{"id":272825,"date":"2026-04-17T16:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272825\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T16:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T16:52:08","slug":"will-californias-new-child-support-plan-reduce-childhood-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/272825\/","title":{"rendered":"Will California\u2019s New Child Support Plan Reduce Childhood Poverty?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Despite a seemingly unimpeachable goal \u2014 ensuring adequate child support to keep kids out of poverty \u2014 a bill making its way through the state Assembly has left legislators and advocates divided.
The measure, from Elk Grove Democratic Assemblymember Stephanie Nguyen<\/a>, would compel separated families to enroll in a state program empowered to garnish wages for child support.
Currently, custodial parents must \u201copt in\u201d to enroll in the California Department of Child Support Services<\/a>. They often do not take that step, sometimes because they have made their own arrangements.
Under Nguyen\u2019s bill, families would have to opt out of the program. She said the goal of the bill is to ensure that children get the money they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the child that suffers. If you\u2019re a single-income parent \u2026 and struggling to make ends meet, then the extra piece of income comes in. I think it reduces child poverty,\u201d said Nguyen.<\/p>\n

The measure addresses what groups close to the child support system say is a pressing issue: When parents split up, child support arrangements can fall to the wayside. That leaves the problem to the court system and puts children at risk for poverty.<\/p>\n

At a March hearing, the bill had support from the California Child Support Assn. and the Department of Child Support Services from Sacramento, Solano and San Joaquin counties.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, just in Sacramento County, my department is sending $11 million every month home to families putting food on the table and shoes on children\u2019s feet. It\u2019s an incredible anti-poverty program,\u201d Dallin Frederickson, the director of Sacramento County\u2019s Department of Child Support Services, told lawmakers at a March hearing, according to the CalMatters Digital Democracy database<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the child support program in California is underutilized,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But critics say that entering all families into the child support services system could actually undermine the stability of separated families by disrupting the bonds that remain, as when parents have come to their own financial agreements.<\/p>\n

Even a Democratic lawmaker who voted for the bill at the hearing raised questions about how it could affect families who make their own child support arrangements. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve seen what happens when families get separated and crumble and fall to pieces,\u201d Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, a Los Angeles Democrat, said at the hearing. \u201cAnd I\u2019m just concerned that any ways that we further deteriorate a strong relationship between parents, we\u2019re harming the best interests of the child.\u201d<\/p>\n

A first-in-the-nation proposal<\/p>\n

Among California\u2019s 2 million children in single-parent households, 1 in 4 live in poverty. That rate is four times higher than among children living with married parents. Women head 80% of single-parent households, which are more likely to live in poverty than single-father households.<\/p>\n

Statewide, there are slightly more than 1 million court orders for child support payments, with total payments owed reaching $2.6 billion in 2024.<\/p>\n

If Nguyen\u2019s Assembly Bill 1643<\/a> passes, it\u2019s unclear how many additional families would be enrolled into the state collection program, but it could be thousands, based upon the annual number of court orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a bit of unknown. This could be a really fundamental change in a big state. Should they do a pilot study in one county?\u201d asked Rebecca Miller, senior attorney for Western Center for Law and Poverty.<\/p>\n

Custodial parents of any income level can choose to enroll into child support services, however, enrollment is mandatory for parents who receive public assistance under Title IV-D of the Social Security Act of 1975.<\/p>\n

No state currently mandates child support services enrollment for families not receiving public assistance, as stipulated in Nguyen\u2019s bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt could violate federal law because it forces people into the system,\u201d said Rebecca Gonzales, policy advocate for Western Center for Law and Poverty.<\/p>\n

Another concern is cost to taxpayers, though Nguyen said that the bill won\u2019t add costs.<\/p>\n

However, because it requires that all child support payments go through the State Disbursement Unit, the measure could increase administrative costs for local agencies, triggering state-mandated reimbursement costs, according to a legislative committee analysis.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see why they think it\u2019s cost-free,\u201d said Gonzales.<\/p>\n

The mechanics of California child support<\/p>\n

Child support payments decrease poverty for children living with their primary caregiver, but the payments alone are not enough to eliminate poverty, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In addition, making payments may worsen poverty for fathers living separately, especially if they\u2019re already low income.<\/p>\n

Child support payments also have proven to offer other benefits, including more involvement of the paying parent with their children, better academic outcomes<\/a> and well-being for the kids and improved parent-to-parent relationships.<\/p>\n

The system Nguyen\u2019s bill would default California families into, from the Department of Child Support Services, already collects and distributes almost two-thirds of child support owed in the state, as of 2024. When needed, the department also locates parents and establishes paternity. It collects money using payroll deductions and, if necessary, by garnishing wages, intercepting tax refunds or suspending driver\u2019s licenses to compel compliance.<\/p>\n

The public system for child support payments isn\u2019t straightforward, especially if the parents\u2019 split is acrimonious. That\u2019s when the courts can step in.<\/p>\n

Miller, the senior attorney, said family court is the system most people think of for handling divorce, child custody and support payments. <\/p>\n

Separately, the Title IV-D court is the federally required child support system designed in the 1970s primarily to manage payments for families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Familiesm or TANF, or welfare. Nearly half of custodial parents enrolled in child support services receive TANF. California Work Opportunity and Responsibility for Kids, better known as CalWORKs<\/a>, is the state\u2019s TANF program.<\/p>\n

In California, when parents separate, family courts order child support payments based on both parents\u2019 incomes and the amount of time each spends with the kids. Then the custodial parent can choose to complete \u201copt in\u201d paperwork for the payments to go through child support services.<\/p>\n

Many parents choose not to enroll for a multitude of reasons, for example if they have an agreement with their former spouse, or if they believe the non-custodial parent can\u2019t afford payments. Some parents don\u2019t want to interact with the other parent because it\u2019s unpleasant or dangerous. Some domestic violence survivors <\/a>fear that reporting their former partners to child support services would expose them or their kids to harm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think parents should be trusted to make the decision of what\u2019s best for their family and not forced into the system \u2026 the system doesn\u2019t work for everyone,\u201d said Gonzales.<\/p>\n

Nguyen said she\u2019s working with the opponents to resolve their differences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really just about making sure the money gets to the parents who have custody of the kids and making sure they are fed, and they are properly cared for,\u201d said Nguyen.<\/p>\n

ChrisAnna Mink<\/a> writes for CalMatters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite a seemingly unimpeachable goal \u2014 ensuring adequate child support to keep kids out of poverty \u2014 a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[118310,118312,3653,7,9,8,3409,118308,118309,118307,6246,1431,3410,721,118313,28801,1877,118311],"class_list":["post-272825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-adequate-child-support","tag-big-state","tag-bill","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-child","tag-child-support-payment","tag-child-support-system","tag-custodial-parent","tag-department","tag-family","tag-kid","tag-law","tag-march-hearing","tag-nguyen","tag-poverty","tag-total-payment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}