Wisconsin Research

The Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) has both a national and a Wisconsin presence. Among our Wisconsin-focused efforts are:

• a long history of research for the Bureau of Child Support in the Department of Children and Families;
• an integrated data system harmonizing administrative data from five state agencies;
• the DreamUp Wisconsin project that identifies and implements policies to raise net income by 10 percent for 10,000 Dane County middle-class households; and
• the Wisconsin Poverty Project, which produces an annual assessment of poverty throughout Wisconsin.

IRP also has cooperative research agreements with several Wisconsin state agencies, and IRP Affiliates are involved in a broad array of state and local evaluations and technical assistance efforts.

In addition to linking to key Wisconsin projects, this page contains links to all of IRP’s Wisconsin-focused products and to other resources on poverty in Wisconsin.

Reducing the Interest Rate Charged on Arrears

Tiffany Green on How Charging Dads for the Medicaid Costs of Their Baby’s Birth Affects Child Support

Crystasany Turner on the Strengths, Challenges, and Cultural Assets of Family Child Care Professionals

New Approaches to Child Support Services: Custodial Parent Perspectives

Effects of Medicaid Birth Cost Recovery Policy Changes on Child Support Outcomes

Study of the Child Care Counts Stabilization Payment Program: Final Report

Child Support, Child Placement, Repartnering, and Divorced Mothers’ Objective and Subjective Economic Well-Being: Insights from Combining Survey and Administrative Data

Child Support Guidelines in Practice

Perceptions of Fairness in Child Support

Shared Placement, Child Support Payments, and Sharing of Child-Related Expenses: Overview and Mothers’ Perception of Fairness

Associations Between Problematic Substance Use and Child Support Order Compliance

COVID-19, Child Support, and the Income Packages of Custodial Parents

New Research on the Child Support Landscape in Wisconsin

Focus Groups with Noncustodial and Custodial Parents of Children Receiving TANF Benefits in Wisconsin

Arrearages, Lying-in Orders, and Child Support Compliance among Fathers of W-2 Children in Wisconsin

Mothers’ Family Networks and Livelihood in the Context of Child Support Enforcement Policy

Multiple-Partner Fertility: Incidence and Implications for Child Support Policy

Participant Knowledge of the Child Support Pass-Through and Disregard: Interviews With Local Child Support and W-2 Staff

Child Support Agencies as Connectors

The Experiences of American Indians in Wisconsin in the Child Support Demonstration Evaluation

Comparisons of Outcomes

Exploring the Long-Term Effects of Child Support

Casey Stockstill on Economic and Racial Segregation in Preschools

The Wisconsin Approach to Developing Administrative Data Resources for Research & Evaluation

Medicaid Enrollment Before Re-Entry: Regaining Access to Healthcare after Incarceration

Shared Placement in Paternity Cases: An Initial Look

Who Is Not Paying Child Support?

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Child Support Enforcement

Child Support and Subsequent Nonmarital Fertility

Child Support Debt: Tracing the Evolution of the Problem and Implications for Policy Solutions

Enhancing the Child Support Knowledge of TANF-Eligible Families and TANF Caseworkers: A Collaborative Strategy for Improving Outcomes for Low-Income Children and Their Families – Outcomes Evaluation

Child Support and Income Equality

Full-Time Father or “Deadbeat Dad”? Does the Growth in Father Placement Explain the Declining Share of Divorced Custodial Parents with a Child Support Order?

Exploring Reasons for the Decline in Child Support Orders among Paternity Cases

The Wisconsin Mothers with Young Children Study (WiscMoms): Report on a Pilot Survey of Formal and Informal Support of Children in Complex Families

Use of Enforcement Actions and Their Relationship to Payments

COVID-19 and Transitioning to a Virtual Workforce

How to Better Serve Families Involved in the Criminal Justice System

Stability of Placement Arrangements Among Divorced Wisconsin Families with Sole Mother and Shared Placement Orders

Wisconsin Parents Survey: Final Field Report

Satisfaction with Placement Arrangements Among Divorced Wisconsin Families with Sole Mother and Shared Placement Orders

Analysis of the Unemployment Insurance Waiting Period in Wisconsin

Child Support in Military-Connected Wisconsin Families

Are Complex Families Becoming More Common?

Child Support Receipt and the Quality and Stability of Housing

Child Placement Arrangements and Post-Divorce Economic Outcomes

The Child Support Referral Process for Out-of-Home Placements: Potential Modifications to Current Policy

The Contributions of Nonresident Parents to Child Care Arrangements and Costs

Child Support Orders and Childcare Costs

Shared Placement and Post-Divorce Economic Well-Being

County Performance and the Role of Incarceration

Incarcerated Payers: A Review of Child Support Agency Practice

Holding Child Support Orders of Incarcerated Payers in Abeyance: Four Year Outcomes

Child Support Receipt, Moves, and School Changes

Expanding the Provision of Child Support Services to Additional Cases

Does Joint Legal Custody Increase the Child Support Payments of the Fathers of Nonmarital Children?

Reducing the Interest Rate Charged on Child Support Arrears

The Use of Child Support Guidelines in Wisconsin: 2007 to 2009

Exploring Paths to Child Support Compliance

Wisconsin Poverty Report 2018: Still in the Doldrums

Evictions and Housing Challenges in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Reducing Child Support Debt and Its Consequences: Can Forgiveness Benefit All?

Satisfaction with Child Support Agency Services and Its Relationship to Child Support Payments

Barriers to Child Support Payment

Alternative Approaches to Income Imputation in Setting Child Support Orders

Child Support Payments, Income Imputation, and Default Orders

Recent Changes to State Child Support Guidelines for Low-Income Noncustodial Parents

Cost of Raising Children and Expenditures on Children

The Use of Child Support Guidelines in Wisconsin: 2010 and 2013

Child Support Enforcement Tools and Their Relationship to Payments: A Review of County Policy and Practice