Data from the 1997 National Survey of America's Families show that the majority of poor fathers not paying child support are nonwhite; only 31 percent were working at the time of the survey; and nearly 40 percent of the non-working fathers were institutionalized. If poor non-resident fathers are expected to contribute finanically to their children, employment services and work-support programs currently available to poor mothers may need to be made available to fathers as well.