Economic Outcomes of Shared Placement among Divorced Mothers in Wisconsin

Children’s postdivorce placement arrangements have changed dramatically in recent decades, with growth in shared placement and decline in mother sole placement. This shift has potentially important—yet largely unexamined—implications for economic well-being, in part, because different policies and practices govern child support obligations in shared and sole-placement arrangements. Using Wisconsin court record data merged with administrative income records, we describe economic outcomes during the first four postdivorce years for mothers with different arrangements, based on mothers’ own earnings, child support receipt, and safety net income; we then estimate the impact of shared placement on mothers’ needs-adjusted income. Our primary analyses incorporate an adjustment for partial cost savings from children spending less time in the home and show no net impact of shared placement. The lack of net impact reflects competing roles of lower child support receipts and higher earnings relative to sole-placement mothers with similar characteristics.