It took Humu Yansané almost three years of court dates, paperwork and stress to get a court order mandating that her daughter’s dad pay child support.

The single mother said she first applied in 2016, when her daughter was a baby. Yansané said the court process was filled with “emotional heartache.”

“It’s so hard,” she said. “ They just want you in, and they want you out. There’s very little humanity in there.”

Parents who file for child support in New York City’s family courts wait significantly longer for a resolution than those elsewhere in the state, according to a new report from the nonprofit Her Justice. The organization analyzed court data on child support cases across New York between 2019 and 2025. During that period, it took nearly three times as long, on average, to get an order of support in New York City than in the rest of the state, according to Her Justice.

In the five boroughs, it took an average of 10.5 months to get an order of support, the organization found. In the rest of the state, the average was about 3.5 months. Other aspects of the process, like modifications and dismissals, also took longer in the city. Cases in Brooklyn, where Yansané filed her initial child support application, took the longest to resolve on average, according to the report.

“ The longer a child support case takes, the longer a family is waiting for what is typically critical financial support,” said Rachel Braunstein, senior director of policy at Her Justice, which represented Yansané in her case.

A spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

‘It affects our children’

Child support cases account for a major share of New York’s family court system. There were about 130,000 filings for support last year, making up almost 30% of filings overall, according to state court data.

A parent seeking child support from another parent starts the process by filing a petition in their local family court. Then, they wait for a court date to be set and gather a thick stack of documents, including pay stubs, tax returns, proof of childcare expenses and letters from any public benefits they receive.

Braunstein said parents often don’t know what materials they’re supposed to bring to court, and that lack of information can cause delays. She said the high volume of cases in New York City also makes it more difficult to resolve cases quickly. The pandemic exacerbated those issues and created lingering backlogs, she said.

While cases languish in the courts for months — or years — at a time, parents lack the support they need and may also have to take on extra financial strains for missing work or hiring childcare, according to Braunstein.

Yansané said she fell behind on bills and rent payments, at one point receiving an eviction notice. She worked out a payment plan with her landlord, briefly received public benefits and also borrowed some money from her parents, who were retired and had their own financial limits, she said. Meanwhile, months would pass between each court date, she said.

“It affects our children,” she said. “When Mom is stressed out or Dad is stressed out because they’re trying to figure out how to make ends meet, the children can feel it.”

About three years after she filed her petition, Yansané was working full time and paying off the debt to her landlord when she received a final order for child support, she said. A judge ordered the child’s father to pay a certain amount each month, as well as arrears for the time they had spent in court, she said.

“It was a mixed bag of emotions,” she said. “I was so thankful. But it came with such a cost.”

Despite these frustrations, the amount of time it takes to receive a child support order is getting shorter in New York City, Her Justice found. Between 2022 and 2025, the average number of months decreased across all five boroughs, with the largest drops in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx, according to the report. In Brooklyn, the average number of months it took to get an order fell from more than 18 months in 2022 to less than 4.5 months in 2025, Her Justice determined.

Braunstein said a few factors could be speeding up the process, including a triage program that started in Brooklyn family court to help families navigate the step-by-step and also move cases along more quickly. The Office of Court Administration did not respond to an inquiry about how the triage program works or which family courts are using it. The data does not include cases that were still open when Her Justice received records from the courts in February 2026, the report notes.

Her Justice drafted legislation pending in the statehouse that would allow the courts to expedite the process for parents who want to settle and avoid lengthy litigation.

Yansané said she wishes she didn’t have to turn to the courts to get support. The payments are helpful when they come, but she said they’re not consistent. With her current job, she said, she’s able to provide for her daughter by herself and afford the home she now owns. The 10-year-old is spending her summer at horseback riding, rock climbing and cooking camps, Yansané said.

“I’m able to curate her experiences, so that she can come out on top in this world,” she said. “When I pass, I’m setting her up for success.”