Human Services News

From Center for Law and Social Policy:

This brief on legislation outlines the provisions of the proposed Responsible Fatherhood and Health Families Act of 2007.

If enacted, the legislation would provide demonstration grants to promote economic opportunity for low-income parents, reverse a 20 percent federal funding cut to the child support program, repeal a $25 child support fee charged to parents, require all collected child support to be paid to families, address unpaid child support debt, expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and make a number of other changes in the law.

Repeal section 7310 of the DRA, which requires parents who have never received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to pay a $25 annual fee if they receive $500 in child support collections.

Require that states pay all collected child support to families, rather than use it to recover welfare costs, prohibit state assignment of child support rights, and require state TANF programs to disregard a portion of child support income that is at least equivalent to the earned income disregard.

Ensure that child support collected in federally-funded foster care cases is used in the best interests of the child, rather than cost recovery, and includes authority to establish child support trust accounts.

Expand the childless worker EITC and provide an additional credit for non-custodial parents who are current on child support payments.

Provide for $150 million in state grants for fiscal years 2008 through 2101 to conduct demonstration projects to promote economic opportunity for low-income parents, including projects (1) supervised by courts or child support agencies to increase employment and child support payments by non-custodial parents and improve parent-child relationships; (2) to expand transitional jobs programs; and (3) to create public-private partnerships to improve career pathways for disadvantaged workers and at risk youth.

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