CHANGING POLICY, CHANGING PRACTICE - MOTHERS INCOMES AND CHILD-SUPPORT ORDERS

With the increasing numbers of children affected by divorce and econom ic vulnerability after divorce, child support is a critical concern of national policymakers. The effects to increase child support have inc luded a shift to numerical guidelines for the amount of child support orders. Guidelines generally reflect an income-sharing philosophy, in which support is expected of all nonresident parents, regardless of re sident-parent resources. We examine Wisconsin divorce cases before and after income-sharing guidelines were implemented and find that the ne gative impact of the mother's income on the size of child support orde rs has fallen substantially. A multivariate analysis is critical to th is assessment; it permits us to distinguish the impact of mothers' and fathers' incomes on order amounts.