Father Involvement and Child Support Payments: Multiple Families, Multiple-Father Families, and Interstate Enforcement

Andrea H. Beller, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Elizabeth T. Powers, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

We examine how incentives to cooperate with child support enforcement are affected by impediments to a non-custodial parent’s (NCP's) involvement with his child. We analyze the impact on the fundamental child support outcomes of three interrelated impediments: having children in multiple families to support, having children who reside in a family with children of other fathers (multiple-father families), and residing at a distance and/or in another state. We hypothesize that these impediments will make NCPs less likely to establish paternity, pay support, or pay the full amount. We use standard econometric methods, including OLS and probit regression analysis, on state administrative data for a sample of around 50,000 welfare recipients from Central Illinois from a period before, during and after welfare reform. Our results can be used to make policy recommendations for Illinois and elsewhere on means to increase NCPs' financial involvement with their children.