Centering Child Well-Being in Child Support Policy

The central goal of child support policy must be child well-being. Child support policies designed to maximize child well-being can increase financial and other resources available to children, help remove barriers to consistent child support payment, increase employment retention among noncustodial fathers with support orders, support noncustodial parental engagement, and facilitate healthy co-parenting. Unprecedented levels of job loss, economic instability, and family isolation during the pandemic have raised the child support policy stakes for fathers, families, and communities.