Ahead of an anticipated interim hearing on child support by the Juvenile Justice & Family Issues Committee, new Texas resident polling commissioned by National Parents Organization reveals that decades-old Texas child support laws stand in conflict with resident beliefs about what's in the best interest of children when their parents live apart.
AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- New state resident polling shows that nearly all Texans believe that parents who are living apart and raising their children together should each spend as much time as possible with their children and they should split child-related expenses proportionally based on their incomes and time spent parenting—attitudes that are in direct conflict with decades-old Texas laws that govern these matters and child support laws in most states. A summary of the Texas resident child support poll results can be downloaded here.
As the Juvenile Justice & Family Issues committee determines how to address its 87th interim charge from Speaker Dade Phelan to "[s]tudy how child support is calculated and administered in Texas" in an anticipated interim hearing, public polling data is crucial for understanding what modernizations Texans demand to support the best interests of Texas children.
A statewide survey of 564 Texas residents was conducted by Researchscape International in July 2022 and was commissioned by the Texas chapter of the National Parents Organization, author of the 2022 NPO Child Support and Shared Parenting Report Card. Survey questions explore how to set appropriate child support amounts, how parents should share in child-related expenses, the living arrangements that are in the best interest of children, and how Texas residents view political candidates who support the modernization of state laws governing these and related issues.
A sample of polling results is below and the complete summary can be downloaded here.
On sharing child-related expenses between parents living apart:
- Texas Opinion: 94% of Texas voters believe that child-related expenses should be split proportionally based on each parent's income, and the amount of time each parent spends with their children impacts the child-related expenses each parent incurs. Among Texas attorneys and judges polled by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) in 2020, over 70% of Texas judges and attorneys agree with Texas residents that child support should be adjusted for parenting time and more than 60% agree that both parents' incomes should be considered.
- Texas Reality: Texas and Mississippi are the only two remaining states with guidelines that do not consider both parents' incomes or parenting time automatically in any situation when setting child support. A 1987 federal advisory panel recommended both of these policy elements to all states because they encourage "continued involvement of both parents in the child's upbringing," and while nearly all states adopted these principles then or have since, Texas ignored this recommendation then and has not added these elements to its guidelines since they were codified over 33 years ago.
On setting child support transfer amounts that best support children:
- Texas Opinion: 88% of Texas residents believe Texas judges should not be required to consider how to maximize federal funding for the state when setting child support.
- Texas Reality: Texas judges are currently required by law to maximize federal funding, which rebates state funds spent on setting and enforcing child support orders, and Texas leads the nation in the collection of these federal funds. Family Code, § 201.107 states that "judges and the Title IV-D agency shall [...] take any action necessary to maximize [...] federal funds available under the Title IV-D program." Per federal law, higher child support orders and follow-on collection efforts result in more federal funding for Texas.
- From 2016 to 2020, the OAG, which is the designated Texas IV-D agency, collected $1,440,473,645 in Federal Financial Participation (FFP) rebates and federal incentive payments—the highest of any state despite having the lowest federal reimbursement rate and several below-average performance measures.
- The Texas child support program is 50% of the OAG's annual budget and 60% of its staff, making child support orders a key source of revenue for the agency, despite the reality that sustained federal revenue levels are concomitant with continuing the Texas public policy of presuming it's best for all children with two fit parents to have limited access to one parent when they live apart (Family Code, § 153.252), and not automatically right-sizing child support orders to reflect how child-related expenses are incurred based on both parents' incomes and the time they spend with their children.
On ensuring Texas parents can support themselves and their children when they live apart:
- Texas Opinion: 81% of Texas voters believe that each parent should have a portion of their income set aside for their own base living expenses when setting child support.
- Texas Reality: Only Texas and Indiana do not provide a self-support reserve to cover base living expenses for parents who pay child support. Nearly 50% of Texas child support obligors earn $10.00 per hour or less, inferred from an ordered amount of $300 or lower monthly child support order for this cohort, which raises concerns regarding the ability to pay. (OAG, 2021)
- Under the current Texas child support guidelines, nearly 7 in 10 Texas obligors with active cases are three or more months behind in child support payments, which puts these parents at risk of enforcement penalties like driver's license loss, jail time, interest accrual, and additional stresses that are not conducive to being a present and engaged parent who earns a steady income. (OAG, 2021) Researchindicates that child support arrears often stem from an inability to pay and not an unwillingness to pay—parents forced into poverty by child support payments cannot care effectively for themselves or their children.
Texas has the largest child support program in the nation; in 2020, $4,793,733,362 in child support payments were distributed from about 1.5 million non-custodial parents to support about1.68 million Texas children. (OAG, 2020) For scale, Texas distributed 76% more child support dollars than California, though we have 26% fewer residents, and we distributed 200% more such dollars than Florida, though they have 35% fewer residents. Both of these large states already have public policies that match Texas resident attitudes about child support, presumably demonstrating the effects of Texas' delayed modernization in the distribution amounts.
While poll results show that Texas residents strongly support political candidates who advocate for children, with 91% of respondents indicating they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who protects a child's right to have maximized access to both of their parents after separation or divorce, Texas public policy still lags far behind resident beliefs. As the 140-day 88th Texas legislative session approaches in January 2023, and the Juvenile Justice & Family Issues committee works to address and report on their interim charge to consider how the "Texas method compares to other states' plans for calculating child support," these poll results play a key role in ensuring public policy modernizations reflect the best interests of Texas children.
About National Parents Organization NPO improves the lives of children and strengthens society by protecting every child's right to the love and care of both parents after separation or divorce. We seek better lives for children through family court reform that establishes equal rights and responsibilities for fathers and mothers. Learn more at sharedparenting.org/texas and view the 2022 NPO Child Support and Shared Parenting Report Card. Contact the NPO Texas team at [email protected].
Media Contact
Laura Alter, National Parents Organization, Texas Chapter, 1 5127964927, [email protected]
SOURCE National Parents Organization, Texas Chapter
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