Low‐Income and Never‐Married Families: Service and Support at the Intersection of Family Court and Child Support Agency Systems

• Date: 01 January 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12266
• Published date: 01 January 2017
• Author: Jacquelyn L. Boggess

LOW-INCOME AND NEVER-MARRIED FAMILIES: SERVICE AND

SUPPORT AT THE INTERSECTION OF FAMILY COURT AND CHILD

SUPPORT AGENCY SYSTEMS

Jacquelyn L. Boggess

State child support enforcement agencies facilitate the legal establishment of paternity for children born outside of marriage

and enforce the payment of child support by noncustodial parents. They are directed to move cash resources from a nonresi-

dent parent to the home of his/her child. Ideally, this income transfer provides financial support for children and security for

custodial families. This article describes how the agency is challenged in the fulfillment of this responsibility by the adversarial

nature of its own process and by the intractable poverty and unemployment (among other barriers to economic security) of a

significant portion of its caseload.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:

Many noncustodial parents who are unemployed (even long-term unemployed) receive child support orders they

cannot pay, based on a presumed earning capacity.

Current child support policy and practice may be detrimental to economic security and well-being of low-income

individuals and families.

The structure of the U.S. child support system may conflict with the goals of security and stability for children and

families.

Racial inequity and disparities in poverty and unemployment in the United States suggest a thorough inquiry into the

impact of child support policy and practice on families of color.

Keywords: Ability to Pay; Child Support; Economic Security; Fathers; Low-Income Families; and Welfare Policy.

There is growing concern on the part of family advocates and legal professionals that under cur-

rent family court systems, unrepresented family court litigants are not getting the support they need

to transition through divorce and separation. Various explanations for increased pro se litigation

include parents who cannot afford lawyers and parents who do not trust that any actor in the judicial

system will represent (or even recognize) their children’s best interests. The general impact of the

many parents and families in courtrooms without information and direction is to delay and otherwise

negatively affect courtroom efficiency. The misguided or uninformed documents submitted to family

courts every day is evidence of the effect.

Court personnel need systems that run predictably and smoothly. Individuals and families, of

course, need opportunities and information to make the best plans for their lives after separation or

divorce and for their children’s well-being and security. A recent report, “The Family Law Bar:

Stewards of the System, Leaders of Change,” from the Institute for the Advancement of the Ameri-

can Legal System (IAALS) calls for a focus on families. The report recommends that family courts

“implement client-centric court practices ... including differentiated case management, and innova-

tive trial procedures.”

1

This article will highlight the importance of that recommendation with spe-

cific attention to low-income, never-married families in the system.

In 2012, forty-two percent of all children born in the United States were born to unmarried wom-

en, and the issue of unrepresented parents in the family court system also pertains in those cases.

2

When a child is born outside of marriage, a court order establishes parentage and creates parental

Correspondence: boggess@cffpp.org

FAMILY COURT REVIEW, Vol. 55 No. 1, January 2017 107–119

V

C2017 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts