Profile of child support beneficiaries - ARCHIVED

This Juristat article examines the number of children and families touched by services of the five Maintenance Enforcement Programs currently reporting to the Survey of Maintenance Enforcement Programs (SMEP). Maintenance Enforcement Programs (MEPs) were created to provide assistance to payors and recipients of child and spousal support, and to improve compliance with support payments primarily for the benefit of the children implicated in the parental break up. Also discussed is the amount of support due to families owed child support, the proportion of these families actually receiving support, and the enforcement response by MEPs when payors default on their child support payments. The final section touches on reciprocating enforcement for interprovincial or international cases that involve two MEPs or child support agencies.

Information is collected through the SMEP. This survey gathers information on the caseload of the MEP, the sex and median age of payors, recipients and children, typical support amounts, compliance rates, information on arrears, frequency and amount of payments, legislation under which the order for support was made, and types of actions that are initiated in order to enforce support.

This report contains data from Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, Alberta, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. In future years, with more provinces and territories able to report to the SMEP, a more complete national picture of maintenance enforcement will emerge.