New CPR/NFI Report Highlights the Need to Advance Investment in Fathers and Support Their Engagement with Their Children
CPR’s Jessica Pearson and Rachel Wildfeuer have published, along with the National Fatherhood Initiative® (NFI), a new report, The $154 Billion Man: The Economic Argument for Investing in Fathers. Drawing on federal budget data and the Survey of Income and Program Participation, the report estimates and compares federal spending for 14 federal government assistance programs for children in single mother-headed (father-absent) households in 2006 and 2018. It finds that spending in these 14 programs increased by 54.5% in 2018 to $154.2 billion, which represented about 42% of the combined budgets of the programs and nearly 4% of the total federal budget that year. Separated, divorced, widowed, and never-married mothers all received a variety of food, tax, and medical benefits from government assistance programs which help to mitigate child poverty and other negative effects of father absence. Overall, the report makes the case for greater investment in low-income fathers to increase their economic capacity, promote their relationships with their children, and reduce taxpayer burdens. This would include increasing federal and state minimum wage laws, expanding Earned Income Tax Credits for nonresident fathers, increasing funding for technical education and workforce training, and addressing labor market inequities that low-income fathers of color experience at all educational levels. The full report, including a document on how to use it, is available here. CPR and NFI will host a webinar on the new report on March 17; sign up for the FRPN newsletter to register.
New Brief: Building a Safer Child Support Program for Survivors: Findings from the New York Family Safety Questions Pilot Study
CPR’s Lanae Davis and Destinee Starcher published a SAVES Center brief describing the latest findings from the New York Family Safety Questions Pilot Study. The purpose of the pilot was to compare the effects of asking child support applicants and clients directly about whether they had safety concerns using two different types of questions. One type, behavioral questions, ask about whether a parent has experienced a series of actions or forms of harm. Operational questions ask whether a parent perceives certain child support processes and/or actions to be dangerous or a source of harm. The pilot involved administering a screening tool using the two types of questions to 5,913 clients in 12 child support offices throughout the state of New York. The study revealed that when parents are asked directly about safety, they disclose concerns about 40% of the time, and that the rate of disclosure does not differ by question type.
New Brief: Cooperation and Good Cause
CPR’s Rachel Wildfeuer published a SAVES Center brief drawing on research and federal guidance to discuss child support cooperation requirements and good cause. Drawing on publicly available information from the SAVES demonstration sites, this document discusses similarities and differences in the ways in which sites handle cooperation, which is the federal requirement that public assistance participants must assist the child support agency in locating the other parent and establishing paternity and/or a child support order. Site similarities and differences in good cause, which is an exemption to the cooperation requirements if they pose a risk of harm, are also discussed.
New Resource: Assessing Risk, Enhancing Safety: The Role of Child Support Agencies in Supporting Survivors of Domestic Violence
The CPR team developed a SAVES Center resource to help child support professionals identify and address safety risks that survivors of domestic violence may face at each stage of the child support process. The resource outlines potential survivor risks and agency-level safeguards that can be implemented to promote safety and stability for families engaged with the child support program.
New Resource: Child Support Process: A Resource for DV Advocates
The CPR team developed a SAVES Center resource to help domestic violence advocates understand the stages of the child support process and identify potential safety risks survivors may face at each stage and action. It also outlines strategies advocates can use to support clients throughout the child support process.
| 
