child support payment for families that actually receive a payment has been decreasing and is relatively small, amounting to only $221 per month in FY2003. Although states incurred a cost of $355 million for the CSE program in FY2003 and the federal government incurred a cost of almost $2.3 billion, $4.33 in child support was collected for every $1 spent on CSE activities. The CSE program began as a welfare cost-recovery program; however, in FY2003, 90% of CSE collections went to CSE families (rather than the federal government or the states); the comparable figure in FY1979 was no more than 56%. This report will not be updated.",
      "type": "CRS Report",
      "typeId": "REPORTS",
      "active": false,
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          "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL32875",
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  ],
  "topics": [
    "Domestic Social Policy"
  ]
}