EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EDT, OCTOBER 13, 2000 (FRIDAY)
Public Information Office CB00-170
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
e:mail: pio@census.gov
Timothy Grall
301-457-6686
More Custodial Parents Receive Full Amount
of Child Support, Census Bureau Reports
The proportion of custodial parents receiving all the child support
payments they were due increased from 34 percent in 1993 to 41 percent in
1997, according to a report released today by the Commerce Department's
Census Bureau.
Another 27 percent of custodial parents received partial payments in
1997, down from 35 percent in 1993. Overall, two-thirds (67 percent) of
custodial parents due child support in 1997 received either full or
partial payments, unchanged since 1993. The average amount of child
support received by these custodial parents was $3,600, also unchanged
since 1993.
"The economic situation of custodial parents showed steady improvement
since 1993," said Census Bureau analyst Timothy Grall, author of the
report Child Support for Custodial Mothers and Fathers: 1997. "For instance,
a greater proportion of custodial parents are working full time now, and
the likelihood of living in poverty and participating in public assistance
programs has declined."
The proportion of custodial parents with full-time, year-round jobs
increased from 46 percent to 51 percent between 1993 and 1997. The poverty
rate for custodial parents declined between 1993 and 1997 (from 33 percent
to 29 percent) as did the incidence of participating in a public
assistance program (from 41 percent to 34 percent).
Other highlights of the report:
- As of spring 1998, an estimated 14.0 million parents had custody of
22.9 million children under 21 years of age whose other parent lived
elsewhere; 85 percent of these parents were mothers.
- Payment of full or partial child support was most likely when the
noncustodial parent had arrangements for joint child custody and
visitation. About 83 percent of custodial parents with these
arrangements received full or partial support payments, as opposed to
36 percent for those without either shared custody or visitation.
- The 7.0 million custodial parents with agreements or current child
support awards received an aggregate of $17.1 billion, or 59 percent,
of the $29.1 billion in child support due. Custodial mothers received
a greater proportion of the total they were due than did custodial
fathers (60 percent versus 48 percent).
- About 7.9 million custodial parents (56 percent) had some type of
support agreement or award for their children in 1998. This group
comprised 59 percent of custodial mothers and 38 percent of custodial
fathers.
- The reason most often cited for not having a legal child support
agreement by the 6.6 million custodial parents without them was that
they did not feel the need to go to court and make it legal (32
percent).
- More than half (56 percent) of all custodial parents received some
type of noncash support (gifts, clothes, food, etc.) from
noncustodial parents for their children.
The report presents data on parents who have custody of their children
when the other parent is absent from the home. It focuses on the child
support income received by custodial parents with current awards, as well
as some provisions of those awards, such as visitation, joint custody and
health insurance.
The data were collected from the April 1994, 1996 and 1998 supplements
to the Current Population Survey co-sponsored by the Department of Health
and Human Services' Office of Child Support Enforcement. As in all
surveys, the data are subject to sampling variability and other sources of
error. Changes to the 1994 and subsequent supplements mean many of these
data are not comparable with data from the April 1992 and earlier
supplements.
available free from Adobe.
