Abstract
IntroductionThere is too much child support debt in California (CA). Child support debt is also known as arrears. In a recent report from the California State Senate Subcommittee No. 3, (2021, February 16) the State of CA records approximately 18.5 billion dollars in arrears. Parents Paying [child] Support (PPS) who fail to meet current child support obligations and collections accumulate and owe debt to one or both of the following entities: the government and/or their families. Since 2003, government owed debt in CA has reduced (Sorensen, 2003), but total debt continues to rise due to amount of debt increasing to families. Initial issues identified include effective and fair adjustments in interest rate and establishment of child support orders that reflect inflation and cost of raising kids. An underlying problem identified is with the enforcement-based nature of the child support narrative and taking steps to change the narrative toward strengthening families and strengthening systems for supporting children in CA communities. This report considers the portion of debt on the rise for families, the need for intervention and what the CA State Legislature can do to intervene to (a) alleviate debt burden, (b) increase PPS ability to pay and meet current child support obligations consistently over time, and (c) strengthen family formation for overall support of the child.
Literature Review
The literature review section examines current research available on child support debt. The review brings forward three major themes: (a) arrears and unintended consequences, (b) behavior and decision making, and (c) access to justice. In these themes we gain more understanding behind issues with the child support narrative. These issues are behavioral, economic and cultural in nature. Unintended consequences of arrears create significant equity issues for Californians who come from low-income, single parent and/or un/underemployed households. Financial stress creates additional pressures that impact behaviors and decision-making of family members. This in turn creates negative pressures of emotional transference on children requiring support within the family formation. This brings up significant questions for access to justice in determination for setting fair child support orders that reduce debt burden, increase ability to pay current collections and strengthen family formation for overall support of the child.
Methods
The primary method used for this analysis is the Criteria Alternatives Matrix (CAM). The objective of the CAM is comparative assessment of each alternative based on outcomes and criteria for analysis. This method presented in the book Policy Analysis for Problem Solving (Meltzer and Schwartz, 2019) and a rationale-based policy analysis method suggested for adapting a comparative study of alternatives based on outcomes and criteria to measure outcomes in meaningful ways. The rational-based model is comprised of five key steps (p. 21) that can be adapted for best use of exploration of the problem. The steps include: (1) define the problem, (2) identify alternatives, (3) determine objectives and criteria, (4) weigh and assess outcomes, (5) make a recommendation. The analysis process is iterative and lasted an entire school semester. As suggested in Policy Analysis for Problem Solving, complementary approaches blended into this analysis include the multiple streams (MLS) framework (Herwig, et al., 2017; Zahariadis, 2015) and design thinking (Ideo, 2020).
Analysis
The analysis includes a discussion of the alternatives and points to reference tables included in the Appendix section of this report. While there are limitations acknowledged in this study, the CAM offers a lens into three alternatives: (1) change the interest rate, (2) change the guideline formula used for calculation of child support orders, and (3) change the child support narrative. The first alternative comes in three variations. The second alternative comes in two variations. The third alternative addresses the underlying issue and relates to the first two alternatives and the general issues and objectives outlined in this report; that there is too much child support debt owed to families and behavioral economic objectives to (a) alleviate debt burden, (b) increase PPS ability to pay and meet current child support obligations consistently over time, and (c) strengthen family formation for overall support of the child.
Conclusion
This section offers a short discussion of findings and offers four recommendations for next steps. Findings suggest incorporation of all three alternatives, while striking the right balance for efficient, effective and politically acceptable policies for appropriate agenda setting, policy adoption to avert any potential issues for local implementation.