Voices on child support
Daniel L. Hatcher
Assistant Professor of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law
The exact words were found in the primary source linked below (testimony, book page, report or article), at the page given.
"The government's fiscal interests are in direct conflict with the best interests of the children--the controlling legal standard in child support matters."
Source
Child Support Harming Children: Subordinating the Best Interests of Children to the Fiscal Interests of the State, 42 Wake Forest L. Rev. 1029, Wake Forest Law Review, 2007-12, p. 1029 (abstract; PDF page 1 of 58) (article). Checked 2026-10-13.
Context
Law review article on TANF assignment of support rights and welfare cost recovery. Hatcher's stated primary conclusion is that welfare cost recovery "is a failed effort--and should therefore end"; the article does not oppose child support for families.
The passage it comes from
This Article examines the government policy of seeking reimbursement of welfare costs through child support enforcement. Under our welfare program, Temporary Aid to Needy Families, custodial parents applying for benefits are required to establish child support obligations against the absent parents and to assign the resulting child support payments to the government. As a result, half of the $105 billion in national child support debt is owed to the government rather than to children. The government's fiscal interests are in direct conflict with the best interests of the children--the controlling legal standard in child support matters. The conflict results in legal confusion, and the welfare cost recovery efforts harm children, families, and society.
Share
Share images carry the verified label: landscape, 1200 x 630 · square, 1080 x 1080.
