Trends in Child Support from 1994 to 2004: Does Child Support Enforcement Work?

Using the 1994-2004 waves of the Current Population SurveyChild Support Supplement, this article tracked child support outcomes, including child support orders, receipts, and payments, and examined the associations between state child support enforcement and child support outcomes. The results indicated moderate improvements in child support outcomes over the 1994-2004 period. The strength of state child support enforcement had positive effects on child support outcomes for young mothers under 35. The findings indicate that the recent policy efforts to strengthen child support enforcement may have large effects for recent cohorts of mothers eligible for child support.