child support in the united states : the experience in colorado

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CHILD SUPPORT IN THE UNITED STATES The Experience in Colorado Jessica Pearson, Nancy Thoennes, and Jean Anhalt* This article reports on the results of a telephone survey conducted with a random sample of households screenedfor eligibility to receive child support in the state of Colorado. Despite the recent enactment of ambitious child legislation at the state and federal levels, the accounts of 731 custodial parents reveal a massive level of unmet need, with child support problems being most extremefor those never married to the child's other parent. These mothers typically lack an order establishing a legal obligation to pay child support and have incomes thatfall below the poverty level. Overall, women of Colorado with child support orders received only about half of the support they were due, and 73 per cent of all women due support reported thar they had experienced problems in collecting support either currently or in the past. The average amount of back due child support owed to the 6Oper cent of women in the sample who reported an arrearage was $12,000. Analysis revealed that payment behaviour tracked with the length of time since separation with payment patterns worsening over time and irregular visitation a d o r the presence of problem amund child access. Female obligors exhibited the same paymentpatterns as their male counterpartsbut were more apt to maintain visitation. The article documents the dramatic, negative economic consequences of irregularor missing child support payments for custodial parents, and discusses the additional legal and financial commitments needed to improve the situation. The efficacy of private child support transfers to achieve an adequate standard of livingfor all children is called into question. I. INTRODUCTION The incidence of US children living in households headed by single mothers has risen steadily. By 1986, the percentage stood at 24.4 per cent (US Bureau of the Census, 1991b), more than double the percentage of children in such households in 1960. As a result of high rates of divorce and unwed births, it is estimated that half of the children now born in the US will spend time in *Center for Policy Research, 1720 Emerson Street, Denvel; Colorado80218, USA. The research reported in this article was developed under grantsfrom Hunt Alternatives. The Piton Founda- tion and the Colorado Lawyer Trust Account Foundation. Volunteers of the Junior League of Colorado donated telephone interviewingservices. Points of view expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the finders and other supportive agencies. Originallypublished in International Journal of Law and the Family, 6 (1992), 321-337. Reprinted by permission of Onfrd University Press. FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW, Vol. 31 No. 2, April 1993 226-243 0 1992 Oxford University Press. 226

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CHILD SUPPORT IN THE UNITED STATES The Experience in Colorado

Jessica Pearson, Nancy Thoennes, and Jean Anhalt*

This article reports on the results of a telephone survey conducted with a random sample of households screenedfor eligibility to receive child support in the state of Colorado. Despite the recent enactment of ambitious child legislation at the state and federal levels, the accounts of 731 custodial parents reveal a massive level of unmet need, with child support problems being most extreme for those never married to the child's other parent. These mothers typically lack an order establishing a legal obligation to pay child support and have incomes that fall below the poverty level. Overall, women of Colorado with child support orders received only about half of the support they were due, and 73 per cent of all women due support reported thar they had experienced problems in collecting support either currently or in the past. The average amount of back due child support owed to the 6Oper cent of women in the sample who reported an arrearage was $12,000. Analysis revealed that payment behaviour tracked with the length of time since separation with payment patterns worsening over time and irregular visitation a d o r the presence of problem amund child access. Female obligors exhibited the same paymentpatterns as their male counterparts but were more apt to maintain visitation. The article documents the dramatic, negative economic consequences of irregular or missing child support payments for custodial parents, and discusses the additional legal and financial commitments needed to improve the situation. The efficacy of private child support transfers to achieve an adequate standard of living for all children is called into question.

I. INTRODUCTION

The incidence of US children living in households headed by single mothers has risen steadily. By 1986, the percentage stood at 24.4 per cent (US Bureau of the Census, 1991b), more than double the percentage of children in such households in 1960. As a result of high rates of divorce and unwed births, it is estimated that half of the children now born in the US will spend time in

*Center for Policy Research, 1720 Emerson Street, Denvel; Colorado 80218, USA. The research reported in this article was developed under grants from Hunt Alternatives. The Piton Founda- tion and the Colorado Lawyer Trust Account Foundation. Volunteers of the Junior League of Colorado donated telephone interviewing services. Points of view expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the finders and other supportive agencies. Originally published in International Journal of Law and the Family, 6 (1992), 321-337. Reprinted by permission of Onfrd University Press.

FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW, Vol. 31 No. 2, April 1993 226-243 0 1992 Oxford University Press.

