Child Support Program |
Wisconsin’s Child Support Program provides assistance to parents who need court orders requiring the other parent to provide financial support for their child(ren). The program helps provide financial management services such as collecting and processing payments. The program also helps with case management issues like scheduling genetic tests or preparing cases for court.
The largest source of funding for child support enforcement comes from federal child support incentive payments and federal matching funds. However, Wisconsin provides limited General Purpose Revenue (GPR) to fund child support enforcement, which has a large return on the investment. Each state dollar receives almost $2 in federal match and each state dollar invested generates an average of about $20 in collected child support. Custodial parents who receive child support pay an annual $25 fee to help fund state operations of the program.
The largest source of funding for child support enforcement comes from federal child support incentive payments and federal matching funds. However, Wisconsin provides limited General Purpose Revenue (GPR) to fund child support enforcement, which has a large return on the investment. Each state dollar receives almost $2 in federal match and each state dollar invested generates an average of about $20 in collected child support. Custodial parents who receive child support pay an annual $25 fee to help fund state operations of the program.
The 2013-2105 budget provided $37.7 in funding for child support enforcement ($8.5 million GPR , $16.5 million federal funds, and $12.7 in federal incentive programs). This represented a large funding increase in order to offset an approximately 50% cut to the program by the 2011-2013 budget.
The proposed budget increases overall spending on child support related activities by $6.2 million. The increased funding is the result of carryover funds that were used to fund an upgrade of the child support information system. The budget also includes a $250,000 reduction in state Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funding support for the program, which will in turn result in the loss of approximately $485,000 of federal matching funds.
Governor Walker's Proposed Budget as Amended by the Joint Committee on Finance
The Joint Committee on Finance deleted the Governor's proposed $250,000 reduction in TANF funding for child support enforcement programming, which will also leverage the approximately $485,000 in federal matching funds that would have been lost as a result of the reduction in TANF funding. As a result, spending on child support enforcement activities will be approximately $735,000 higher than proposed under the Governor's budget
Final 2015-2017 Child Support Program Budget
The Legislature approved the Governor's proposed Child Support Program budget as amended by the Joint Committee on Finance.
Child support payments do help stabilize the economic security of many of Wisconsin’s low income single-mothers and children. Increased funding for child support enforcement can provide an economic benefit for Wisconsin women and children.
Other Considerations About the Impact of Child Support Enforcement on Communities of Color
While child support payments do provide needed economic support that can benefit mothers and children, there are many other issues that must be considered in regard to how Wisconsin (and the federal government) enforce delinquent child support payments.
Families of color are more likely than white families to receive benefits from programs that provide direct payments to families, such as TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) and W-2 (Wisconsin Works) (see the separate sections on TANF and W-2 for more information about those programs). As a result, parents of color who are court-ordered to pay child support are also much more likely to owe child support debt to the government. This is because the federal government allows both the federal and state governments to keep a portion of any child support that is owed to the custodial parent in order to repay the government for government assistance that the child’s family received.
For example, in Wisconsin, the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) estimates that $513 million in child support debt is owed to the Wisconsin and federal governments—not to children. This represents more than 19% of the total child support debt owed by parents in Wisconsin.
According to the Center for Family Policy and Practice (CFFPP), federal law allows states the option to pass through a portion of current-month child support payments to families who receive cash benefits. Currently, Wisconsin passes through approximately 75% per month to each family receiving child support, which is a higher percentage than most states. Any payments for past-due child support owed to the state are kept by the state.
In addition to the issue of states and the federal government keeping a portion of child support payments that could instead be used to support low-income women and children, there is also the issue of the use of incarceration of noncustodial parents for failure to pay child support. Many of these parents are unemployed or are too poor to pay the full amount of court-ordered child support. Unfortunately, this approach often reduces the likelihood that the noncustodial parent will be able to adequately pay child support in the future, because the parent cannot work while incarcerated, which only leads to the further accumulation of debt. Once the parent is released from jail, his or her likelihood of finding gainful employment is only further diminished because of his arrest and incarceration record. In the end, this often becomes a self-perpetuating cycle that is almost impossible to escape.
In their 2014 report, What We Want to Give Our Kids, CFFPP provides recommendations to both state and federal policymakers about steps they could take to improve the child support enforcement system to better ensure the economic security of low-income, noncustodial parents (mostly men) and their children. In addition to more sweeping changes to child support enforcement laws and economic policy, the report recommends four more remedial changes to the child support system that would greatly benefits lower-income families:
Families of color are more likely than white families to receive benefits from programs that provide direct payments to families, such as TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) and W-2 (Wisconsin Works) (see the separate sections on TANF and W-2 for more information about those programs). As a result, parents of color who are court-ordered to pay child support are also much more likely to owe child support debt to the government. This is because the federal government allows both the federal and state governments to keep a portion of any child support that is owed to the custodial parent in order to repay the government for government assistance that the child’s family received.
For example, in Wisconsin, the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) estimates that $513 million in child support debt is owed to the Wisconsin and federal governments—not to children. This represents more than 19% of the total child support debt owed by parents in Wisconsin.
According to the Center for Family Policy and Practice (CFFPP), federal law allows states the option to pass through a portion of current-month child support payments to families who receive cash benefits. Currently, Wisconsin passes through approximately 75% per month to each family receiving child support, which is a higher percentage than most states. Any payments for past-due child support owed to the state are kept by the state.
In addition to the issue of states and the federal government keeping a portion of child support payments that could instead be used to support low-income women and children, there is also the issue of the use of incarceration of noncustodial parents for failure to pay child support. Many of these parents are unemployed or are too poor to pay the full amount of court-ordered child support. Unfortunately, this approach often reduces the likelihood that the noncustodial parent will be able to adequately pay child support in the future, because the parent cannot work while incarcerated, which only leads to the further accumulation of debt. Once the parent is released from jail, his or her likelihood of finding gainful employment is only further diminished because of his arrest and incarceration record. In the end, this often becomes a self-perpetuating cycle that is almost impossible to escape.
In their 2014 report, What We Want to Give Our Kids, CFFPP provides recommendations to both state and federal policymakers about steps they could take to improve the child support enforcement system to better ensure the economic security of low-income, noncustodial parents (mostly men) and their children. In addition to more sweeping changes to child support enforcement laws and economic policy, the report recommends four more remedial changes to the child support system that would greatly benefits lower-income families:
- Base child support orders on reasonable evidence of a parent’s current income and assets, not the parent’s presumed earnings. This practice would better reflect the parent’s actual ability to make consistent payments.
- Revoke the legal requirement that parents reimburse the state or federal government for welfare assistance provided to their children. Requiring that 100 percent of all child support payments go to children and families would help ensure that child support serves its actual function of providing financial stability for children and custodial parents.
- Stop the practice of incarcerating poor and unemployed men who are unable to pay their child support debt. The incarceration of low-income men of color for failure to pay child support only further hinders their ability to support their children and families in the future since incarceration creates significant barriers to future employment.
- Change the current child support agency funding structure which incentivizes agencies to pursue and sanction poor men regardless of their ability to pay and the impact of the order on their and their children’s financial security. CFFPP argues that there should not be an incentive for states to use child support collection to reduce states’ public assistance payments to children and their families; rather, the focus should be on maximizing payments to children and ensuring that noncustodial parents have avenues to stable employment.
Resources
For more information and resources about child support services in Wisconsin, please follow these links: