Applying Behavioral Science to Child Support: Building a Body of Evidence

The federal child support program collects billions of dollars per year in child support payments and serves more than 16 million children and families. However, about 35 percent of child support obligations go unpaid each month and most child support debt is held by people with very little or no reported income. Although many child support agencies offer services to help parents find a job or lower their payments, not all parents are aware of these services and do not enroll or apply for them. Behavioral science research indicates that providing information in simpler forms, rather than dense legal packets, can improve understanding of agency processes and services and better encourage customers to take full advantage of available services. The Administration for Children and Families has been conducting projects to explore the potential of behaviorally informed interventions to improve child support outcomes. This report from MDRC provides information on these projects. Early indications are that behaviorally informed communications in Texas and Washington led to an increase in order modification requests from noncustodial parents who were incarcerated, and a change in how reminder notices were sent to noncustodial parents in two Ohio counties led to an increase in the number of child support payments.