226

Pearson et al. / CHILD SUPPORT IN COLORADO 227

a single-mother household (Castro, Martin and Bumpass 1989). While in this situation, children are dramatically likely to experience poverty and eco- nomic privation. It is estimated that following a father’s departure, monthly family income drops by 37 percent, per capita income declines by 21 per cent, and the percentage of poverty increases from 18.8 to 35.5 per cent (US Bureau of the Census, 1991b). Looked at somewhat differently, only 10 per cent of children in two parent households live in poverty, compared to 59 per cent of children living with single parents (US Bureau of the Census 1988: Table 24; cited in Seltzer & Garfinkel 1990).

Nonpayment of child support and inadequate levels of child support have come to be recognized as major causes of the impoverishment of children in America. In response, the United States Congress and corresponding state legislative bodies have enacted sweeping measures to strengthen the child support enforcement process. The passage of the Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984 (Pub]. L. No. 98-378,98 Stat 1305) and the Family Support Act of 1988 (Pub. L. No. 100-485, 102 Stat 2343) have resulted in state laws which now require employers to withhold child support from the paychecks of parents delinquent for one month (beginning in 1994, child support payments are to be withheld automatically and without regard to whether they are in arrears), impose liens against the property of defaulting support obligors, deduct unpaid child support from federal and state income tax refunds, hold expedited hearings in support cases, establish and use mathematical formulas, known as guidelines, to determine child support obligations and review child support orders every three years. To give families receiving welfare some direct benefit from child support payments, the first fifty dollars per month are now paid directly to the family and not deducted from the family’s welfare check. To improve child support collec- tion patterns further, the legislation calls for federal payment of 90 per cent of laboratory tests for establishing paternity, sets performance standards dealing with the establishment of paternity and support collection, and conducts state agency audits pursuant to those standards.

Although there have been some research efforts aimed at determining the impact of specific new provisions in federal and state laws to strengthen child support services like income withholding (Gordon et al, 1991) and child support guidelines (Pearson, Thoennes and Tjaden 1989), the most reliable picture on child support in the US comes from the US Census Bureau’s bi-annual supplements to the Current Population Survey dealing with child support and alimony (US Bureau of the Census, 1991).

However, one limitation to the survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census is the absence of breakdowns for individual states. Another drawback

228 FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW

is the lack of information on a variety of relevant issues such as visitation and child support, reasons for lack of child support order, perceived reasons for lack of child support payment, the experiences of male custodial parents, and experiences of custodial parents owed child support by more than one man, and satisfaction with experiences with the child support agency. To address these issues and generate a more reliable picture of Colorado’s child support status and the level and nature of need for various types of services, several Denver area foundations retained the Center for Policy Research to conduct a scientific survey of the state’s population eligible to receive support. This article summarizes the results of that survey effort. These results may be of wider interest in view of the growing international pre- occupation with child support schemes.

II. METHOD

The methodology employed involved drawing a statewide random sample’ of households with telephones. Telephone interviewers worked through this listing, beginning each call with a screening2 to identify those eligible to be receiving child support. The screening process consisted of determining whether the telephoned household included at least one minor child aged twenty-one or younger eligible to receive child support. This included separated, divorced, remarried, and never-married parents who had custody of their minor-aged children. The screening eliminated intact households where all children born to the parents resided with both their mother and father, households where the absent parent was deceased, and households with only foster children. The screening also eliminated parents who were required to pay child support but were not living with their children. In all cases, the goal was to speak with the parent of the child or the children eligible for support. Although relying entirely on reports from custodial parents introduces the possibility of overreports of child support compliance prob- lems, the social stigma of nonpayment would presumably render noncusto- dial parents’ reports unusable. Further, some empirical evidence does exist to suggest that in settings where both objective and subjective reports are available, custodial parents reports closely match the payment records of child support agencies or courts (Seltzer, Schaeffer and Charng 1989).

As may be expected, the screening process was extremely a rduou~.~ Ultimately, interviewers phoned approximately 20,000-25,000 different numbers and completed 770 interviews, of which 73 1 were ultimately usable. This translates into an incidence rate of eligible households of approximately 3-4 per cent. Households were eliminated because there were no minor-aged

Pearson et at. I CHILD SUPPORT IN COLORADO 229

children (32 per cent), the household was intact (1 7 per cent), or a noncusto- dial parent was reached (1%). Households were also eliminated from the study if they were a business or government office (7 per cent), or had a nonworking phone. Only about 8 per cent of phoned households refused to answer the screening questions or the complete survey.

III. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE

Like the bulk of the Colorado population, most of the 731 custodial parents who completed usable surveys lived in the Denver metro area. Overall, 33 per cent of the sample resided in urban areas, 48 per cent were in suburban locations, and 19 per cent were in rural areas. In addition to residence, the sample closely matched the state’s ethnic composition. Anglos were the most heavily represented. Fully 79 per cent of the custodial parents in the survey and 81 percent of the state population in 1990 was Anglo. The proportion of Hispanics in the sample and the state stood at 14 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively. African-Americans comprised 5 per cent of the sample and 4 per cent of the state population. The ethnic match was even closer when female-headed households in the sample were compared to the state’s female-headed household population in 1979. For example, the proportion of Anglo female-headed households in our sample and the state was 75 percent and 74 per cent, respectively. The proportion of African-Americans stood at 7 and 9 percent respectively, and the proportion of Hispanics was 15 and 16 percent, respectively.

A third way in which our sample could be compared with the state as a whole was in terms of income. Overall, the sample included a wide spread of incomes ranging from nothing to $300,000 per year, with a mean of $26,136. Aquarter of the sample families (26 per cent ) had incomes that fell below the federal poverty level and 17 per cent were receiving Aid for Families with Dependent Children (ie social security) AFDC at the time of the interview. Compared to Colorado as a whole, the sample was decidedly less advantaged, with average per capita household income for state resi- dents ($16,464) standing at roughly double the average per capita income reported by sample respondents ($8,3 19). However, when average incomes for female-headed households in the sample were compared with incomes for Colorado’s female head-of-households, they were virtually identical. For every ethnic group, incomes reported by female-headed households closely matched incomes reported for the state as a whole.

The one source of bias in the sample was the obvious exclusion of those who failed to own telephones. Although telephone survey techniques have

230 FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW

been reliably used in many studies with low income populations, non-phone ownership is decidedly more prevalent among poor and African-American populations. For example, 27 per cent of the US population in 1985-86 living in households with incomes below the poverty index did not own a telephone. Among African-American telephone households with incomes below the poverty index, the incidence of non-telephone households was 30 per cent. This compared with a total non-phone household incidence rate of 7 per cent nationally (Thornberry and Massey 1987). In Colorado, non-phone owner- ship stands at 6 per cent of the state’s population. However, a recent Thornberry survey of AFDC recipients in Colorado revealed that 50 per cent could not be interviewed because of disconnected phones (Marine 1988).

As a result of the bias introduced by the use of telephone interview techniques, the results of our survey must be viewed as a conservative picture of child support needs in Colorado. Since those with non-phone ownership were missed, we are most apt to have excluded the experiences of those most likely to be in need of child support services-the poor and the never- married. For this reason, it is important to keep in mind that the true level of need is higher than that found in the present study, and the economic status of the state’s women and children is probably considerably bleaker.

lV. FINDINGS

A. Child Suppon Orders

A key ingredient in the process of supporting children when two parents are not living together is an order or agreement requiring the absent parent to make child support payments. Looking at the proportion of non-intact households with child support orders, we find that Colorado fares better than the nation. Over 73 per cent of children in our sample were covered by child support ordered by a court. Another 7 per cent were covered by an informal, written agreement about child support, while 20 per cent of children in Colorado had no child support order. Nationally, the proportion with no award was nearly twice as high 39 per cent.

The best predictor of whether or not a child was covered by a support order was the marital status of his or her parents. In both Colorado and the nation as a whole, the child support picture was bleakest for never-married women. Among women in our sample who were never married to the child’s father only 3 1 per cent had court-ordered child support awards, and another 10 per cent had informal, written support agreements. The remaining 59 per cent had no child support order of any type. Census data reveals that

Pearson et al. I CHILD SUPPORT IN COLORADO 23 1

nationally, only 20 percent of never-marrieds had court-ordered child sup- port. The discrepancy between our findings and the national pattern may well be due to our reliance on a telephone methodology which excluded many of the poorest women with children born outside of marriage. Divorced and separated women in our sample and nationally were significantly more likely to have a child support order than their never-married counterparts. For example, 85 and 80 per cent of divorced women in Colorado and the US, respectively, report that support was ordered by a court.

