Goal: Increase Payments from Low-Income NCPs

• By addressing the underlying reasons for non-payment

1. 1 in 3 NCPs are "dead-broke"
2. Poor families increasingly dependent on child support as they leave welfare
3. Increasing payment will increase involvement

Two Reasons Past Responsible Fatherhood Programs Failed to Produce Better Child Outcomes

1. Low enrollment and retention rates
2. Low post-enrollment earnings

1. Improving Program Enrollment
   • Court-enforced mandatory participation orders
   • Fathering Courts
     • Jackson County, MO: resulted in $2M increase in collections
     • Fathering court recently established in Washington, DC
2. Increasing Post-Enrollment Earnings
   • Past (failed) strategy - Job Search
   • Promising Alternative Strategies - Wage Growth

Recommendations for State and Local Child Support Agencies

1. Develop Fathering Courts
   • Close relationships with judicial branch
   • SIP grant money
2. Support new and improved Responsible Fatherhood Demonstration
   • Responsible Fatherhood and Healthy Families Act