Voices on child support
Ron Haskins
Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
The exact words were found in the primary source linked below (testimony, book page, report or article), at the page given.
"Meanwhile, the major favor the welfare law did for fathers was to pursue them ever more relentlessly for child-support payments. In fact, the law may have intensified the already substantial problems faced by poor fathers."
Source
Welfare Revisited: Young Men Need Incentives, Brookings Institution (Commentary), 2006-08-19, web page, no page numbers (article). Checked 2026-10-13.
Context
Ten-year retrospective commentary on the 1996 welfare law. Haskins credits the law with gains for mothers and children, says poor fathers got mostly 'sticks,' and proposes suspending accumulated child-support debt for young men who take jobs and pay current support, plus an EITC-style credit for low-income single men.
The passage it comes from
However, because more than 80 percent of low-income, single-parent families, both those on and off welfare, are headed by mothers, the beneficial outcomes of the welfare law have accrued primarily to mothers and children. Meanwhile, the major favor the welfare law did for fathers was to pursue them ever more relentlessly for child-support payments. In fact, the law may have intensified the already substantial problems faced by poor fathers.
Share
Share images carry the verified label: landscape, 1200 x 630 · square, 1080 x 1080.
