Falling through the Cracks: Gaps in Child Support among Welfare Recipients

Judi Bartfeld, University of Wisconsin at Madison

This paper examines gaps in child support among welfare recipients in Wisconsin. I illustrate the extent to which breakdowns at various stages - including paternity establishment, support orders, and payments - contribute to the low rate of child support receipt among the welfare population, and I track children over a two-year period to assess their progress through the child support system over time. I find that few welfare recipients are able to successfully navigate the child support system, with paternity establishment the largest gap. Even when mothers successfully navigate the system on behalf of one child, they are often not able to do so on behalf of all children. The characteristics of children who drop out at the early stages of the process suggest that, with a support order in place, they would be as likely to receive support as are the children who currently have orders.