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A crumbling economy is challenging enough for families trying to put food on the table despite layoffs and cutbacks. For divorced parents dependent on child support as well as former spouses charged with making court-ordered payments, it's an emotional as well as financial meat grinder.

Bay State judges, lawyers and bureaucrats who man the pipeline between custodial parents and spouses who pay child support say the number of requests for modification of child support levies as well as contempt petitions is mushrooming as more parents fall behind in their obligations due to layoffs and other financial reverses. Many officials are also concerned about loss of health insurance coverage for children formerly provided by laid-off parents.

Brian D. Roman, a lawyer in North Attleboro, said he's seen a flurry of inquiries from parents lately in regard to child support issues, and says many parents are facing uncertain prospects as jobs disappear and incomes decline.

"When someone loses their job, one of the things they can do to save is to go into court and seek to get their payments reduced," Roman said.

Custodial parents facing loss of income can also come to court and seek increased payments from the other parent. Gina DelRossi, registrar of probate for Bristol County, said her office has experienced a major increase in child support petitions from parents, both by mail and in-person. The influx is bad news for a probate and family court system already overtaxed and struggling amid cutbacks.

Judges are also noticing a tidal wave of requests from parents, called modification petitions, seeking changes in their child support payments. There's also been a big increase in contempt petitions from custodial parents who say their former spouse isn't keeping their part of the bargain.

Judge Paula Carey, chief justice of the state Probate and Family Court, says that may be just the tip of the iceberg, however.

Many parents, depressed over layoffs and overwhelmed by bills and court-imposed obligations, simply try to ignore the problem.

"Things can seem so bad that some people unfortunately put their head in the sand," she said.

But that only makes matters worse, Carey said, as child support agreements remain in effect unless changed by the court. A laid-off parent who puts off coming to court to seek relief only digs the hole deeper and deeper.

"It's never advisable to get into arrears," says Laurie Martucci, a lawyer in Norfolk, who worked for the state Department of Revenue for 16 years.

The DOR, which can be called on to enforce child support orders, has wide discretion to force payments including seizing bank accounts and intercepting income tax refunds of payers.

Even if a payer's request to modify their child support payments is not heard by the court immediately, judges have the ability to make any change that is granted retroactive to the date on which their former spouse was notified.

Martucci's lawfirm, Wagner McDonough LLP, holds periodic workshops for parents facing child support and family law issues at the town library. While courts have traditionally been reluctant to grant reductions in child support where a payer is deemed to be employable, the current economic slowdown is changing how the courts look at employability said Marc Perlin, professor of law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston.

"The courts have to be reasonable as to what constitute's a person's ability to pay," Perlin said. "If someone was earning $100,000 as an attorney a few years ago, it might not be possible to get that same job today."

In Massachusetts, the amount of child support paid to a custodial parent is governed by a set of guidelines based on the gross weekly income of the paying parent. Any money the parent pays toward child care, health insurance and other bills is automatically deducted. The result is a total of "available income" of which a calculated percentage is earmarked for child support.

According to a table published on the court's Web site, the amount a parent pays can vary from as little as $124 a month per child for $500 worth of available income to $719 or more per month for a parent with at least $3,500 a month of available income.

If the economy is rough on parents who pay child support, it can be even rougher on custodial parents, says Attleboro lawyer Susan Jacobs.

"Very often, the amount of child support that a parent receives does not pay all the costs they may have," Jacobs said. "So if a parent was experiencing a hardship before, it becomes even worse when the amount they're receiving is cut."

Health care is a particular worry. If the non-custodial parent was providing health coverage from his or her job, children can be left hanging if he or she becomes unemployed.

Fortunately, Jacobs said, newly announced federal COBRA subsidies and alternative health care programs like MassHealth can help soften the blow.

Sudden changes in child support payments can cause disruptions in family finances that can have a cascading effect beyond the daily expenses of food and clothing, Jacobs said. Families can also fall far behind in rent or mortgage payments or even lose their housing.

Although none of Jacobs' clients so far have been put out on the street, some have had their homes placed in foreclosure because of their inability to pay.