Rescuing Children: Reforms in the Child Support Payment System

Abstract

The rapid increase in the number of single-parent families living in poverty has focused attention on the deficiencies in the current system of child support payments. Recently there have been reforms at both the federal and state levels to improve the system including the collection of delinquencies by wage withholding. This article discusses the desirability of three further reforms: the mandatory use of formulas to establish the amount of the support obligation, the provision for income withholding as the established means of collection, and the adoption of a federal system of income withholding based on a uniform national formula.