Kimberly J. Turner Child Trends Maureen R. Waller Cornell University ∗ Indebted Relationships: Child Support Arrears and Nonresident Fathers’ Involvement With Children Low-income, nonresident fathers owe a dispro- portionate amount of child support arrears, cre- ating potential challenges for these fathers and their family relationships. This article uses medi- ation analysis to provide new evidence about how and why child support debt is related to paternal involvement using information from 1,017 nonresident fathers in the Fragile Fam- ilies Study. Results show that child support arrears are associated with nonresident fathers having significantly less contact with children, being less engaged with them in daily activi- ties, and providing less frequent in-kind support 9 years after the birth. This negative association between child support debt and father involve- ment is most strongly and consistently mediated by the quality of the relationship between the biological parents. Although child support poli- cies are designed to facilitate fathers’ economic and emotional support, these results suggest that the accruement of child support debt may serve as an important barrier to father involvement. As part of recent reform efforts, the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) Child Trends, 7315 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1200W, Bethesda, MD 20814 (kturner@childtrends.org). ∗ Department of Policy Analysis and Management, 257 MVR Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. This article was edited by Kelly Raley. Key Words: child support, fathers, Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, nonresidential parents, parental involvement. has identified several family-centered policies aimed at improving the reliability of child support payments by low-income, noncustodial parents (NCPs). Some family-centered child support reforms aim to improve child support payments by increasing paternal engagement. For example, new proposals at the federal level would require states to establish visi- tation and access in all initial child support orders in hope of creating a “double win” for children who would benefit from improved relationships with their fathers and child support collections (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014). Programs to promote responsible fatherhood have also sought to help low-income fathers overcome economic barriers in meeting their child support obligations while building stronger relationships with children (Solomon-Fears, Smith, & Berry, 2012). Many nonresident fathers have low levels of involve- ment (Cheadle, Amato, & King, 2010), and these initiatives are informed by research indi- cating a positive link between paternal contact and support (Nepomnyaschy, 2007). Other recent family-centered initiatives have focused on improving child support outcomes by preventing low-income NCPs from accruing large child support debts. Since 1975, total child support arrears have accumulated to more than $114.5 billion (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Support Enforce- ment, 2013). Research suggests that about one quarter of NCPs in the child support program have limited ability to pay and that low-income fathers owe a disproportionate amount of the 24 Journal of Marriage and Family 79 (February 2017): 24–43 DOI:10.1111/jomf.12361