A comparison of intergovernmental and private agency collection of child support arrears

Child support payments are intended to improve children's wellbeing by securing financial support from noncustodial parents. Payments in arrear are a significant problem, however, particularly when parents live in different states. Using a mixed-methods design, we compared the effectiveness of a private collection agency to a state agency managing intergovernmental child support cases over a 12-month period on: (1) the techniques, strategies, and methods used for child support enforcement, (2) the total amount of arrears collected, (3) the number of total payments collected, and, (4) the percentage of arrears collected. Though interviews revealed that employees working for the private agency and intergovernmental systems differ substantively in their collection philosophies, strategies, and enforcement tools available, quantitative results showed few differences between the agencies in arrears collections.