Can a Redesigned Child Support System Do Better?

This Institute for Research on Poverty brief is a summary of an impact and benefit-cost analysis of the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration Program (CSPED). Participating parents were given additional employment services to support economic self-sufficiency with the goal of increasing child support compliance. Analysis findings concluded that satisfaction with the child support system improved substantially for noncustodial parents when a customized approach was utilized; there were modest gains in child support enforcement compliance, earnings, and parenting. While short-term implementation costs outweighed benefits, it was expected that there would be more benefits than costs in the longer term.