NCJ Number
151550
Date Published
1991
Length
74 pages
Annotation
Increases in the number and proportion of children in single-parent families living in poverty have raised concern about the failure of many parents to maintain financial responsibility for their children; in response, the General Accounting Office (GAO) developed a framework for evaluating programs and activities that focus on child support enforcement.
Abstract
The Child Support Enforcement Program, established under Title IV of the Social Security Act was designed to strengthen State and local efforts to find absent parents, establish paternity, obtain child support orders, and collect child support payments. Initially, the primary focus was on providing assistance to families in the Aid to Families With Dependent Children (AFDC) Program. The Child Support Enforcement Amendments of 1984 and the Family Support Act of 1988 clarified that services would also be available to non-AFDC families and required States to implement measures considered likely to enhance child support collection. The GAO evaluation framework integrates three perspectives in which costs and effects of child support may be viewed: (1) functional activities of the child support enforcement system; (2) outcomes of the child support enforcement system; and (3) action levels or domains (Title IV, public, and private). Indicators and actual measures associated with potential costs, benefits, and effects are identified in appendixes that can be used to establish paternity, issue child support orders, conduct child support enforcement activities, and collect child support payments. 80 references, 23 tables, and 2 figures