Setting Realistic and Accurate Child Support Orders
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 examples of effective state policies for establishing and modifying child support orders for low-income parents. Two of the strongest predictors of compliance with a child support order is the paying parent’s income and the amount of support compared to that income. Orders not aligned with a parent’s ability to pay cause problems for states, too.
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 MoreState Strategies for Improving Child Support Outcomes for Incarcerated Parents
Right-sizing child support orders has been a big point of discussion for child support. This includes appropriate orders for parents who are incarcerated. The federal office of child support passed new rules in 2016 that require notice to parents who will be incarcerated for more than 180 days of their right to a request a…
Read MoreSimplify, Notify, Modify: Using Behavioral Insights to Increase Incarcerated Parents’ Requests for Child Support Modifications
This report, part of the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project, presents findings from a behavioral intervention, developed in collaboration with the Washington State Division of Child Support (DCS), to increase the number of incarcerated noncustodial parents in Washington who apply for modifications to reduce the amount of their child support orders. Incarcerated noncustodial…
Read MoreLow-income and Never-Married Families: Service and Support at the Intersection of Family Court and Child Support Agency Systems
This report describes the challenges child support enforcement agencies face with respect to the adversarial nature of their processes, and the poverty, unemployment, and other barriers to the economic security of poor and never-married parents who comprise the child support caseload.
Read MoreReasonable Child Support Orders: The Relationship between Income and Collections
This is a study conducted by the University of Maryland School of Social Work. The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) has recognized the importance of creating support orders that balance a custodial parent’s need for support and a noncustodial parent’s ability to pay it. The authors conducted a multivariate linear regression utilizing a…
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 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 MoreReducing Child Support Default Orders in Colorado
The project explored strategies that child support agencies might use to increase non-custodial parent (NCP) participation in proceedings to establish child support orders and reduce default orders. The research was conducted by the Division of Child Support Services with the Colorado Department of Human Services.
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 MoreImputed Income Among NCPs: Characteristics and Payment Outcomes
This report looks at cases with imputed income using a random sample of public (IV-D) child support cases in the Maryland Caseload. The study examines payment outcomes over a two-year period for cases in which noncustodial parent income appears to be imputed. Then, this information is compared to payment outcomes in cases where actual income…
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