Summary: The expected outcomes of welfare reform are changing the fiscal and political environment in which the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) Program operates. Declining caseloads--both in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and CSE welfare--have reduced the revenue some states have historically realized from the CSE program. At the same time, newly mandated methods for collecting more child support from noncustodial parents have increased states' responsibilities and costs. The federal government, on the other hand, has continued to incur program costs primarily because it reimburses states for a two-thirds share of their CSE expenditures. Moreover, the federal government's net costs are likely to grow as caseloads shrink and states spend more on administrative costs to implement enforcement tools required by the welfare reform law. Rising net costs for the states and the federal government will likely encourage both program partners to (1) reexamine how the CSE program is financed and (2) weight these new fiscal realities against the program's social and fiscal benefits of promoting parental responsibility and recovering welfare costs.