In addition to marital status, the presence or absence of a child support award varied by ethnic or racial group. Anglo women were more likely to have support awards (82 per cent) than were African-American (65 per cent) or Hispanic women (68 per cent). These patterns were consistent with, but less extreme than, national statistics showing that 69 per cent of Anglo women had awards, compared to 36 per cent of African-American and 42 per cent of Hispanic women. Only part of the differences in awards by race/ ethnicity can be attributed to differences in the marital patterns among Anglo, African-Americans and Hispanic women. Even among those who had been married and were separated or divorced, Anglo women were significantly more likely to have an award than were minority women. For example, while 82 per cent of ever-married Anglo women had an award, this was reported by only 65 per cent of their African-American and 68 per cent of their Hispanic counterparts.

Among factors not associated with whether support was awarded was geographic area of residence and attorney representation during the divorce, although those who developed child support arrangements without an attor- ney were somewhat less likely to have them entered with the court. The vast majority (80 per cent) of all women who lacked support orders for one or more of their children were interested in receiving child support. The chief obstacles to securing an award they cited were the inability to locate the father and the out-of-state residence of the father. The small proportion of women (20 per cent) who preferred not to have child support tended to be those who had never lived with the father of their child. In addition, some women who elected not to receive support were financially secure and had older chil- dren. For example, women who said they did not want awards had annual household incomes that averaged $30,486 and children aged thirteen com- pared to $20,952 and five-years-old for their counterparts who wanted awards. Finally, some were concerned about the child’s safety andor wanted to minimize visitation between father and child. These women forewent support even though their financial situation did not objectively warrant it (see Table 1).

232 FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW

TABLE 1 Explanations Provided by Women Who Reported They Did Not Want a Child Support Award (N = 46)

%

Concerned about kidnapping by noncustodian Concerned noncustodian would demand more contact with child Child will soon be emancipated Would prefer no contact due to prior history of domestic violence Prefer informal arrangement to share expenses Noncustodian cannot afford to pay support Custodian is financially able to rear children without support

5 21

3 8 18 5 34

The absence of a child support award has obvious financial implications. Among those with awards, the percentage of households with incomes below the poverty level stood at 24 per cent. For those without orders, the percentage was 44 per cent. This finding was virtually identical to the national patterns where poverty rates were 25 and 46 per cent for women with and without awards, respectively. Order status was also significantly associated with receiving AFDC. Only 11 per cent of the women with support orders were AFDC recipients at the time of the interview, compared to 29 per cent of the mothers not covered by a support order.

To further explore the economic implications of obtaining a child support award, we calculated average award levels for women with various marital statuses and incorporated them into the annual household incomes of women with similar marital status, but no support awards. We ignored the welfare status of the women (only 17 per cent were AFDC recipients when inter- viewed) and assumed that all awarded support would go to the custodial parent rather than to the state as reimbursement for current or past AFDC expenditures. The results were striking. If women in the sample not covered by an order had child support awarded to them, their household income would increase by 25 per cent. Among women never married to the father, the increase would be 29 per cent.

B. Child Support Payment

Equally important as the establishment of a child support award is obtaining payments from those parents ordered to pay. Colorado ranks lower than the nation as a whole in overall child support collections. On ihe average, women of Colorado with child support orders received only about half of the support they were due. Women were equally likely to receive all the support due to

Pearson et al. /CHILD SUPPORT IN COLORADO 233

TABLE 2 Average Amount of Support Paid in the Preceding Year

~ ~~~-

African Total Anglo American Hispanic

% % % YO

Percentage of total amount due that was received 52 56 35 36 Percentage receiving no child support in the

preceding year 33 30 46 48

them, partial payment, or nothing at all. Nationally, the proportion receiving full payment was 5 1 per cent and 24 per cent received nothing at all.

Anglo women in our sample were more likely to receive support due to them than African-American and Hispanic women. Anglo women received 56 per cent of total support they were owed while African-American and Hispanic women received 35 and 36 per cent, respectively (see Table 2).

Bad as they are, these figures do not capture the true magnitude of the non-support problem. Nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of all women due support from at least one obligor have experienced problems at some point in collecting support. This includes current as well as previous support problems. As a result of prior and ongoing nonpayment problems, approxi- mately 60 per cent of the women with support order were owed back child support. The average amount of this arrearage was $12,000. On average, this comprised 42 per cent of the custodial parent’s annual household income. For minority and single women, arrearages were even more significant. For example, the arrearage comprised 70 per cent of annual household income reported by Hispanic mothers.

