On March 14, 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a Dear Colleague letter to state and local courts to announce new resources. The purpose of the resources is to assist state and local efforts to reform practices for assessment of ability to pay as part of enforcement efforts to collect fees, fines, and child support. The resources can support the ongoing work of judges, courts, policymakers, program administrators, and other stakeholders in ensuring justice for all individuals, regardless of financial circumstances.

Child Support and TANF programs work with many of the same clients and others, including noncustodial parents, who face similar and overlapping needs. Such needs may include increasing employment skills; removing barriers to employment; and addressing non-compliance with, or ability to pay, child support orders. There are a variety of ways these programs can work together to best support the families they serve. In this webinar, state programs shared processes for establishing and maintaining effective collaborations with key partners, enhanced services to incentivize participation and completion, recruitment and retention strategies, and other lessons learned. The webinar was held on August 23, 2016, from 1:00-2:30 p.m. ET.

This report by the Urban Institute describes findings of the Work Support Strategies (WSS) initiative, which helps states improve their service delivery, run programs more effectively, and modernize. Through technical assistance, grants, and peer learning, WSS aids state programs in Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. This report discusses business process redesign efforts undertaken by these states and the outcomes of these efforts.

For many families, the end of the school year can mean losing access to important sources of food and nutrition. Though some programs operate during the summer to provide free and reduced-price meals for children, they typically serve fewer children than the National School Lunch Program does during the academic year. This article from Child Trends examines ways to address this gap.

This short 40-second video from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) shows how Cuyahoga County, Ohio partnered with OPRE and MDRC to explore using behavioral science insights to increase child support collections. The findings suggest that low-cost, low-effort interventions, such as mailings and text messages informed by behavioral science, can improve child support outcomes.

The Office of Family Assistance developed this guide to help state TANF agencies recognize the important role they have in identifying and serving families experiencing homelessness and families at risk of homelessness. It is intended to help states better assess for homelessness and housing instability during intake and formulate cohesive strategies with state and local homelessness providers and systems, such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-funded Continuums of Care (CoC).