A Better Resolution Reaching Child Support Agreements Between Parents in Vermont

This article describes the state of Vermont’s project to increase parent participation in the establishment and modification of orders using behavioral intervention techniques. Vermont received fund through the Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) grant for this project. The project had two goals: increase parent participation during establishment and modification and to increase the number of agreements reached outside of court that settled at least one issue in the case. The state changed its initial letter and outreach to encourage participation and as well as the meeting format. The new meetings were renamed Resolution Meetings and the format changed so that the meeting started with an exercise intended to focus the parents on the children’s needs. The data supports that this intervention was successful.