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. These changes led to the creation of Vermont Office of Child Support Services “Resolution Meetings” that parents attended instead of court-based Case Manager conferences as a result of previous non-compliance.

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.

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. The training includes guidance in the principles of procedural justice and its application, the dispute resolution process, mechanisms to respond to domestic violence, and how to utilize trauma-informed practices.

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. The “personalized” approach aims to lessen distrust which reduces compliance among noncustodial parents and calls for a more cooperative relationship with the noncustodial parent to include: a specialized unit of caseworkers, pre-service outreach phone calls, a follow-up letter to parents not reached by phone, and a new cover sheet that is included in the child support order.

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. While short-term implementation costs outweighed benefits, it was expected that there would be more benefits than costs in the longer term.

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.

The Information Memorandum also notes that state and tribal child support agencies that seek waivers must also utilize new funds - rather than existing resources - to cover their share of the cost of the pilot activities. With this Information Memorandum in place, the Office of Child Support Enforcement will provide technical assistance on how to apply for waivers and will be creating a toolkit of resources for assessment, design, and development of employment service programs for noncustodial parents.

This Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation infographic illustrates policy variations for child support cooperation requirements and identifies characteristics of custodial and noncustodial parents receiving SNAP and child care subsidies under these new requirements.