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Child Support and Poverty

For custodial parents that live below the poverty line, child support payments can represent up to 52% of their income. But 40% of child support payments are received late, or not at all – which perpetuates the cycle of poverty. How can Government play a larger role in affecting the poverty rate? By utilizing technology and data to find non-paying parents.

By Thomson Reuters  
on

Child Support and Poverty_300X250Governments work hard every day to meet the needs of the community.  When systems are broken citizens look to Government entities for solutions and rely on them to provide a just legal system, safe community, and to be responsible stewards of their tax dollars. When families are distressed they look to these resources for help to rebuild and strengthen their lives.

Custodial parents that rely on child support payments to make ends meet often times find themselves not receiving payments on time, or at all. For single mother families, 40% are already at or below the poverty level, so receiving accurate payments ON TIME can reduce the poverty rate by 25%, improving the lives of vulnerable children and families.

State and local child support programs help ensure child support is regularly paid and in the correct amount. Although the majority of noncustodial parents actively involved in their children’s lives pay support, missed or reduced payments can dramatically impact a family’s budget.

17.2 million Children in the US are linked to child support payments. With single mother families making up about 40% of those in poverty. When those families receive payments on time there is the potential to move 1.7 million children out of poverty. The law provides many levers to push non-paying parents to pay, but there is still $38 Billion in unpaid child support. Many times, finding the parent is the hardest step of the child support process.

How can Government play a larger role in affecting the poverty rate? By utilizing technology and data to find non-paying parents.

Today, Government Health and Human Services departments and Child Support Enforcement Agencies have access to various public records information that helps them find non-paying parents, but, the process to find a person requires searching multiple databases that often contain incorrect our outdated information. These databases, because they are separate are unable to connect common information on a person place or asset, making the job of investigators very difficult.

What if Health and Human Services Departments and Child Support Enforcement Agencies had access to key pieces if information, that could show connections to people, places and assets? What if these agencies had the tools they needed to help families get out of poverty, by locating a non-paying parent?

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When Agencies use CLEAR to find non-paying parents they uncover hard to find data across public and proprietary information, are able to link the subject with relatives, known associates, utility information, DMV records and more putting together a pattern of activity – all within a single working environment.

This means Agencies can directly influence assisting children and families out of poverty. Health and Human Services departments in 36 states use CLEAR to

  • visualize data connections between persons and places of interest
  • Set alerts such as when a new phone number, vehicle, or other record becomes attached to a non-paying parent
  • Accurately mail statements to non-custodial and custodial parents
  • Contact sources to verify income
  • Collect data for cases requiring legal action

Would you like to learn more about CLEAR? Visit us at www.legalsolutions.com/CLEAR and request a no-obligation demo

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