ABSTRACT
The UK and the US have undertaken significant reforms in their child support enforcement programs to ensure that noncustodial parents provide financial support for their children. This paper compares the themes and policies of the child support reforms passed in 2000 in the UK and in 1996 in the US, focusing on contextual issues preceding reform, performance, and policy choices. The purpose of the analysis is to focus on the key drivers for the reforms and to examine the similarities and differences in policy themes and decisions. During the creation of the UK Child Support Agency (CSA) in the early 1990s and again in the late 1990s, the UK government examined and adopted policies from the older and more established US child support program. The decisions made by the UK in 2000 represent a growing convergence in child support policies between the UK and the US, albeit with some significant and notable differences.
