A Comparison of Intergovernmental and Private Agency Collection of Child Support Arrears

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Children and Youth Services Review

Volume

71

Publisher

Elsevier Ltd

Publication Date

10-29-2016

First Page

166

Last Page

173

Abstract

Child support payments are intended to improve children's wellbeing by securing financial support from noncustodial parents. Payments in arrear are a significant problem, however, particularly when parents live in different states. Using a mixed-methods design, we compared the effectiveness of a private collection agency to a state agency managing intergovernmental child support cases over a 12-month period on: (1) the techniques, strategies, and methods used for child support enforcement, (2) the total amount of arrears collected, (3) the number of total payments collected, and, (4) the percentage of arrears collected. Though interviews revealed that employees working for the private agency and intergovernmental systems differ substantively in their collection philosophies, strategies, and enforcement tools available, quantitative results showed few differences between the agencies in arrears collections.

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