This project examines the collateral consequences of child

support policy and involvement with the child support system in a

contemporary and comprehensive context. The project uses a

sociocultural framework to examine qualitative data, including in-

depth interviews with parents, adults who were involved with the

system as children, and professionals in the child support system, as well

as courtroom observations. This textured and rich data expands upon

current research, as it includes a demographically diverse sample of

participants living in the South. The role of the research assistants in this

process includes extensive review of literature in the field, transcription

of interviews, and coding and analysis of the data.

Our main research goals fall into two categories. First we

seek to understand the major consequences facing noncustodial

parents’ emotional and financial ability to parent and how these

processes are classed, gendered, and racialized. Second, we hope to

process this data into consumable information for the general public to

encourage more complete knowledge of the actual workings of the

system. This project demonstrates that non-custodial parents

involvement with the child support system creates serious collateral

consequences including their definitions and experiences of

fatherhood, ability to be involved with their child(ren), repercussions of

incarceration, and the punitive nature of the system.

Collateral Consequences of Criminalized Child Support

Policy in the United States Rhiannon Jones, Aresty Research Assistant to

Brittany P. Battle, M.A. & Professor Paul McLean, Ph.D.

Rutgers University - New Brunswick , School of Arts & Sciences, Sociology Department

Abstract

Background

Discussion

Methods

Our research project is in part a response to the substantive

and methodological gaps in previous examinations of the American child

support system. Dominant cultural opinions on child support have

influenced much of the conversation surrounding legislation and research

thus far which largely focuses on custodial mothers in the system. With more

than 6.5 million custodial parents with child support orders living in the

United States we recognize that the children and noncustodial parents,

primarily fathers, experiences need to be investigated as well.

Popularization of the “deadbeat dad” trope everywhere from presidential

podiums to highway billboards has ostracized noncustodial fathers from the

process and this study aims to reintroduce them to the conversation.

Research has shown these stereotypes have taken a toll on noncustodial

fathers, with greater perceptions of discrimination due to their noncustodial

status being associated with more depressive symptoms and behaviors and

poorer relationships with their children. The criminalization of unpaid child

support has also greatly affected fathers ability to both be involved in their

children’s live and pay support orders due to diminished wages and limited

earning potential post-incarceration, leading to a cycle that is hard to

break. Research has also shown us the highly racialized and classed

dynamics of child support in many ways: the system does not take in-kind

support into consideration, support adjustment processes are highly

complicated, the system adds to mass incarceration of young black men,

and is often directly connected to welfare benefits, leading us to our

research questions.

I would like to thank my primary investigator Brittany Battle for her support and

encouragement to explore our own passions within this project this year. I would also

like to thank Professor Paul McLean for overseeing the project and my fellow

research assistant Laura Smith for her help with completing this project.

CNN. (1998). Clinton Signs Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act. All Politics. Retrieved from

http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/06/24/deadbeat.parents.bill/.

Caldwell, C., Antonakos, C., Tsuchiya, K., Assari, S., & De Loney, E. (n.d). Masculinity as a Moderator of Discrimination and Parenting

on Depressive Symptoms and Drinking Behaviors Among Nonresident African-American Fathers. Psychology Of Men &

Masculinity, 14(1), 47-58.

Geller, A., Garfinkel, I., & Western, B. (2011). Paternal Incarceration and Support for Children in Fragile Families. Demography, 48(1),

25-47.

Solomon-Fears, C. (2016). Child Support: An Overview of Census Bureau Data on Recipients (CRS Report No. RS22499). Retrieved from

Congressional Research Service. http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS22499.pdf

ReferencesAcknowledgements

Incarceration was closely linked to feelings of punishment, as we have

a punitive criminal justice system in America, but there were repeated ideas of jail

sentences being counterproductive to what should be the overall goal of the child

support system. When noncustodial parents were incarcerated they were unable to

work towards paying support order and arrearages and were additionally

disadvantaged upon release as their criminal record made securing well paid

employment more difficult.

There was also a clear pattern in both interviews with parents involved

in the system and officials working within child support and related systems that

custodial parents had more assistance and a better understanding of the system

than their noncustodial counterparts. There were also frequent sentiments of

mothers filing support order after noncustodial fathers had upset them in some way,

even at times to the detriment of the children as orders were lower monetarily than

prior in-kind support had been.

