Implementing Sensible Debt Reduction Strategies
This fact sheet is part of the Centering Child Well-Being in Child Support Policy series from the Ascend at the Aspen Institute and Good+Foundation. This fact sheet describes policies in several states which reduce state-owed child support debt. Almost all states have policies in place to reduce state-owed arrears. These policies promote increased employment, higher child support payments, better performance for programs, and are essential to family well-being. These policies make sense when compared to the cost of trying to collect this debt.
Read MoreCentering Child Well-Being in Child Support Policy
The child support program has been fostering a culture change for the past few years from a program of strict enforcement to one that puts child well-being at its center. This paper frames a toolkit which explores recommended policies and practices to support the culture change. The toolkit includes information on family distribution, reducing arrears, right-sizing orders, income supports, family stabilization, and justice. The framing paper considers the importance of fathers, the history of the program, the effect of traditional policies, and the advantages of a realistic and evidence-based approach to program policy.
Read MorePromising Innovations and Pilots in the Child Support Field
The design of the child support program fails parents who are willing but unable to pay support. Several states have implemented innovative programs designed to address this issue. Highlighted programs include the San Francisco Child Support Debt Relief Pilot, Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services – Texas Start Smart, Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED) Evaluation, Colorado’s Department of Human Services’ Division of Child Support Service Two-Generation Approach, and the Families Forward Demonstration Grant.
Read MoreParental Debt and Child Well-Being: What Type of Debt Matters for Child Outcomes?
Child support arrears may have a negative impact on child well-being. In this study, the authors considered different types of debt owed by parents and the impact of debt on their children. Child support arrears are often a large amount of the debt owed by parent. Arrears have been shown to have negative consequences on those who owe them such as poor mental health, high stress, and lack of employability.
Read MoreReducing Child Support Debt in the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) Demonstration
The federal Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) demonstration project was a federally-funded grant to study the effectiveness of using procedural justice methods to enforce child support orders. This brief discusses strategies used to deal with child support arrears. Most participants in the PJAC program had accrued arrears.
Read MorePiling on Debt: The Intersections Between Child Support Arrears and Legal Financial Obligations
This article examines the whys and hows of child support arrears as an unmanageable debt. It takes a special look at the child support arrears that accumulate during a parent’s incarceration. The article identifies several factors that contribute to the build-up of arrears including support orders that the parent can’t reasonably pay and enforcement measures…
Read MoreRelief from Government-Owed Child Support Debt and Its Effects on Parents and Children
This study recaps the results of California’s pilot project granting noncustodial parents relief from their state-owed arrears. In California, a large portion of of child support payments are owed to the government. If a parent doesn’t make the full monthly payment, interest accrues on the unpaid amount. The state implemented a pilot project in San…
Read MoreFinal Implementation Findings from the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED) Evaluation
In FFY 2012, the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) funded a demonstration grant project, the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Demonstration (CSPED), to gauge the effectiveness of child support-led employment programming for noncustodial parents. Eight states received grants. This report documents the design and implementation of the different programs and identifies best practices for and…
Read MoreThe Limited Reach of the Child Support Enforcement System
This report examines the declining caseload in the national child support enforcement program in comparison to the population of child support-eligible families, which has remained unchanged over the past two decades. The report attributes most of the decline to the reduction in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) cases, which shrinks the pipeline of mandatory…
Read MoreHelping Noncustodial Parents Support Their Children: Early Implementation Findings from the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Demonstration (CSPED) Evaluation
In 2012, OCSE competitively awarded grants under the Noncustodial Parent Child Support Demonstration (CSPED) Project to child support agencies in eight states to provide enhanced child support, employment, parenting, and case management services to noncustodial parents who are having difficulty meeting their child support obligations. Also in 2012, OCSE competitively awarded a cooperative agreement (under…
Read MoreColorado Compromise and Cooperation: Project Evaluation Final Report
The Colorado Compromise and Cooperation Project, which operated in Denver and Larimer counties, was designed to develop, implement, and test procedures to promote payment of current support and/or arrears among noncustodial parents (NCPs) who owe back-due child support, reduce child support arrears balances, and close cases, where appropriate. Each county targeted NCPs with arrears who…
Read MoreDebt Compromise Programs: Program Designs and Child Support Outcomes in Five Locations
To generate empirical information on the populations served in actual debt compromise programs, the treatments they receive and the outcomes of their participation as measured by their debt levels and payment behaviors, CPR collected and analyzed information on 688 individuals enrolled in debt compromise programs in four states — California, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota — and…
Read MoreLow Income Fathers and Child Support Debt: A Primer for Financial Literacy and Fatherhood Service Providers
This is a link to a document that is intended to provide very basic information about poor noncustodial parents and their contact and connection with the child support system. http://www.cffpp.org/publications/Child%20Support%20Debt%202011.pdf
Read MoreDollars and Sense: Improving the Determination of Child Support Obligations for Low Income Fathers, Mothers, and Children
This is a link to a report on the concerns of low-income parents gained from discussions of participants in the Center on Fathers, Family, and Public Policy’s Common Ground Project. The report also includes recommendations for public policy to address these concerns in the areas of family law and policy. The report encompasses an overview…
Read MoreHow Do Child Support Order Amounts Affect Payments and Compliance?
