abstract: 'Changes in family demographic patterns and the erosion of the social

  safety net have contributed to the centrality of child support as a

  source of income for many families. Many custodial mothers and their

  children rely on child support to meet basic needs; yet, most do not

  receive all of the support they are owed. Given the importance of child

  support as a financial resource for many families, and the gap between

  child support owed and received, understanding why some fathers do not

  meet their formal support obligations is important for improving the

  well-being of children in single-parent families. This article

  contributes to the evidence base on barriers to compliance with formal

  child support obligations by the sharing perspectives of noncustodial

  fathers struggling to find work and pay child support. Data were

  gathered through focus groups with noncustodial fathers conducted for

  the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration. Results

  indicate four types of factors contributing to noncompliance: (1)

  practical impediments, including income constraints, high-burden orders

  and obligations to other children; (2) system-imposed barriers; (3)

  noncustodial father preferences; and (4) prior interactions with the

  child support system. Findings from this study suggest a number of

  policy changes that could help facilitate compliance among struggling

  noncustodial fathers. These include access to services to help overcome

  practical barriers to work; administrative and statutory changes within

  child support to help address high burden orders, enforcement actions

  that impede employment, and state-owed arrearages; and changes to TANF

  pass-through policies.'
affiliation: 'Vogel, LK (Corresponding Author), Univ Wisconsin, Inst Res Poverty,
  1180 Observ Dr, Madison, WI 53706 USA.

  Vogel, Lisa Klein, Univ Wisconsin, Inst Res Poverty, 1180 Observ Dr, Madison, WI
  53706 USA.'
article-number: '104764'
author: Vogel, Lisa Klein
author-email: lmklein@wisc.edu
author_list:
- family: Vogel
  given: Lisa Klein
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104764
eissn: 1873-7765
files: []
issn: 0190-7409
journal: CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICES REVIEW
keywords: 'Child support; Compliance barriers; Economic well-being; Qualitative

  analysis'
keywords-plus: ENFORCEMENT; FAMILIES; POLICY; PAY; FERTILITY; RECEIPT; ABILITY; DADS
language: English
month: MAR
number-of-cited-references: '54'
orcid-numbers: Vogel, Lisa/0000-0001-9329-2732
papis_id: 8e6cf055ee273169dcdb44e011a79265
ref: Vogel2020barriersmeeting
times-cited: '10'
title: 'Barriers to meeting formal child support obligations: Noncustodial father
  perspectives'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000517661700009
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '2'
volume: '110'
web-of-science-categories: Family Studies; Social Work
year: '2020'