Child Support Without a Villain: Rebuilding the Narrative and the System (Part II)

By Kenneth Braswell, CEO, Fathers Incorporated

August was Child Support Awareness Month — a time when government agencies and advocacy organizations launch campaigns to highlight the role child support plays in the lives of children. But awareness without action is a hollow gesture.

In Part 1 of this conversation — The Child Support System Needs a Villain — I examined the historical and systemic forces that shaped the U.S. child support program into a structure that often treats fathers as villains (particularly low-income fathers) and enforces payment through punishment rather than partnership. The program’s origins in welfare cost-recovery and the cultural entrenchment of the “deadbeat dad” narrative have created a system where too often the goal is not child well-being: It’s collection at any cost.

We cannot ignore the reach and impact of this system. In fiscal year 2021, the federal Office of Child Support Services reported that 13.2 million children were served by the program, with over $32 billion collected in support obligations. That’s nearly one in five children in the United States touched by this system in some way. The reach is vast, and so is the potential to either help or harm.

For custodial parents (most of them mothers), timely child support payments can be the difference between keeping a home and losing it, between a stocked fridge and empty shelves. For noncustodial parents (most of them fathers), the system can either serve as a bridge to stable employment, financial stability, and a stronger relationship with their children, or it can become a trap of debt, legal entanglements, and disconnection from family.

For children, the stakes are higher still. Research shows that consistent child support payments reduce child poverty, improve academic performance, and support better long-term health outcomes. But punitive enforcement policies that undermine a parent’s ability to work, maintain housing, or remain engaged with their children do not serve these outcomes. In fact, they often do the opposite.

That’s why reforming the child support system is not a matter of political preference: It’s a matter of social responsibility. We are talking about a program that affects millions of families across all 50 states, costing billions of dollars annually to administer, and shaping the life trajectories of children for decades. If we get this right, we don’t just improve compliance rates; we improve futures.

Step One: Rewrite the “Deadbeat Dad” Narrative

Language drives perception, and perception drives policy. For too long, the term “deadbeat dad” has served as a convenient and damaging shorthand for a complex reality. It’s time to retire it. We can replace it with language that reflects the truth: “under-resourced parent,” “economically disconnected father,” or simply “parent.”

Public education campaigns can lead this change. In the 1990s, the media played a major role in cementing the “deadbeat dad” image, and in the 2020s, the media can help dismantle it. Partnering with journalists, community influencers, and fatherhood advocates to tell nuanced stories of fathers navigating economic hardship and contributing beyond cash payments can reset the conversation.

Step Two: End Welfare Cost-Recovery in Child Support

The original child support program was designed to reimburse government coffers, not to support children directly. Even today, in most states, when a custodial parent receives public assistance, their child support payments are intercepted by the state.

We must end this practice. Every dollar collected for child support should go directly to the child and custodial household. States like Colorado that have implemented full “pass-through” policies have seen improved payment compliance and stronger co-parent relationships.

Step Three: Make Child Support Orders Realistic and Responsive

Research consistently shows that child support orders set too high for a parent’s actual income lead to arrears, nonpayment, and disengagement. Orders should be based on verified income and adjusted automatically during significant life changes such as job loss, incarceration, or disability.

This requires:

• Ability-to-pay assessments before setting or modifying orders
• Regular child support order reviews to prevent arrears from ballooning
• Suspension of arrears accumulation during verified periods of unemployment or incarceration

Step Four: Redesign Child Support Enforcement

Enforcement should be a last resort, not the first tool out of the box. Instead of license suspensions and incarceration, which sever parents from work and family, states should invest in employment-focused interventions. This includes:

• Job training programs targeted at noncustodial parents
• Partnerships with employers to hire parents with child support obligations
• Linking child support offices with workforce development agencies
  

Texas’s Noncustodial Parent Choices program is a strong example. Participants were more likely to find and keep jobs, and payment rates improved.

Step Five: Recognize and Credit In-Kind Child Support

Fathers who cannot always make full cash payments often contribute in other ways, like buying clothes, paying for school supplies, and covering extracurricular activities. These contributions matter, and they should be acknowledged.

Piloting programs that allow partial credit for documented in-kind support can keep fathers engaged, maintain bonds with children, and reduce the adversarial tone of the system.

Step Six: Strengthen Father Engagement Services

The child support program should not operate in isolation from other family services. Integrating fatherhood programs into child support agencies can provide:

• Parenting education
• Mediation and co-parenting support
• Mental health and substance abuse referrals

These services address the root causes of disengagement rather than punishing the symptoms. They also reframe the agency’s role from “collector” to “connector.”

Step Seven: Recognize Fathers as Essential to Child Well-Being

Child support caseworkers, government officials, and on-the-ground human service providers are the human face of the system. Their attitudes and approaches can either build trust with families or deepen divisions. To move forward, they must embrace a core reality: Fathers are essential to the well-being of children.

This means more than just collecting payments. It requires training and accountability structures that help staff understand, appreciate, and support fathers in their roles as parents. Cultural competence, implicit bias training, and trauma-informed practices remain essential. However, they must be paired with a fundamental shift in perspective.

Fathers are not simply payors. They are caregivers, mentors, and sources of stability. When professionals approach fathers with respect for their role, they open doors for deeper engagement, stronger co-parenting relationships, and ultimately, healthier outcomes for children.

Step Eight: Build Public Will for Change

Policy change won’t happen without public support. That means:

• Educating legislators on the real demographics and challenges of noncustodial parents
• Engaging custodial parents to understand how reforms benefit them and their children
• Creating coalitions between fatherhood advocates, children’s rights organizations, and social justice groups

Reframing child support reform as a child well-being issue rather than a father’s rights or enforcement issue can build broad coalitions.

Step Nine: Invest in Data and Transparency

We cannot fix what we don’t measure. States should publish annual reports on:

• Average child support order amounts versus average incomes
• Collection rates by income bracket
• Racial disparities in enforcement actions
  

Step Ten: Keep Children at the Center

Every policy change should answer one question: Will this improve the well-being of the child? If the answer is no — if a policy benefits the state budget more than the child — it should be reconsidered. Ending the villain narrative means re-centering the child as the true beneficiary of the system and recognizing that a connected, supported father is an asset, not a threat.

Conclusion: From Villain to Partner

The current system thrives on conflict. But a reimagined child support system would see both parents as partners in a child’s life. That doesn’t mean ignoring willful neglect or abuse; it means designing a system that assumes capacity for responsibility and provides the tools to meet it.

We have an opportunity — during Child Support Awareness Month and beyond — to shift from a model of punishment to one of partnership. To replace suspicion with support. To tell a different story: one in which fathers are no longer the villains, but part of the hero’s team.

That’s not just a better narrative. It’s a better outcome for children, families, and society.