FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TUESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2003
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About Half of Custodial Parents Got Full Child Support Payments in 2001, Census Bureau Reports

A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau showed today that about 45 percent of custodial parents due child support payments received the full amount in 2001. The proportion did not change between 1997 and 2001, but was up from 37 percent in 1993. Of those who received the full amount, the average received was $5,800, regardless of whether the recipients were mothers or fathers.

While the proportion of custodial parents who received only “some” of the payments due was unchanged from 1999 through 2001, at 29 percent, it is down from 39 percent in 1993. This drop since 1993 in parents receiving some support roughly mirrors the increase in the percent of those receiving the full amount.

The report, Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2001, [PDF] said an estimated 13.4 million parents had custody of 21.5 million children under age 21 whose other parent lived elsewhere. About 5-in-6 were mothers — a proportion that has not changed since 1994.

About 8 million custodial parents — 6-in-10 — had some type of support agreement or award for their children.

Other highlights from the report:

• Custodial mothers increased their full-time, year-round employment from 41 percent to 52 percent between 1993 and 2001, and their poverty rate fell from 37 percent to 25 percent. A ratio of 3-in-4 custodial mothers were not married in 2001.

• The proportion of custodial mothers taking part in federal public assistance programs fell sharply — from 26 percent receiving Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1993 to 6 percent receiving Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) in 2001. TANF replaced AFDC as part of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act.

• As of April 2002, about 63 percent of custodial mothers and 39 percent of custodial fathers had child support agreed on or awarded to them.

• About two-thirds of custodial parents did not contact the government for child support assistance. However, this does not mean they are not receiving child support.

• About 5.9 million custodial parents did not have a legal child support agreement. When asked why, 33 percent of the reasons mentioned by custodial parents had to do with not feeling the need to make the child support relationship a legal one, and 26 percent of the reasons cited had to do with feeling that the other parent was already providing what he or she could.

• About 6-in-10 of the 7.9 million child support agreements in 2001 had health insurance provisions for the children.

The data were collected from April supplements to the Current Population Survey, cosponsored by the Census Bureau and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Child Support Enforcement. Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and nonsampling error.