The San Francisco Department of Child Support Services (SF DCSS) has piloted a voluntary program that explores an alternative to monthly cash payments, allowing parents to meet their child support obligations through agreed-upon, in-kind contributions. This approach acknowledges how some parents already contribute to their children and empowers them to flexibly address their families’ changing needs. It is modeled after the Yurok Tribe’s child support system, which allows parents to support their children in ways beyond monetary support, including providing diapers, fish, firewood, and child care. This Urban Institute fact sheet summarizes the implementation process of this pilot as an introduction for other counties that may be considering offering in-kind child support alternatives.

In February 2024, the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) announced a new rule - Elimination of Tribal Non-Federal Share Requirement (ACF-OCSS-AT-24-02) - which supports the growth of the tribal child support program by eliminating burdensome costs. It will make it easier for existing and new tribal child support programs to access the funding they need to operate. This OCSS resource announces the new rule and highlights the impact it will have on tribal child support programs.

Today, 60 federally recognized sovereign tribes and tribal consortia in 22 states implement Title IV-D tribal child support programs. This Institute for Research on Poverty literature review provides an overview of laws and policies that shape tribal child support programs; investigates the demographic and economic contexts of tribal communities; describes state and tribal program implementation; summarizes the small body of academic research regarding tribal child support programs and outcomes; and concludes with opportunities for future investigation.

States, counties, and tribes are modernizing their child support programs through holistic, family-centered policies and practices that build partnerships with parents instead of adversarial relationships. They go beyond collecting money to address underlying reasons for nonpayment, ensure that children benefit from payments, and facilitate effective co-parenting. Family-centered child support policies put children where they belong: at the center of child support policymaking. The Centering Child Well-Being in Child Support Policy toolkit, developed by Ascend at Aspen Institute, features new analysis of state child support director survey data. The toolkit offers innovations on: 

1. Family Distribution,
2. Reducing Arrears,
3. Right-Sizing Orders,
4. Income Supports,
5. Supporting Healthy Co-Parenting, and 
6. Providing Equal Access to Justice.

The Knowledge Works initiative from the Office of Child Support Services helps child support agencies implement or enhance a noncustodial parent employment program by highlighting the work of successful programs in other jurisdictions. This compendium of resources can help assess programs, plan, implement, and determine funding sources to develop child support-led noncustodial parent employment programs.

This compendium includes overviews of existing model programs; planning tools, policy resources, and funding guidance; resources that show “What Works”; sample documents, forms, and templates; and assistance with establishing a noncustodial parent employment program.

The Native Wellness Institute is hosting a virtual training on July 16 and 17, 2024. The training will focus on providing an understanding of trauma on the brain, on behavior, how it plays out in the workplace and community, and how to begin to address trauma and healing in your community. The training will also include how programs in their policies and delivery of services can be trauma and healing informed.

The training is intended for tribal and urban workers representing health and social service programs, tribal leaders, TANF staff, behavioral health, administrative staff, and others wanting to learn about trauma on the brain, behavior, and policies. There is a fee required for participation.

WorkForce GPS is hosting a virtual event on June 18, 2024, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET. Presenters from South Carolina and Massachusetts will discuss their implementation strategies of bringing services to rural workers and employers, which has long been a challenge in the workforce development system.

The Child Welfare Community Collaborations (CWCC) initiative is designed to mobilize communities to develop and evaluate multi-system collaboratives that address local barriers and provide a continuum of services to prevent child abuse and neglect. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) brief describes the approaches to collaborative partnerships used in CWCC projects and is one of a series of products the evaluation team will produce as part of the cross-site process evaluation. Throughout this brief, OPRE explores the community collaborations (i.e., “partnerships”) that were part of the foundation of the CWCC initiative’s approach to preventing child abuse and neglect.

Registered apprenticeship programs are industry-vetted and approved by either the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship (OA) or a federally recognized State Apprenticeship Agency (SAA) to ensure they meet criteria to maintain quality. This Urban Institute brief explores differences in the states’ apprenticeship approval timelines, number of programs registered, and how the occupations of registered programs vary by registration agency. Additionally, it explores differences between OA states and two types of SAA states: those in which the state agency has sole approval authority and those in which apprenticeship councils can approve programs.

On May 31, 2024, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced a proposed rule to give state child support programs the flexibility to use federal funding to provide employment and training services for eligible noncustodial parents. Providing employment and training services to unemployed and underemployed parents who have child support obligations has proven to benefit children and their parents. These types of programs result in increased employment rates and earnings as well as the amount, number, and regularity of child support payments. This ACF press announcement explains how the proposed rule would allow state child support programs to use federal funding for services such as skills assessments, occupational training, and job placement. The deadline to submit comments via Regulations.gov is July 30, 2024.