Problem
Child support payments help ensure that single-parent families have adequate economic resources and are less likely to depend on government benefits. They may encourage noncustodial parents’ involvement in their children’s lives, improve child outcomes, connect noncustodial parents to work, and discourage single parenthood. However, many noncustodial parents have low earnings and may find it difficult to make child support payments. The effective tax on their earnings may lead them to work less or not at all. That means custodial parents receive less child support.
Solution
Federal policy should allow states to receive the 66 percent federal match that reimburses state child support enforcement spending when they operate employment programs for noncustodial parents. While policy historically excluded such spending from the match, an administrative rule making spending on certain employment and training programs eligible became effective in January 2025. However, this rule is being reviewed and is under consideration for rescission.
Date of Proposal : February 13, 2017
Robert Doar, “Empowering Child Support Enforcement to Reduce Poverty,” in A Safety Net That Works: Improving Federal Programs for Low-Income Americans, ed. Robert Doar (American Enterprise Institute, 2017), https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/A-Safety-Net-That-Works.pdf#page=70.
US Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, “Employment and Training Services for Noncustodial Parents in the Child Support Program Final Rule; Rescission,” Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, December 19, 2025, https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eoDetails?rrid=1222013.