ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic forced human services agencies to adapt quickly to the economic realities faced by their customers. For child support agencies, the pandemic raised difficult questions about how strenuously agencies should enforce child support orders during periods of economic crisis and uncertainty. Drawing on interviews with agency and court staff, this study explores staff’s perceptions of pandemic-related effects on parents’ abilities to work and pay, how and why enforcement practices changed during the pandemic, and changes staff expect to persist. Agency staff reported a pause on enforcement at the pandemic’s outset, followed by leniency, flexibility, caution, and empathy in their practices.

摘要

COVID-19 大流行迫使人类服务机构迅速适应其客户面临的经济现实。对于儿童抚养机构而言，大流行引发了一些难题，即在经济危机和不确定时期，机构应如何努力执行儿童抚养令。通过对机构和法院工作人员的采访，本研究探讨了工作人员对大流行对父母工作和支付能力的影响的看法，大流行期间执法实践如何以及为何发生变化，以及工作人员预计将持续发生的变化。机构工作人员报告说，在大流行一开始就暂停执行，随后在他们的做法中表现出宽大、灵活、谨慎和同情。