Child Support Policy Research
Child Support Research Agreement, September 2007–December 2009
This research agreement between IRP and the Wisconsin
Department of Workforce Development (Maria Cancian and Thomas Kaplan,
Principal Investigators) supports data collection and research related to
the child support system. The primary projects and summary descriptions appear
below. Related publications and reports will be posted upon completion.
- Court Records Data Collection
- Families Forward Debt Reduction Program
- Effects of a Policy Change in Milwaukee County to Hold Incarcerated Payers' Orders in Abeyance
- Health Orders
- Shared Physical Placement and the Post-Divorce Economic
Well-Being of Mothers, Fathers, and Children in Divorce Cases
- Changes Over Time in Multiple Partner Fertility and Consequences for Child Support
- Factors Associated with Nonpayment of Child Support
- EITC Use in Shared Placement Cases
- Best Practices in the Use of Administrative Data to Analyze Changes in Child Support Orders
1. Court Records Data Collection
IRP will collect two new cohorts of paternity and divorce cases (Cohorts
25 and 26), consisting of a random selection of cases petitioning for paternity
establishment, the setting of child support or child placement in voluntary
acknowledgment paternity cases, and divorce cases in the period from July
2004 through June 2005 (Cohort 25), and July 2005 through June 2006 (Cohort
26).
Through visits to counties, court record history data not currently recorded
in the KIDS data system will be collected. The collected data will include
information on legal custody and physical placement, visitation, and details
concerning the specific provisions of each order. Other information collected
will include records of deviations from the use of the guidelines and information
on returns to court for purposes relating to child placement, child support
orders, revision or enforcement of child support, or referral for criminal
proceedings for the nonpayment of child support.
2. Families Forward Debt Reduction
Program
This project continues analysis of the pilot debt reduction experiment
that is currently underway in Racine County (see Sept.
2005 – Dec.
2007 projects). The analyses for this research will use administrative
data, along with data from the follow-up surveys and focus groups.
IRP researchers are using administrative data to construct two key
sets of measures of the impact of changes in child support debt and changes
in child support payments. The project will also collect information
from parents to inform understanding of individual responses to the program
and of perceptions of program implementation.
Wisconsin is the first state to include custodial parent-owed arrears
in a debt reduction project, and it is also conducting the experiment under
rigorous experimental design standards. Researchers expect to identify
heretofore unexamined impacts on child support payments and debt reduction
and to examine other program effects on participants and their families,
and to make recommendations for program development.
An expansion of the program and evaluation to another county may also
be completed during the period of this agreement.
3. Effects of a Policy Change in Milwaukee County to Hold Incarcerated Payers' Orders in Abeyance
During the period of this agreement, IRP researchers will complete two
sets of analyses. The first, a qualitative analysis of the responses of
custodial and noncustodial parents, will document individual responses
to and perceptions of the policy adopted in Milwaukee County to suspend
orders for support when a payer is incarcerated. The information will be
analyzed in order to develop an understanding of issues surrounding the
policy’s implementation and effects from the perspective of custodial
and noncustodial parents. The analyses for the first part of this report
will be based on interviews with formerly incarcerated fathers and the
associated custodial parent with child support orders established in Milwaukee
County.
The second analysis will draw on updated information
on the first cohort of cases (that left the incarceration system before
the policy of holding orders open was implemented), and initial results
for those in the second cohort, who were exposed to the new policy. Researchers
will use administrative data to track incarceration, child support outcomes,
and pre- and post-incarceration earnings. This analysis will provide information
on the effects of recent policy developments in Milwaukee County, and provide
the basis for subsequent evaluation of the impact of holding orders in
abeyance during incarceration.
4. Health Orders
In this project, researchers will document the operation and some effects
of a newly automated health order data match and enforcement system that
is expected for child support cases in which the children participate in
Medicaid and for other child support cases. Researchers will compare medical
support after the first interface match with medical support one year after
policy implementation.
Wisconsin may be the first state in which a health agency will have clear
statutory authority to share health insurance information with child support
enforcement agencies and in which automated systems will enhance the ability
of child support agencies to enforce medical support orders.
5. Shared Physical Placement and the Post-Divorce Economic
Well-Being of Mothers, Fathers, and Children in Divorce Cases
In this project, IRP will use the sample of divorce cases from Cohorts
24 and 25 (see project 1, above) to analyze the economic well-being of
the parties involved in shared placement. The report will examine the effects
of substantial changes that have occurred over the past decade in both
policy and practice concerning child placement following divorce. The report
will examine the economic impact of shared placement, and the resulting
reduction in child support payments, particularly for low-income families.
6. Changes Over Time in Multiple Partner Fertility and Consequences for Child Support
In this research IRP researchers will evaluate changes in family complexity
over time from the perspective of fathers, mothers, or children, and examine
the implications of these changes for expected child support orders. The
incidence and timing of multiple-partner fertility have implications for
the child support enforcement system, and the level and stability of support
obligations of noncustodial parents, the support due to custodial parents,
as well as the potential benefits of and need for order modifications.
7. Factors Associated with Nonpayment of Child Support
This research will explore explanations for irregularity in child support
payment. IRP will examine several potential explanations, including the
extent to which noncustodial parents have no formal earnings, or changes
in employers, appear to be out-of-state, or appear to have orders that
are to be paid in periods other than monthly. Researchers will use administrative
data to measure orders and payments, earnings, and incarceration. The understanding
gained from this study of the conditions that are associated with nonpayment
and irregular payment will inform further system development.
8. EITC Use in Shared Placement Cases
This report will examine how low-income working parents claim the tax
benefits associated with children, particularly the EITC, given the physical
placement arrangement as described in the court record. The primary data
source for this report will be Cohorts 21, 23 and 24, which include
detailed information on physical placement language of Final Divorce Judgment
orders and agreements.
The EITC is an important potential source of income for low-income working
families in Wisconsin. IRP will document whether Wisconsin families in
the child support system appear to receive the appropriate EITCs, and whether
the likelihood and amount of EITC receipt appears to be related to the
way in which child support placements are structured.
9. Best Practices in the Use of Administrative Data to Analyze Changes in Child Support Orders
This project will include an intensive analysis of the administrative
data system to establish best practices in the use of administrative data
to analyze changes in child support orders. It will inform researchers
on the reasons that orders end and the best ways to track orders and changes
in orders, which is important to properly interpreting the results of research
on child support order duration, noncustodial parents' compliance with
orders, and regularity of child support payments.
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