Unlike the child support award phenomenon, there was no relationship between the presence or absence of a marriage to the obligee and the willingness of the obligor to meet his support obligations. Regardless of marital status, once support was awarded approximately 42 per cent of the women in our study received support regularly, 25 per cent received pay- ments irregularly and 33 per cent failed to receive payments at all. Nor did wage withholding or the automatic deduction of child support from obligor salary appear to produce substantially better compliance. If these reports are to be believed, those who reported wage withholding in place received approximately 60 per cent of support due to them compared to 53 per cent without wage withholding. The more compelling correlate of payment behaviour appeared to be the length of time since separation, with payment patterns worsening over time. For example, on the average, women separated

234 FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW

for no more than a year reported receiving 68 per cent of the amount they were owed. Among those separated for eight or more years, the figure dropped to 44 per cent.

Nonpayment of child support also tracked with irregular visitation and/or the presence of problems around child access. Those who reported the best payment also reported regular visitation and the absence of problems when visitation occurred. This was true for those parents who had been married as well as the never married. Unfortunately we cannot draw any conclusions about whether child support or child access problems are causally related or whether both vary, along with a third, unmeasured variable, such as paternal involvement with the children prior to separation or divorce.

Mothers consistently attributed the lack of child support payment to the obligor’s poorly managed finances or to his anger with the obligee. Nearly 60 per cent cited the former reason and nearly 50 per cent offered the latter explanation. Nearly a quarter reported that the obligor could not afford the support payment, and a similar percentage said he was too angry about custody/visitation to pay. About 20 per cent cited obligor suspicions that child support was not spent on the child.

Obligees who received support irregularly or not at all experienced dramatic, negative economic consequences. A quarter of the women in our sample who did not receive the ordered amount of child support were living below the federal poverty level. Among those who received the full amount of support, only 10 per cent had incomes that fell below the poverty level. If child support arrearages were paid off over a period of five years, full support payments were made, and all these monies went to the custodial parent rather than to the state as reimbursement for current or past welfare expenditures, the household income of women currently receiving support irregularly would rise by 20 per cent. As a result, by providing the average support award to those without awards and securing full payments for those who receive irregular or non-existent child support payments, at least 18 per cent of those with incomes below the federal poverty level would move out of the poverty bracket. If enforcement incldded collecting back due support and these arrearages were paid off over a period of five years, 30 per cent of the women in the sample currently living below poverty would move out of the poverty status.

C. Child Support Award Levels

The average child support award in this sample, including awards from multiple obligors in a given case, was $307 per month, or nearly $3,700

Pearson et al. / CHILD SUPPORT IN COLORADO 235

annually. This figure represented an average of $190 per month for each eligible child and comprised a substantial proportion of household income for single mothers-29 per cent. For women with incomes below $15,000, the child support order was equal to more than half of the households’ total annual income from other sources.

Although 40 per cent of the children in this sample were covered by orders enacted prior to the adoption of guidelines, the study found little evidence of significant increases in child support order levels following the adoption of Colorado’s Income Shares Child Support Guideline. In 1990 dollars, the average per-child order for the pre-guideline cases was $214, compared with $229 in the post-guideline sample. It is unclear whether the lack of difference was due to pre-guideline awards that were quite similar to those predicted by the guidelines, or a failure to apply the guideline. Nevertheless, this finding was consistent with prior research showing only modest changes in award levels since enactment of child support guidelines in Colorado and other state settings (Pearson, Thoennes and Tjaden, 1990).

Based on respondent reports, it appears that support levels were predicted in large part by the obligor’s earning level. However, independent of socio- economic status, attorney representation and race/ethnicity were also asso- ciated with award levels. Anglo women had the highest awards, averaging $198 per child. Among African-American and Hispanic women, the corre- sponding figures were $160 and $133, respectively. Those who were repre- sented at the time the order was made had average per child awards of $201, compared to $163 for those who were not represented by an attorney.

Differences by race/ethnicity and attorney representation persisted after controlling for the income of the obligee. In other words, regardless of in- come, women with attorneys and Anglos had significantly higher awards than economically comparable minority or unrepresented women (see Table 3).

