Outreaching to Expectant and New Parents about Paternity and Child Support: Opportunities and Challenges

With nearly 40 percent (39.7%) of all births occurring to unwed parents, and unmarried parents making up over half of the child support caseload nationally (Pontisso, 2009), it is more important than ever for child support agencies to reach unmarried parents around the time of the birth of their babies to communicate important messages about paternity and child support. The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study shows that one year after birth, only 58 percent of unmarried parents were still romanti- cally connected, only 9 percent were married, and only 12 percent had a legal child support order (McLanahan and Garfinkel, 2002). The short amount of time that most parents spend at a hospital or birthing center makes it hard to capitalize on the ―magic moment‖ of birth for effective education and outreach. Nor does the traditional model of prenatal care con- sisting of brief, one-on-one visits with a provider lend itself to an educational intervention.