More child support is being received, and a rise in employment rates of custodial parents match a decline in participation in public assistance programs, according to a report released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The report, "Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2003," reveals that seven million custodial parents received 69% of the money owed to them by the noncustodial parent. Thirty percent were receiving assistance from the government.

This was an improvement from 1999, when custodial parents were collecting just 59% of the money. Forty-one percent were relying on public help in 1993.

Full-time, year-round employment for custodial parents rose from 46% in 1993 to 54% in 2003. In this time frame, the proportion of mothers receiving welfare fell from 26 percent to 8 percent, reaching a low of 6 percent in 2001.

While the preliminary report is not broken down by race, other Census Bureau indicators imply that the percentage of African Americans receiving child support is slightly lower than for White Americans for a variety of reasons, including a higher unemployment rate, and a disproportionately higher percentage of single-parent-headed households.

In Milwaukee, for example, women head about 70% of the Black households. Nearly 90% of the babies born in three north side zip codes are to single women. Moreover, Milwaukee has one of the highest Black teen pregnancy rates in the country.

Wisconsin is also one of only a handful of states where the custodial parent does not receive full child support imbursements if she is on a public program like W-2. A percentage of the child support is given back to the state, a situation that Representative Gwen Moore is trying to correct through recently introduced legislation.

Other highlights of the Census Bureau report include:

* Custodial parents who were owed child support in 2003 were due an average of $5,100 each--a total of $37 billion.

They were able to collect an average of $3,500 each, or $25 billion total.

* About 45% of custodial parents due child support received the full amount, and about 76% received at least some child support in 2003.

* More than half (59%) of all custodial parents received some type of noncash support--such as gifts, clothes or food--in addition to or in lieu of child support payments.

* In 2003, 1-in-4 custodial parents and their children were living below the poverty level. In 1993, 1-in-3 was living in poverty.

* As of spring 2004, an estimated 14 million parents had custody of 22 million children under age 21 whose other parent lived elsewhere. Five of every six custodial parents were mothers (83 percent).

* About eight million custodial parents had some type of agreement or court award to receive financial support from the noncustodial parent for their children in 2004.

* The age of custodial mothers rose between 1994 and 2004. In 1994, 25%t were 40 years or older. By 2004, the number had grown to 37 %.

* Fewer than one-third of custodial mothers had never married, 46 percent were currently divorced or separated, 22% were currently married. Custodial fathers were less likely than mothers to never have married (20*).

* About 3 million noncustodial parents provided some type of health insurance for their children in 2003.

Most estimates in this report are from the 1994 through 2004 April biennial supplements to the Current Population Survey, cosponsored by the Census Bureau and the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Child Support Enforcement. Statistics from sample surveys are subject to sampling and non-sampling error.