I know there's been occasional discussions about Title IV-D and its impact on child custody, but I thought showing the law itself and some particular aspects would illuminate exactly how it undermines father's rights(and really parent's and children's rights).

Here is the law itself:

Title IV-D

Here are two important sections:

Section 455

Section 458

This law is one of the central cogs that drives child custody and child support arrangements. Essentially the federal government reimburses states for having to research, prosecute, determine, and enforce child support, but also in section 458 incentivizes child support enforcement by paying states an amount equal to a portion of the support award itself.

This incentivizes state and municipal governments to break up families and not only award child support, but especially award custody to the lower earner-because support awards are based on income not actual cost of caring for the child-to ensure the most incentive pay via this law as possible.

Not only this, but for claims across state lines:

Treatment of Interstate Collections.—In computing incentive payments under this section, support which is collected by a State at the request of another State shall be treated as having been collected in full by both States, and any amounts expended by a State in carrying out a special project assisted under section 455(e) shall be excluded.

So this incentivizes states to not deter or even encourage the recipient of child support to move away from the child support payer.

Local governments and lawyers are responding to this immense perverse incentive which is undermining parent's and children's rights and well beings. Many of them are acting rationally as it affects their own jobs and wellbeings. The problem is the pubic is largely unaware of this, and grants provisional assent to ensure child is paid without really giving it a second glance.