Child Support Reform can help Parents Better Support their Children During and After the COVID-19 Recession

For parents who have court orders to pay child support, the financial outlook may be especially bleak due to COVID-19-related job loss compounded by enforcement of child support orders. If child support orders cannot be modified in a timely manner to reflect job loss, parents can quickly build child support debt and become subject to non-compliance penalties. Changes to current child support practices and policies can improve parents’ ability and willingness to pay support when they recover from the COVID-19 recession.