Child Support Enforcement

Nonpayment of child support by noncustodial parents has contributed to sharp increases in both childhood poverty rates and the number of families receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits. To help children and families avoid poverty and welfare dependence, Congress created in 1975 the child support enforcement program as a federal-state partnership, with the federal government's Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) providing leadership, technical assistance, standards, and oversight to state programs, which collect the child support. The program's mission has expanded in the last 10 years, with 1984 amendments requiring that state and local efforts equally service AFDC and non-AFDC families, and the 1988 Family Support Act setting standards for paternity establishment and additional requirements to ensure fairness and currency of support awards. For a variety of reasons, the partnership has so far yielded poor results; in 1992, only 19 percent of about 15 million children and families depending on the program received full or partial child support. Factors that account for this performance include budget cuts, reorganization, the lack of a strategic vision, inadequate communication, and flawed program data that combine to hamper OCSE's capacity. Also, federal audits, which consume more than half of OCSE's resources, provide limited insight into the performance of state programs. Welfare reform, as outlined in several legislative proposals, would add to OCSE's responsibilities by further expanding program services. GAO outlines ways to strengthen the program's weaknesses in management, oversight, communication, and monitoring.