How Much Child Support Can Absent Fathers Pay?

A variety of empirical studies show that custodial mothers and children are worse off after separation and divorce than absent fathers. Many of these mothers and children live in poverty and many more are above the poverty line but below median family income. Since 1974 the U.S. has had a federal‐state program of Child Support Enforcement, but absent fathers still have a poor record of paying child support. To estimate how much money absent fathers could be expected to pay in child support, we used income data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Census Bureau data on the number of custodial mothers and children with living absent fathers, and two systems for determining how much money absent fathers should pay in child support. Using these sources, we estimate that absent fathers could pay $26.6 billion in child support–about 3.6 times as much as they actually paid in 1984. Most of this child support money would come from upper‐income families. We conclude that absent fathers could substantially augment the financial security of custodial mothers and their children, and that the U.S. should therefore pursue a vigorous program of Child Support Enforcement.