A final relevant factor affecting the ultimate adequacy of order levels is their age. Although the orders reported upon in this study were an average of six years old, and a quarter had been in effect for at least ten years, it appears that only 16 per cent had been modified. Among those divorced for at least five years, the modification rate was 25 per cent. The adequacy of support awards invariably declines over time, as the cost of living increases and awards remain static. If older awards in our sample were updated to their equivalent in 1990 dollars, the average order would increase from $190 per child to $22 1. Further, if all women in the sample had support awards, perfect payment awards set to their equivalent 1990 dollar values, and all these monies went to them rather than to the state, 40 per cent of those with incomes below poverty would move out of the poverty status. Presumably, a modifi-

236 FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW

TABLE 3 Factors Associated with Award Levels

Award Level by Ethnicity Ethnicity Average Award Per Child

Anglo African-American Hispanic

$198 $160 $133

Average Award by Attorney Representation Represented by an Attorney at the Time the Award was Made Average Award Per Child

Yes No

$201 $163

cation of old awards using the child support guideline would result in even higher awards and an even more significant improvement in the family’s economic standing.

D. The Experiences of the Never Married

As severe as the child support problem is in the general population, it is more pronounced for women with out-of-wedlock births. Children born to unwed parents are the least likely to be covered by a support order. When support is awarded, never-married parents are also likely to have lower orders.

The most reliable way to ensure the award of child support by a court and its regular payment among never-married parents is to obtain a court-ordered paternity award. Despite this, only 25 per cent of the cases involving unmarried partners had paternity established by a court. In about a fifth of the cases, the father’s name had been entered on the child’s birth certificate, but no formal paternity establishment had been made. More than half (54 per cent) of the women in the sample who were never married to the child’s father needed to have paternity established by a court. These women were clearly the least likely to have an order to receive child support. Only 15 per cent reported receiving any child support payment during the previous year. Nearly half of these women had incomes below the poverty level.

E. Other Findings

A small proportion of women in this sample (10 per cent) were eligible to receive child support for children fathered by two or more different men.

Pearson et al. I CHILD SUPPORT IN COLORADO 237

TABLE 4 Profile of Multiple Obligor Cases

One Obligor Multiple Obligors

Ethnic Composition % % Anglo 81 67 African-American 4 12 Hispanic 14 20 Other 2 1

Marital Status Married 84 32 Unmarried 16 26 Mixed NJA 43

Household Income $26,681 $14,025

Award Status Court order 88 36 No order 2 11 Informal agreement 10 3 Mixed NIA 51

Compared to women owed support from a single obligor, these women were significantly less likely to have child support awards, to have lower awards when child support was ordered, and to receive a lower amount of support due to them. They were also most likely to seek help from the child support enforcement agency (see Table 4).

In six per cent of the sample, fathers had sole physical custody of their children and mothers would be expected to pay child support. Male custodial parents were significantly less likely to have a child support award than their female counterparts (46 per cent versus 18 per cent had no order). Most of these men (58 per cent) said that they did not want support and that their financial resources were adequate to raise the children. When ordered to pay support, female obligors paid lower amounts ($138 versus $192 per month for each child) but this reflected their lower incomes rather than the applica- tion of a double standard or biases against men. Male and female payment patterns were identical with comparable proportions paying all, some or none of their child support obligation.

A major difference between the experience of male and female custodial parents is that men do not appear to suffer the financial consequences that women experience as a result of a lack of support. The mean household income reported by custodial fathers who provided income information was $39,812. Only four per cent of the custodial fathers reported a household

238 FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW

income that fell below the poverty levels. To contrast, below poverty income was reported by a quarter of custodial mothers. Moreover, if all custodial fathers received the average amount of child support awarded to custodial fathers in this sample, their average income as a group would rise only 14 per cent. The comparable income increase for female custodial parents would be 25 per cent. These differences were statistically significant.

Nearly half (44 per cent) of all women said the noncustodial parent did not visit at all or maintain any contact with the child; substantial proportions also complained about missed and irregular visitation patterns. As previously noted, visitation tracked with child support payment, although it was impos- sible to discern a causal relationship or sequence. The poorest payment patterns occurred where visitation was non-existent or extremely problem- ridden. Like payment behaviour, visitation appeared to drop off over time with the newly separated exhibiting the most contact. Non-visitation was highest among those with incomes below poverty and the never-married, although never-married African-Americans maintained more contact with their children than their Anglo and Hispanic counterparts. Visiting patterns also differed for the various racial groups among married parents, with African-Americans exhibiting less contact than Anglos and Hispanics. Non- custodial mothers were more likely than fathers to maintain contact with their children even when they were delinquent with their child support payments.

