A comparison of intergovernmental and private agency collection of child support arrears

Luke T. Russell, Lawrence Ganong, David G. Schramm, Kelly Warzinik, Andrea Roach and Rachael Doubledee

Children and Youth Services Review, 2016, vol. 71, issue C, 166-173

Abstract: Child support payments are intended to improve children's wellbeing by securing financial support from noncustodial parents. Payments in arrear are a significant problem, however, particularly when parents live in different states. Using a mixed-methods design, we compared the effectiveness of a private collection agency to a state agency managing intergovernmental child support cases over a 12-month period on: (1) the techniques, strategies, and methods used for child support enforcement, (2) the total amount of arrears collected, (3) the number of total payments collected, and, (4) the percentage of arrears collected. Though interviews revealed that employees working for the private agency and intergovernmental systems differ substantively in their collection philosophies, strategies, and enforcement tools available, quantitative results showed few differences between the agencies in arrears collections.

Keywords: Child support; Child support enforcement; Mixed-methods; Privatization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:71:y:2016:i:c:p:166-173

DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2016.10.040

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