Research-To-Practice Brief
This research brief from the Office of Child Support Enforcement identifies findings from a five-site Parenting Time Opportunities for Children (PTOC) grant. The grant, awarded to child support agencies in California, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Oregon, was intended to demonstrate how child support agencies can include parenting time orders in child support enforcement actions. The brief describes how increases in noncustodial parenting time, with safeguards in place for child welfare, led to improved relationships and increased compliance with child support payment orders.
October, 2019
Research-To-Practice Brief
This MDRC brief is an evaluation of the Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) Project in Vermont, a randomized controlled trial. The report, which summarizes trial findings, examines the two key elements of the behavioral intervention that address noncustodial parents. One element was a change in the letters and outreach that parents receive to increase their meeting participation. A second element pertained to structural changes to the meetings that resulted in agreements between the parents.
October, 2019
Webinar / Webcast
To support Child Support Awareness Month, the Office of Family Assistance, in collaboration with the Office of Child Support Enforcement, will host a webinar on Wednesday, August 21, 2019 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET on state pass-through and disregard policies. By attending the webinar, participants will deepen their knowledge of pass-through and disregard policies and identify factors to consider when adopting a programmatic change like a pass-through option.
August, 2019
Report
This Institute for Research on Poverty brief is a summary of an impact and benefit-cost analysis of the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration Program (CSPED). Participating parents were given additional employment services to support economic self-sufficiency with the goal of increasing child support compliance. Analysis findings concluded that satisfaction with the child support system improved substantially for noncustodial parents when a customized approach was utilized; there were modest gains in child support enforcement compliance, earnings, and parenting.
July, 2019
Stakeholder Resource
This Administration for Children and Families blogpost, authored by the Senior Advisor of the Office of Child Support Enforcement, presents key highlights of the Fatherhood Summit that occurred in June 2019. Many Summit presentations noted that unemployed or underemployed fathers are unable to make their child support payments, which might lead to debt and other challenges, which makes it difficult for fathers to become economically self-sufficient.
July, 2019
Stakeholder Resource
This Office of Child Support Enforcement Information Memorandum notes that state and tribal child support agencies are eligible for a funding and regulatory waiver, in order to create employment services for noncustodial parents struggling to make child support payments if these parents are unemployed or underemployed. This waiver is allowed under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act which provides limited demonstration authority to use federal funds for employment services.
July, 2019
Research-To-Practice Brief
This Office of Child Support Enforcement-funded research-to-practice brief, prepared by MDRC, is the first of a series of assessments that share lessons from the implementation of the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt model. The brief illustrates the training delivered to child support staff at six sites that have adapted a procedural justice-informed approach with noncustodial parents.
July, 2019
Research-To-Practice Brief
This Institute for Research on Poverty report presents findings of the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration Program (CSPED) implementation analysis. The report highlights promising agency-led approaches that emphasize delivery of services to noncustodial parents, compared to child services agencies that only emphasize enforcement of child support obligations. This new management orientation for child services agencies engages noncustodial parents and impacts parenting, case management, and employment, which helps facilitate reliable child support payments.
July, 2019
Research-To-Practice Brief
This MDRC brief examines the implementation and impact of Washington State’s Division of Child Support (DCS) “personalized” approach for establishing and enforcing child support orders. The approach focuses on providing an alternative compliance mechanism beyond the “service of process” – a formal legal procedure that outlines the amount the noncustodial parent must pay each month.
July, 2019
Webinar / Webcast
Noncustodial parents (NCPs) want to be positively involved in their children’s lives but often face obstacles, including legal issues and inability to attain economic security and to pay child support consistently. In a recent Information Memorandum, the Administration for Children and Families reminded jurisdictions of their ability to use TANF funds to provide employment services to noncustodial parents to help needy families provide for their children and rise out of poverty.
June, 2019
