The Office of Child Support Enforcement will be better equipped to meet the needs of the next generation of children if it has specific knowledge about the demographic characteristics of the population it serves. On the one hand, the fact that children are born every day seems immutable What could be more constant than the succession of generations? Even the dreary fact that not all children will be adequately cared for seems an old story. On the other hand, the households in which children are raised can and have changed considerably over time. Who has children, whether they marry or divorce, and the age of their respective cohorts can fluctuate over time, changes which cumulatively contribute to sizable differences in the child support population.

In the twenty-year period we examine, the changes in the child support population have been and will be dramatic. The rapid growth of the child support population in the 1980s and 1990s will slow in the first decade of the twenty-first century, but the increase in the absolute number of children, custodians, and noncustodial parents remains momentous, indicating a serious need for a strong program. The growth rate of the child support population has slowed because of the aging of the baby boomers, a decline in divorce rates, and a leveling of the rate of nonmarital fertility.

That the rates of increase have slowed from the steep rates of the 1980s and 1990s does not mean that the future population of the child support community will not have striking differences from the population in the past. Certain segments of the child support population will experience consequential growth. There will be a large increase in the number of custodial fathers, and an even greater increase in the number of children living with never-married parents. The number of Hispanic and Asian custodial parents will also jump considerably as the ethnic composition of the United States changes. Finally, the population of nonparent custodians, including grandparents, will continue to grow at a faster rate than that of custodial parents.

While the economic characteristics of custodians will improve slightly over the coming decade (younger adults coming into the system tend to be better educated than their older counterparts) the population remains, in general, a poor population and hence more vulnerable to economic downturns and to cuts in the funding of public assistance. In the coming decade there will be more children in the child support system, fewer children born to married parents, and perhaps fewer families receiving public assistance. Under these circumstances, child support enforcement will be more important than ever. Children need financially stable environments. Making sure that parents, when able, accept financial responsibility for their children will foster social bonds, assist single parents, and help to alleviate child poverty in the United States.