Child support is generally intended to help with the costs of raising the child—including food, clothing, shelter, and education—but laws vary from state to state and are often unclear on the extent to which child support payments are intended to help the custodial parent pay for half of school supplies, health care, braces, glasses, dental care, uninsured medical care, transportation (car), daycare, sports camps, cheerleading camps, school trips, social activities, and extracurricular activities.

Most state laws (statutes) don’t identify the specific child-rearing costs to which the custodial parent is required to contribute payment from child support and other resources—and because these issues are frequently the source of parental conflict, parents should identify all expected future costs and agree to the process for sharing them.

In Washington State, child support is governed by state statutes that establish guidelines to determine the amount of support a non-custodial parent must pay. These guidelines take into account the income of both parents, the number of children, and other factors to ensure that the child's needs are met. Child support is intended to cover the basic needs of the child, such as food, clothing, shelter, and education. While the law provides a framework for the basic support obligation, it does not always specify the extent to which child support payments should cover additional expenses like school supplies, health care, braces, glasses, dental care, uninsured medical expenses, transportation, daycare, and extracurricular activities. In cases where these additional expenses are significant and necessary for the child's well-being, parents are encouraged to come to an agreement on how to share these costs. If parents cannot agree, they may seek the court's intervention to resolve the matter. The court may then consider these additional expenses when making a child support order or may order the costs to be shared in proportion to the parents' incomes.