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 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.

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.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation issue brief covers ongoing Administration for Children and Families (ACF) research and evaluation projects regarding the Responsible Fatherhood grant program, noncustodial parents, and fathers and fatherhood in general. The brief also discusses prior ACF research and evaluation projects on fatherhood.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a joint Information Memorandum to all ACF programs emphasizing the importance of meaningful father involvement to better serve children and families. In particular, this memorandum highlights research findings that demonstrate the value of fathers’ involvement in the lives of their children and families, as well as identifies promising practices to promote and sustain fathers’ engagement, regardless of their physical location or extent of custodial participation.

This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse data set offers statistics on the living arrangements and characteristics of fathers, ages 15-44, including where the fathers live (relative to their children), as well as their race/ethnicity, education level, relationship/marital status, and demographic profile. This snapshot also illustrates the living arrangements of children by the marital/relationship status of parents, living arrangements of children by poverty level, and the percentage of children living in households headed by a grandparent.

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.

An Office of Family Assistance (OFA)-sponsored webinar on June 26, 2019 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET will feature a panel of programs using TANF funds to serve NCPs: the Ohio Fatherhood Commission, South Carolina Department of Fathers and Families, which fund community programs for fathers and families and advocate for “father-friendly” policies and practices in state agencies, and Fathers Support Center of St. Louis, which will share its experiences of directly engaging fathers to improve family and economic security. A presenter from the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement will also talk about programs for fathers and NCPs who have alternate funding sources. These programs and agencies participated in a scan to identify promising approaches to using TANF funds to serve noncustodial parents. The scan is being conducted by ASPIRE (Assisting Special Populations to Improve Readiness and Engagement), an OFA-sponsored project; an ASPIRE representative will share project highlights and moderate the panel.

This blogpost by the Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau highlights the celebration of National Foster Care Month 2019. This year’s theme is that foster care supports birth families when they most need it and provides care for children until their safe return home. The blogpost identifies resources and tips on building relationships among child welfare professionals, birth parents, and foster parents to support development of healthy and thriving children, as well as targeted supportive services implementation.

This Administration for Children and Families blog post from the Office of Child Support Enforcement Commissioner presents examples of how states are taking the lead in testing and implementing child support-led employment services. These projects, funded under the National Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration program, IV-D incentive funds, and waiver authority granted under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act (to support programs in Colorado, Ohio, and Wisconsin), include intensive case management, parenting peer support, and related employment services. A final evaluation report expected in April will demonstrate the positive outcomes of these programs that lead to increased capacity of noncustodial parents to support their children financially.