September 2014 | Laura Wheaton, Urban Institute
Child Support Cost Avoidance in 1999: Final Report
This report updates and expands upon the earlier microsimulation approach used by Wheaton and Sorensen (1998). The child support cost avoidance estimates presented here are for 1999 and cover the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), federal housing assistance, the Food Stamp Program, and Medicaid. Separate estimates are presented for cost avoidance arising from IV-D collections and those arising from private child support transactions. While research suggests that child support provides additional benefits to families and society (i.e., improved child well-being and child educational outcomes, greater contact between fathers and their children, and possibly a reduced level of divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing), measuring these benefits is beyond the scope of this report.
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