Brief
Low-skilled men, especially minorities, typically work at low levels and provide little support for their children. Conservatives blame this on government willingness to support families, which frees the fathers from responsibility, while liberals say that men are denied work by racial bias or the economy--either a lack of jobs or low wages, which depress the incentive to work. The evidence for all these theories is weak. Thus, changing program benefits or incentives is unlikely to solve the men's work problem. More promising is the idea of linking assistance with administrative requirements…
Other, Brief
This paper analyzes legislative proposals that address marriage, and the potential impact on current fatherhood programs serving low-income families. The initiation of fatherhood programs following the passage of the Personal Responsibility Work Opportunities Reconciliation Act in 1996 is reviewed and current legislative proposals are described, including: the Child Support Distribution Act of 2001 and the Fathers Count Act of 1999, which combine child support reform measures with fatherhood provisions; the Strengthening Working Families Act, which contains child support distribution…
Brief
In 2006, New York became the first state to enact a new earned income tax credit for low-income parents who pay their child support in full. The credit is designed to keep parents from falling too deeply into poverty if they pay their child support in full and to encourage low-income noncustodial parents to work and pay their child support. During its first year, only 5,280 noncustodial parents received the tax credit, costing just over $2 million. This report identifies three reasons the take-up rate was so low and offers recommendations on how to increase participation in the future. (…
Brief
New York's Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Initiative is an innovative approach to helping low-income fathers find work and pay child support. Enacted in 2006, the initiative offered a state earned income tax credit and job-oriented programs to noncustodial parents. Our evaluation shows that the approach worked-the tax credit increased work and child support compliance among those with low child support orders and the job-oriented programs increased participants' earnings and child support payments. These positive results suggest that further investments in this approach are…
