Article: Child support enforcement.

is working better than we think

Changes in child support enforcement since the 1970s have succeeded in improving collection efforts more than we think. Yet, sometimes it is difficult to see how far we have come because the dramatic shift in demographic make-up of single mothers hides the significant progress.

The increase in the child support receipt rate has been much more pronounced among never-married mothers. Never-married mothers experienced a fourfold increase in their child support receipt rate, up from 4 percent to 18 percent between 1976 and 1997 [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 1 OMITTED].

Previously married mothers, on the other hand, ...

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