Improving Parental Partnerships in Low-Income Families as a Means for Increasing Noncustodial Parental Compliance with Child Support Orders

Abstract

This article reports evaluation results from a federally funded project designed to improve the co-parenting relationship between custodial and noncustodial parents. The project was hypothesized that improving this relationship would result in increased voluntary compliance with child support orders. Results indicate that, although numerous strategies to involve noncustodial parents in the program were employed, virtually none was successful. Although there was a slight increase in compliance with child support orders for participant families, this was not thought to be a result of program participation and did not have a positive impact on income level of participant families. Further, the quarterly income of the participant families fell dramatically over the course of the program. Discussion focuses on the flaws in family policy that contribute to the failure of the parental partnership concept for low-income families.