abstract: '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.

  Understanding why some fathers do not meet their formal support

  obligations is important for the well-being of children in single-parent

  families. Research about noncustodial fathers'' compliance with formal

  support obligations has focused predominantly on quantitative analyses

  of individual, family, and structural factors affecting compliance, with

  a more limited body of qualitative work exploring noncustodial father

  perspectives. Generally missing are the perspectives of staff who work

  with noncustodial parents on overcoming compliance barriers. Staff

  provide unique and useful insights, given their vantage point from

  within systems and across fathers. However, staff perspectives alone are

  inadequate for understanding the full context of noncustodial parent

  experiences, as noncustodial parents possess a unique view into the

  child support system as customers.

  This article contributes to the evidence base on barriers to compliance

  with formal child support obligations by the sharing perspectives of

  staff who work with noncustodial fathers struggling to find work and pay

  child support on overcoming these barriers, and comparing their

  perspectives to those of noncustodial fathers. Data were gathered

  through interviews and surveys with child support, employment, and

  parenting staff conducted for the Child Support Noncustodial Parent

  Employment Demonstration, and are compared to perspectives of fathers

  gathered through focus groups for the same evaluation (Vogel, 2020).

  Results indicate five types of practical, system-based, and experiential

  factors contributing to noncompliance: (1) an array of barriers to

  employment; (2) insufficient income to meet obligations; (3) child

  support system-initiated barriers; (4) resistance to paying support

  without visitation access; and (5) prior interactions with the child

  support system.

  Findings suggest a number of policy changes that could help facilitate

  compliance among struggling noncustodial fathers, including: access to

  services to address practical barriers to work; system-level health

  care, child care, public infrastructure, and criminal justice reforms;

  administrative and statutory changes within child support to help

  address high burden orders, enforcement actions that impede employment,

  and state-owed arrearages; and providing pathways to visitation when

  safe and appropriate.'
affiliation: 'Vogel, LK (Corresponding Author), Univ Wisconsin, Inst Res Poverty,
  1180 Observ Dr, Madison, WI 53706 USA.

  Vogel, LK (Corresponding Author), Georgetown Univ, McCourt Sch Publ Policy, Old
  North Hall,37th \& O Sts NW, Washington, DC 20057 USA.

  Vogel, Lisa Klein, Univ Wisconsin, Inst Res Poverty, 1180 Observ Dr, Madison, WI
  53706 USA.'
article-number: '104763'
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.2020.104763
eissn: 1873-7765
files: []
issn: 0190-7409
journal: CHILDREN AND YOUTH SERVICES REVIEW
keywords: 'Child support; Compliance barriers; Economic well-being; Mixed-methods

  analysis'
keywords-plus: 'QUALITATIVE RESEARCH; WAGE INEQUALITY; DEADBEAT DADS; FATHERS;

  ENFORCEMENT; FAMILIES; WELFARE; POLICY; PAY; EMPLOYMENT'
language: English
month: MAR
number-of-cited-references: '57'
orcid-numbers: Vogel, Lisa/0000-0001-9329-2732
papis_id: 9b752d0c4523846094854bb20977622e
ref: Vogel2020helpme
times-cited: '8'
title: 'Help me help you: Identifying and addressing barriers to child support compliance'
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000517661700011
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '1'
volume: '110'
web-of-science-categories: Family Studies; Social Work
year: '2020'