NCJ Number
220127
Date Published
2007
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This paper presents findings from a North Carolina quasi-experimental study which sought to increase the number of failure to pay child support in “regular” (called IV-D) child support applications among non-payment of support in civil (called 50B) domestic violence victims by raising the awareness of plaintiffs filing for domestic violence protection orders about their right to request support in that setting, and by providing information to plaintiffs about how to apply for ongoing child support.
Abstract
The person-based data suggest that providing child support informational packets to individuals seeking relief through a civil protection order marginally increased the number of child support filings in one of the pilot or test sites, but not in the other. Consequently, given the mixed or inconclusive findings and the low number of persons filing both child support and civil protection orders, it is suggested that the practice of disseminating informational packets does not substantially increase child support filings but neither does it reduce the filing of child support requests either. Policy recommendation highlights include: (1) efforts should be made to increase the consideration and awarding of child support in non-payment of support in civil domestic case (under North Carolina General Statute Chapter 50B) hearings; (2) attorneys and advocates should be educated on the failure to pay child support in the “regular” child support application (IV-D) process in order to assist their clients with deciding whether or not to apply for permanent child support; and (3) replication of the study, within a jurisdiction that processes more civil protection orders, should occur with informational packets being distributed to only those plaintiffs who have minor children. In this study of child support application filings and domestic violence protection order cases in North Carolina, two strategies were implemented and tested. Tables