Synergy, Vol. 19, No. 3

This issue of Synergy focuses on the child support system, its evolving role in the lives of low-income families, and the implications of that evolution for domestic violence survivors and their children. The issues gives readers an an overview of the child support system and goes on to explore the challenges around safety and fairness that  the child support process can pose for low-income survivors of domestic violence and their children. Articles include perspective from nationally recognized experts on custody and domestic violence Nancy VerSteegh and Gabrielle Davis consider how parenting time determinations might be safely integrated into the child support process, a judge’s reflections on how to account for risk from the bench in child support cases, the story of a state coalition’s successfully collaboration with their state’s child support agency to make child support a safer and more accessible option for survivors, and an interview with policy expert Jacquelyn Boggess, JD that shines a light on the complexities and unintended consequences of child support enforcement for very low-income families, including the perspectives of survivors.