Given the number of child support problems we discovered, it is not surprising that about four out of five women in this study could benefit from professional intervention. Well over half of the women who appeared to need help reported they had, in fact, sought assistance. When help was sought, women were twice as likely to turn to their local child support agency (40 per cent) as a private attorney (20 per cent). This is consistent with the fact that help seeking increased as the woman’s income declined and the number of children she was caring for increased.

Somewhat less than half of the women (43 per cent) who reported contacting the child support agency said that they received services beyond the provision of information. It is unknown whether these women had made formal application for services as required by federal law or had simply phoned for help. It is also unknown whether some had received services that were not visible to them, such as attempts to locate an absent parent. In any event, only about a third of the women were satisfied with the help they received from the agency. Satisfaction was highest among those who re- ceived paternity establishments with the help of the agency, and far lower among those who received assistance with enforcement. This finding may reflect the fact that paternity is a relatively concrete, specific task when compared to the ongoing problems posed by the enforcement of orders.

Pearson et al. /CHILD SUPPORT IN COLORADO 239

Finally, we found that most women (86 per cent) who contacted the support agency for help had continuing child support problems or wanted additional assistance.

V. IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

Despite the passage of the most far-reaching child support reform legislation in decades, this study suggests that child support problems in Colorado, and in the nation, persist on a massive scale. Admittedly, this legislation led Colorado to recently enact child support guidelines, create a commission to review guidelines and recommend changes, implement immediate wage withholding in all IV-D cases (that is, those where the person entitled to child support received AFDC), and develop procedures for non-contested child support orders to be established, modified, and enforced outside the court- room. There have been benefits as a result. For example, in 1988,1989 and 1990, Colorado child support collections increased at more than 15 per cent per year,leading tothe awardof aregional citation by the federal government.

However, despite the legislation, at least half of all minor children in the state eligible for child support in 1990 received no support, either because of lack of awards specifying support, or the inability to enforce payment. This lack of support has grave financial consequences. While 10 per cent of those households receiving the full amount of support had incomes below the poverty level, this was the case for a quarter of the households where child support was missing. The experiences of women with out-of-wedlock births were even more grim. A staggering 85 per cent of the women who lack court-established paternity received no child support in the past year. As a result, morethan halfreported incomes below the poverty level. Clearly, even in the wake of groundbreaking child support reform and the consequent gains, far more progress remains to be made. This study highlights a number of revisions and improvements that might help to remedy the continuing problems.

Improving the Child Support Enforcement Process

Improving enforcement within the existing child support framework will require that we redouble our legal and financial commitments. In fiscal year 1990, child support enforcement in Colorado involved 358 full-time employ- ees and expenditures totalling nearly 15 million dollars (Colorado Child Support Enforcement Agency, 1991). Nevertheless, our study revealed that the level of need for high quality child support services continues to exceed

240 FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW

the capacity of child support agencies. Although we cannot be certain of the proportion who actually applied for child support services, only a minority who reported seeking help received services and were satisfied with the result.

Among the steps needed to effect further improvements in compliance with the parental child support obligation are: appropriation of additional funding so that all county child support offices achieve model office case load standards currently pegged at 520 full-time employees statewide; and adoption of new enforcement of legislation. Among the legislative measures perceived to be of greatest potential utility by state child support administra- tors are: 1) extend immediate wage withholding to non-IV-D cases (that is, where the person entitled to child support was not an AFDC recipient); 2) suspend or revoke licenses of self-employed obligors not covered by wage- withholding laws who fail to pay child support; 3) require all employers to immediately report new hires to the IV-D agency; 4) require employers to withhold medical insurance premiums from wages for employees who have been ordered to provide medical support for minor aged children; 5) develop and implement a plan for a central property lien registry; and 6) require social security numbers on all drivers’ licenses (Pearson, Anhalt and Thoennes, 1991b).

In addition to these legal and financial measures, the study indicates a need for a variety of new services and interventions with separated parents. For example, in light of the fact that many custodial mothers blame non- payment on the other parent’s inability to manage his finances or his lack of earnings, other needed services would include debt counseling, money management counseling and job training services. The data also suggest that paternal involvement with the child and anger with the obligee are related to child support compliance. Although these issues are not easily addressed, court or support agency services to promote paternal involvement with children and to reduce parental tensions would be welcome.