This study examines the primary strategy used to prevent arrears growth from the time a court order was established: setting appropriate orders. The Research and Reports Unit from the Orange County, California Department of Child Support Services analyzed 102,332 California child support cases in order to determine the appropriate support amount to be set relative…
Read MoreUnderstanding Payment Barriers to Improve Child Support Compliance
The Research and Reporting Unit of the Orange County Department of Child Support Services (CSS) produced a multivariate examination of the number and type of barriers that prevent Non-Custodial Parents (NCPs) from making consistent child support payments. The study determined the major barriers associated with low payment compliance. NCPs predicted to yield low compliance are…
Read MoreFactors Associated with Nonpayment of Child Support
Despite the employment of an automated enforcement system, recent statistics show that only half of non-custodial parents pay the full amount of what they owe. Understanding the reasons for noncompliance is critical in improving the child support enforcement system and providing suitable financial support to custodial-parent families. This is a link to an IRP report…
Read MoreOvercoming the Barriers to Collection Final Report
This report summarizes findings of a Washington State Child Support research project entitled Child Support Performance Measurements: A Test for Working Hard-to-Collect Cases. The goal of the project was to find out whether increased collections on challenging cases would improve performance in the five federally measured areas.
Read MoreChild Support Arrears: Compilation of Three Reports
This report is a compilation of three reports: New Approaches to Child Support Arrears: A Survey of State Policies and Practices (March 2001); Understanding Child Support Arrears in Colorado (March 2001); Dropping Debt: An Evaluation of Colorado’s Debt and Retroactive Child Support Initiative (April 2001). The research was conducted by the Division of Child Support…
Read MoreAn Evaluation of the Colorado Arrears Forgiveness Demonstration Project: Final Report
This final report covers a demonstration project in two Colorado Counties in which non-custodial parents (NCP) were offered opportunities for forgiveness of state debts in exchange for regular support payments over a ten month period. This research was conducted by the Division of Child Support Services with the Colorado Department of Human Services.
Read MoreExamining Child Support Arrears in California: The Collectibility Study
This report was prepared in response to a mandate from the California State Legislature to analyze how much of the $14.4 billion in child support arrears owed statewide in March 2000 was realistically collectible.
Read MoreDetermining the Composition and Collectibility of Child Support Arrearages: Volume II –the Case Assessment
The second of two reports, this Report examines the history of the non-custodial parent’s (NCP) involvement with the child support program, and reviewed orders calculated using the Washington State child support guidelines, the quality of work performed by the field staff, payment and debt records, and identified NCP barriers to payment.
Read MoreDetermining the Composition and Collectibility of Child Support Arrearages: Volume I – the Longitudinal Analysis
The first of two reports, this Report examines the composition of arrearages and summarizes the findings of the study regarding the correlation between a non-custodial parent’s (NCP) earnings level and the NCP’s accumulated arrearages.
Read MoreArrears Leveraging Pilot Project: Outcomes Achieved & Lessons Learned
This report evaluates the ALPP, Maryland’s Arrears Leveraging Pilot Project, designed to encourage low-income, non-paying child support obligors to pay their current support by rewarding consistent payment with reduction or elimination of state-owed arrears.
Read MoreThe Intersection of Incarceration & Child Support: A Snapshot of Maryland’s Caseload
This is a report on the population of incarcerated parents with child support cases and arrearages.
Read MoreStrategies for Preventing the Accumulation of Child Support Arrears and Managing Existing Arrears: An Update
Many states are changing their policies to reduce the amount of arrears that will accumulate in the future. Several states are also developing programs and approaches to existing cases so that some of the existing debt can be dealt with. The link is to a paper describing some of these state efforts.
Read MoreAssessing Child Support Arrears in Nine Large States and the Nation
In September 2007, child support arrears that had accumulated across the nation had reached $107 billion. The purpose of this report is to provide information about the individuals who owe child support arrears, estimate how much arrears are likely to be collected, and identify the factors that have led to their rapid growth.
Read MoreState Use of Debt Compromise to Reduce Arrearages
This is a report on the prevalence, characteristics, and outcomes of debt compromise programs used by State child support enforcement (CSE) agencies to reduce child support arrearages.
Read MoreConfronting Child Support Debt: A Baseline Profile of Maryland Arrears
This report provides data on the composition of child support arrearages in Maryland.
Read MoreCalifornia Compromise of Arrears Program Report to State Legislature
In response to a dramatic growth in child support arrears in the 1990’s and a study of the arrears by the Urban Institute, the California Legislature enacted a law allowing compromise of arrears when debt is owed the state. The legislation also required the Department of Child Support Services to report back to the Legislature…
Read MorePreventing Child Support Arrears in Texas by Improving Front-end Processes
In 2003, the Texas Office of Attorney General fundamentally altered the process of establishing child support orders, going from a highly judicial process of establishing orders to a process that establishes most orders administratively. It also substantially improved the issuance of income withholding orders. This report describes the implementation of these reforms and measures their…
Read MoreColorado Early Intervention and Simplified Modification Project
This report covers Colorado’s Section 1115 grant to increase child support payments and reduce arrears through early intervention and modification of support orders in two counties, Denver and Pueblo. The research was conducted by the Division of Child Support Services with the Colorado Department of Human Services.
Read MoreArrears Stratification in Washington State: Developing Operational Protocols in a Data Mining Environment: Outcome Study
This report to Washington State Child Support Division by ECONorthwest summarizes the results of a grant to Washington State to conduct and study arrears stratification. It includes lessons learned and best practices.
Read MoreThe Families Forward Program: Final Evaluation Report
This is a link to the final evaluation report on a child support debt reduction demonstration program, Families Forward, in Racine County, Wisconsin representing a collaboration among three entities: the Wisconsin Bureau of Child Support, the Racine County Child Support Department, and the Institute for Research on Poverty. The program aimed to reduce child support…
Read MoreChild Support Enforcement: Incarceration as the Last Resort Penalty For Nonpayment of Support
Using jail as an option for nonpayment of child support has many implications: Are low-income non-custodial parents who are unable to fulfill their child support obligations penalized for being poor? Should non-custodial parents charged with civil contempt of court be entitled to an attorney? Should non-custodial parents whose only offense is nonpayment of child support…
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