International collaboration for comparative analysis of child support systems.

This is a network of child support experts who are conducting research: a comparative analysis of child support systems across four countries (UK, US, Australia and NZ). They are all acting as 'expert informants' and are completing a 'vignette questionnaire' to generate new data on child support systems. The research is taking a 'model family approach' to test the child maintenance outcomes arising from the different child support systems in each country. The researchers are exploring a number of different things with applying this technique: first, the poverty reduction effect on the parent receiving the child maintenance money. Second, the interaction of the child support systems with the social security systems to explore the level of state interest in holding back some or all of the child maintenance that is expected to be paid.