Child Support: Four Fact Sheets

Publication Date: January 2008

Publisher: Center for Law and Social Policy

Author(s): Vicki Turetsky

Research Area: Social conditions

Type: Fact sheet

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

Child Support: Reversing Cuts Now Will Provide a Needed Boost to the Economy (1 of 4): Quick action is needed by Congress this year to reverse counter-stimulative federal cuts to state and child support programs included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Allowing these cuts to take effect will result in lay-offs of child support enforcement workers, and even worse, will cost families with children at least a billion dollars a year. In contrast, preventing the loss of federal funds will provide needed state relief, while ensuring that families do not lose support in an economic downturn.

Child Support: Ripple Effects Throughout the Community (2 of 4): The child support program helps families become stronger and more self-sufficient. The program has other bridges into the community as well--bridges that are at risk of collapse without adequate support. The impacts of the child support funding cut will ripple throughout the community, as illustrated in the second of four fact sheets on the subject.

Child Support: Restored Federal Funding Needed to Implement New Child Support Pass-Through Options (3 of 4): Effective next year, new state options included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) will allow states to pay up to 100 percent of collected child support to current and former TANF families--up to $2 billion more money for families every year. States and advocates alike support the new DRA distribution options. However, a cut in federal funding for child support enforcement also included in the DRA threatens state implementation of these new options.

Child Support: It Makes Sound Fiscal Sense to Restore Funding for Child Support Enforcement (4 of 4): The final fact sheet in this series illustrates why funding for child support enforcement should be restored.