Patterns of child support debt accumulation

Yeongmin Kim, Maria Cancian () and Daniel R. Meyer

Children and Youth Services Review, 2015, vol. 51, issue C, 87-94

Abstract: Despite efforts to strengthen child support enforcement over the past decades, the level of unpaid child support remains high. High child support arrears create problems for families and states; however, our understanding of how arrears accumulate is limited. Using longitudinal data from Wisconsin administrative records for noncustodial fathers, this article examines patterns of the evolution of child support arrears. We develop a scheme to categorize long-term arrears changes and identify six typical trajectories of arrears evolution that distinguish the timing and pattern of changes in debt. We conclude with the implications of the results for child support policy and research.

Keywords: Child support; Debt; Arrears; Single-parent families; Noncustodial fathers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:51:y:2015:i:c:p:87-94

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2015.01.017

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