About Child Support

Why Is Child Support Important?

Child support can substantially improve a single parent’s ability to care for a child. It can help cover the costs of a child’s…

• Food.
• Clothes.
• Medical Care and Health Insurance.
• Housing.
• Education.
• Child Care.
• And More.

For custodial parents who received at least some of the support they were due in 2003, the payments contributed 16 percent of their average income ($28,600).

Child support payments are even more critical for single parents with low incomes. That same year, custodial mothers who lived in poverty and received any payments found those child support payments made up half of their average income. These numbers were based on an average child support payment of $3,700 annually.

Because child support services help custodial parents find their child’s other parent, they also increase the chances that the noncustodial parent will become involved in raising the child.

Research has shown that growing up with two active, caring parents raises a child’s chances of success in life. These children are more likely to…

• Do well in school.
• Have strong morals and self-esteem.
• Get along well with others.
• Have good mental health.
• Keep jobs and earn more money.
• Feel more connected to both families, and to their heritage.
• Be more successful with their own families later in life.

In contrast, studies show that children who have absent fathers face many risks. They are more likely to…

• Live in poverty; they have two to three times the risk.
• Commit crimes.
• Do poorly in school, or drop out.
• Have teen pregnancies.
• Have emotional and behavioral problems and commit suicide.
• Abuse drugs and alcohol.
• Be victims of child abuse.
• Long for their fathers and speak of what is missing from their lives.
  
  

What Do Child Support Services Do?

Child support enforcement services can help a single parent…

• Find the child’s other parent.
• Establish paternity, or legally identify the child’s father.
  
• Set child support orders.
  
• Collect child support payments.
  
• Obtain health insurance and other financial support for the child.

Establishing a child support award can be a lengthy process. Yet it is invaluable—because as soon as the custodial parent begins collecting payments, the child can begin receiving more of the care he or she deserves.

Learn more about child support:

Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement

Facts About Child Support