The study also suggests the need for additional demonstration, evaluation and research related to paternity establishment. For example, many never- mamed mothers might be able to assist in locating the fathers who are listed on their baby’s birth certificate. However, eliciting maternal co-operation would require educational outreach efforts such as hospital-based pro- grammes targeted at unmarried mothers.

Another issue that warrants additional attention is wage withholding. If the reports of custodial parents in our sample are accurate, it appears that wage withholding does not greatly improve support compliance. Other research (Gordon et al, 1991) also finds no statistically significant effect of immediate withholding laws on support collections. Among the barriers to

Pearson et al. /CHILD SUPPORT IN COLORADO 241

implementation are the difficulty of obtaining information on the obligor’s employer or employment status and the timeliness of such information. Job instability and inefficiency in the enforcement agency are also important constraints. These matters need to be addressed if wage withholding (imme- diate and non-immediate varieties) is to become the effective collection technique it was anticipated to be.

Finally, the study underscores the importance of providing legal represen- tation to divorcing women. Although guidelines were designed to routinize the determination of child support order amounts, we found that at all income levels, award levels were significantly higher when the custodial parent was represented by an attorney. This finding was consistent with previous study that examined the impact of child support guidelines on actual awards in Colorado, Illinois and Hawaii (Pearson, Thoennes and Tjaden 1989).

It may be that the revisions and improvements suggested above, like the 1984 Child Support Amendments and theFamily Support Act of 1988, would add only modestly to the nation’s ability to provide adequately for all children with absent parents. Many of the obstacles to caring for children cannot be remedied solely by revising current child support policies or by focusing on achieving full compliance with current policies and legislation. For example, research indicates that child support establishment and enforcement will have a limited ability to improve children’s conditions when the father’s income is low (Haskins 1985). Similarly, by requiring that all but $50 of the father’s support payment be deducted from his children’s public welfare check, the financial standing of the nation’s poorest children cannot be significantly improved even when enforcement is successful (Krause 1990). Dilemmas are also posed when the enforcement of support orders for one set of chil- dren may have the unintended consequence of further impoverishing a new set of children. This issue is increasingly raised in our society. It has been argued, for example, that many fathers view relationships as ‘a package deal’-cutting ties with the children’s mother results in cutting all ties to the children. However, starting a new relationship means supporting the children of this woman who are owed, but not receiving support, from their absent father (Furstenberg 1990).

This article does not allow us to fully explore the kinds of far-reaching changes that might be needed to provide a more dramatic solution to child poverty than that produced by revising and improving the current US child support system. However, if our goal is to provide adequate standards of living for all children, the time may have come to explore such options as those already adopted by many European communities, or those needed to produce a guaranteed minimum income for all households. Implementing such approaches would pose numerous challenges to the US philosophy of

242 FAMILY AND CONCILIATION COURTS REVIEW

child support, as well as tremendous practical obstacles. However, in the long run, only dramatic reform, rather than revision, of current approaches may produce the results originally envisioned for the 1984 Child Support Amend- ments or the Family Support Act.

NOTES

‘The random sample of household numbers was generated by Survey Sampling, Inc. of Connecticut. The numbers were checked to reduce the number of business and nonworking phones, but were otherwise untouched. By using a simple random sample of households across the state, we minimized the biases that would have been introduced by using listed numbers or numbers targeted to various socioeconomic groups, and ensured the maximum generalizability of the survey results.

2All screening and interviewing was conducted over the telephone in the fall of 1990, by trained interviewers at the firm of Rhine and Hayes Research, Inc. of Denver, Colorado, and trained volunteers at the Junior League of Colorado.

3Households were called back as many as four times if the interviewer encountered a busy signal, no answer, or an answering machine. On average, interviewers completed one interview per hour. The interview itself took about fifteen minutes to conduct.

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1013-32 (1989).

Jessica Pearson is Director of the Centerfor Policy Research in Denver Colorado. She has completed a number offederallyfuna’ed research projects in the area of child support and custody.

Nancy Thoennes is Associate Director of the Center for Policy Research and has published widely in the field.

Jean Anhalt is a Research Associate at the Center for Policy Research.