全球智库信息集成服务系统

Key Findings:

• States have the option to require recipients of child care subsidies and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to cooperate with child support agencies seeking to establish paternity and support orders; and to enforce child support obligations as a condition of eligibility.
• Child support cooperation is more frequently required by child care subsidy recipients (required by 23 states) than SNAP recipients (required by 7 states).
• Within federal parameters, states have considerable flexibility to design cooperation requirement policies. Policy variation across states affects who is subject to the cooperation requirement, the criteria used to determine good cause exemptions, and penalties for noncooperation. A better understanding of how these policies are implemented at the local level is needed to identify best practices for the field.
• Minimal data on cooperation requirements for child care subsidy and SNAP recipients are collected by states. While there is heightened interest among state and federal policymakers to expand the mandate for child support cooperation requirements, the impact of cooperation requirements on program operations and staff workload, program participation, child support receipt, and family’s economic well-being remains largely unknown.