In June, President Clinton announced a new initiative to strengthen the child support enforcement system through stricter cooperation requirements on welfare applicants and recipients. Proposed regulations were published in the July 17 issue of the Federal Register requiring applicants to provide sufficient information, prior to receipt of AFDC, to locate the noncustodial parent, establish the paternity of a child born out of wedlock, and secure child support. The new regulations impose the same cooperation requirements on mothers already receiving AFDC.

As a condition of receipt of welfare benefits, mothers are currently required to cooperate with paternity establishment efforts, but often this does not occur until after the mother has begun receiving benefits.

The national rate for paternity establishmen