This report tests the hypothesis that strong child support collection is associated with lower welfare caseloads. It uses annual state panel data from 1980-96 to replicate previous models and incorporate the effects of child support. The primary analysis technique is fixed effects regression of welfare caseloads with welfare caseloads as the dependent variable, and child support, demographic, economic, welfare, and political variables as independent variables. The key independent variable is the strength of the state's child support enforcement system. Results indicate that child support plays a moderate to large, and hitherto unrecognized, role in reducing welfare caseloads. Specifically, depending on the model, estimates imply that the improvement in child support collection between 1980-96 reduced welfare caseloads by 12-17 percent in 1996. The inclusion of child support largely improves the ability to explain the change in welfare caseloads that would not be explained by welfare and/or economic factors alone, although it also somewhat decreases the estimated effect of those other factors. (Contains 37 references.) (SM)