Finally there was evidence of involvement in the system impacting

noncustodial parents ability to be involved with their children both financially and

emotionally. The financial drain of paying support combined with limited time with

their children in which they were expected to do costly activities made fathers feel

inadequate and left children confused and distressed. This took an emotional toll

on the entire family unit as fathers would sometimes attempt to avoid time with their

children as they understood the attached financial drain and children’s inability to

understand their lack of funds.

My research focused specifically on the outcomes of being involved

with the Child Support System and sought to answer the question: What are the

consequences of being involved in the system for noncustodial parents? The three

main consequences I investigated were criminalization and incarceration, the

system being used as a punishment and the impact on the ability to be a

father/involved in a child’s life.

The project’s methods of data collection were primarily ethnographic

and included observation of family court proceedings and sessions in related

agencies and offices, review of child support and welfare legislation, and in-depth

interviews conducted with parents involved in the child support system, adults who

had parents involved in the system as children, and officials and staff involved in the

system. Analysis of this data was primarily conducted through coding of transcribed

interviews and field notes from observations.

Our research sample focused on participants from the South where

data on the Child Support System is lacking, and was intentionally diverse in racial

identities, socioeconomic status and marital status. We also chose to use both

custodial and noncustodial parents to fill in gaps in child support research thus far.

ResultsThe following quotes from research participants relate to the three

consequences I investigated, criminalization/incarceration, the system

being used as a form of punishment, and the impact on a father’s

ability to parent due to involvement in the child support system.

Ethnography Transcription Coding Analysis

“Then I come, I get out, can't find a job 'cause I was locked

up, and lost my job because I was locked up. So then all you're

gonna do is, 'cause I'm not paying- so you gonna find me again, and

lock me up again, and now I'm gonna... Even though, even though

while I'm in there you're stackin' on arrears. So every time I get out to

try to do somethin', it's not gonna be possible. That's something I think

needs to be changed; 'cause it's uh.. For a person that is trying to do

what they supposed to do, how is that supposed to help, y'know

what I mean?” – 38 year old father of 3

“I think it’s, it’s kinda backwards, uh and I think that you end

up having poor people going to jail for money, um, and if they had

money to pay it then they wouldn’t go to jail, and then you have

debtor’s prisons and that’s what it is, being locked up for money” –Child Support System Official

“"You are a great person, and it doesn't even matter what

kind of person you are you don't have a criminal background. So if

you, if you lose your job you're going to jail for child support, which will

then in fact give you a criminal background." - 25 year old father of 2

“Arrearages are a sledgehammer and it’s not a shield for the

child it’s used to punish the fathers” -Child Support System Official

“She hit me where it hurt, y'know what I mean? I mean I,

maybe it mighta been revenge, or somethin' like that, but like, she

literally... Where else could she hurt me other than my pockets? I

mean, if that was her intention to hurt me, then she made a pretty

good decision, because oof, it hurt me. It, it definitely hurt me.” – 31

year old father of 3

“I feel like the system is geared towards men that, that, that

run out, that don't want to be a father. The one's that, that, that are

scared… And I think it's us men who actually wanna be there,

actually wanna be fathers, like, are the ones that suffer… I feel like

I'm, I'm just guilty by association.” – 31 year old father of 3

“But at the same time, to place a willing father on child

support because you're mad or because you have vengeance

towards that person- it can change a man's life” – 25 year old father of 2

“[the judge] was saying like the week, the weekends are like

the bonding time, y'know what I mean, with the child, and the

father shouldn't be the only one that's getting the bonding time.

Like, the mother should be getting bonding time too. And I'm like,

‘she can get bonding time during the week’, you understand what

I'm saying? With all this money that I'm kickin' out…Can I pay for

more time?” - 31 year old father of 3

“You have to try to get a week’s worth of time into a weekend

…And y’know what I mean, your regular every day thing, which it

what the custodial parent get, the visiting parent doesn’t get that. Its

always well can, let’s go to the park, let’s go to the movie, let’s go to,

so then that’s additional expense. And if you don’t have that you feel,

um, inadequate as a parent visiting with your child.” -Child Support

“It makes it so it’s difficult to, for the dad to fight the support and

try to build a relationship with your child.” -Child Support System Official

System Official