Illicit Substance Use and Child Support: An Exploratory Study

While child support agencies have acknowledged the rise in substance use among noncustodial parents, there is little to no research that has looked specifically at this population with substance use issues and the effects of that use on child support outcomes, including payment patterns and arrears accumulation. This project assessed what is known about how substance use disorders (SUDs), in particular opioid use disorder (OUD), affect noncustodial parents’ labor market experiences, the establishment of child support orders, noncustodial parents’ ability to pay formal child support, and current practices used to increase child support compliance and substance use treatment among this population.