In September 2007, child support arrears had reached $107 billion. The purpose of this report is to provide information about the individuals who owe child support arrears, estimate how much arrears are likely to be collected, and identify the factors that have led to their rapid growth. We find that most arrears are owed by noncustodial parents who have no or low reported incomes. We estimate that 40 percent of arrears in seven large states are likely to be collected over 10 years. The primary reason arrears have grown is because many states have begun to assess interest on arrears.

In FY 2007, the national child support program served 17 million children and collected $25 billion in child support, yet little is known about the underlying demographic and economic characteristics of the individuals served. To remedy this lack of information, Courtland Consulting and the Urban Institute, under contract with the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, surveyed nine state child support programs about their caseloads. We found that state child support programs are able to provide considerable amounts of information about their clients, but key characteristics proved difficult to obtain, such as the poverty status of the families served.

Nonprofits and businesses interact in more and newer ways every year as powerful economic and social forces change. Nonprofits adopt more business-like practices, corporations support nonprofits through cause-related marketing, and social entrepreneurs create private businesses to achieve social goals. Nonprofits and Business, a new Urban Institute Press book, explores these and many other ways the two sectors collaborate, compete, and clash.

This comparative case study describes the organization, delivery, and content of care of three maternity care models serving low-income women at risk of poor birth outcomes in Wards 5, 6, and 7 in Washington D.C. The first model, a birth center, provides prenatal care, birth services, postpartum follow-up, and infant and child health care. The second is a safety net clinic, which provides a variety of primary health care services, as well as prenatal care services. A not-for-profit teaching and research hospital represents a third option in which prenatal and postnatal care is provided through an on-site obstetric clinic.

Unlike most previous recessions, the current economic slowdown has substantially increased the unemployment rate for older Americans. In December 2008, 5.1 percent of workers age 65 and older were unemployed, a higher share than at any time since March 1977. This factsheet provides the latest information on the employment situation of older Americans.

As the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and broader health care reform efforts are considered, important policy questions include where eligibility thresholds should be set for public coverage and how much latitude states should have in setting their thresholds. This analysis shows that employer-sponsored insurance premiums are less affordable for families at 300 percent of the FPL now than they were for families at 200 percent of the FPL in 1996, particularly in areas with a high cost of living and suggests the need to adjust eligibility thresholds for growth in health care costs.

During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama proposed a comprehensive tax plan that would raise taxes on high-income taxpayers, cut taxes for low- and middle-income households, and lose $2.9 trillion dollars of revenue over ten years. Obama will take office with the economy in sharp recession and a deteriorating fiscal situation, made worse by new spending on a bailout plan. Faced with those crises, Obama says he will pursue both his campaign tax plan and additional tax-related proposals addressing problems created by the downturn. This paper examines revenue and distributional effects of the tax plan and describes some stimulus proposals.

The Urban Institute, along with its subcontractor, International Communications Research, conducted the 2008 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (HIS) for the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy to obtain information on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care for the non-institutionalized population in Massachusetts. This report provides information about the methods used to collect and analyze the 2008 HIS data.

The Urban Institute, along with its subcontractor, International Communications Research, conducted the 2008 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (HIS) for the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy to obtain information on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care for the non-institutionalized population in Massachusetts. This report summarizes the results of that new survey, including the finding that more than more than 97 percent of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, with only 2.6 percent of state residents remaining uninsured.

This study examined the prosecution of the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth (CSEC) in the United States. The research took the form of a national analysis of federal prosecutions since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, answering the following research questions: (1) Is the United States enforcing existing federal laws related to CSEC? (2) What are the key features of successfully prosecuted CSEC cases? (3) Have the U.S. courts increased penalties associated with sexual crimes against children? (4) What are the effects of CSEC legislation on service providers who work with victims? This assessment provides policy makers with a means of assessing the effects of legislation aimed at combating CSEC.