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1992.04.09 :  Child Support Survey

Contact:  Don Collins (202) 245-2760
April 9, 1992

        HHS Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., today announced that
for the first time, the U. S. Census Bureau will interview
custodial fathers in its April 1992 Current Population Survey on
Child Support and Alimony.  The survey, sponsored by the Office of
Child Support Enforcement in HHS' Administration for Children and
Families, has, until now, asked only custodial mothers to provide
child support information.
        Recent Census Bureau surveys have shown that households
headed by one parent are increasing steadily.  More than 23 percent
of American households with children under age 18 were headed by a
single parent in 1989.  These households account for 65 percent of
families in poverty.
        "Without data on child support received by male custodial
parents, we have only part of the picture," Secretary Sullivan
said.  "Currently an estimated 1.1 million fathers have custody of
children whose mothers do not live in the same household. Clearly
we must gather information in order to strengthen families in need
of child support and break the poverty cycle."
        Current Population Surveys on Child Support and Alimony
have been published every other year since 1979.  The surveys
collect data from parents who are potentially eligible to receive
alimony   and/or child support payments because another parent is
not living in the household.

        In many cases, child support and/or alimony payments are a
major source of household income for single parent families and
failure to receive these payments often contributes to poverty.
        "Children's poverty is directly related to family
instability," said Jo Anne Barnhart, HHS assistant secretary for
children and families and director of the federal Child Support
Enforcement Program.  "For the well-being and the best-interests of
children, we must ensure that both parents contribute to the
financial support of their children."
         The 1992 survey will seek to provide answers to such
questions as 1) the number and financial status of men raising
children whose mothers do not live in the household, 2) whether
these men receive court-awarded child support from their children's
mothers, and, 3) whether health insurance is included as part of
child support agreements.  The results of the survey will be
available by Dec. 31.

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