From Grant-Funded Study to Enduring Practice: How Agencies in the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt Demonstration Continued Their Work After Research Ended
The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) grant tested the application of procedural justice principles to child support enforcement, specifically to situations where a parent was about to be referred for a contempt action. This paper discusses the decisions grantees made about continuing to use the principles after the end of the grant period. All…
Read MorePerceptions of Fairness in Child Support
Many child support agencies have begun to apply the principles of procedural justice to practices and procedures. The idea being that customers who perceive they have been treated fairly are more likely to have a positive perception of the child support program. For this report, researchers interviewed parents, child support agency leaders, and employees on their perceptions of fairness in the program Research questions included how parents became involved with the program, what aspects of child support practices are perceived as fair or unfair, what are agencies doing to improve fairness, and what would a fair program look like.
Read MoreAssociations Between Problematic Substance Use and Child Support Order Compliance
Substance abuse is a well-documented barrier to payment of a child support order in that it a parent’s ability to pay and willingness to pay. This study considers the relationship between child support compliance and problematic substance abuse. The researchers found problematic substance abuse affects compliance with child support. It suggests supports for these NCPs including programs to connect NCPs to treatment resources and assistance with modifications.
Read MoreSetting 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 MoreImplementing 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 MoreShared Placement, Child Support Payments, and Sharing of Child-Related Expenses: Overview and Mother’s Perception of Fairness
More families are entering into shared custody arrangements. Child support and the sharing of expenses is different with these arrangements. This report researches the perception of mother’s on the fairness of child support and expense-sharing in both traditional and shared custody situations. The research showed mothers in shared custody arrangements were more satisfied with both parents’ overall contributions to child costs. The report notes communication between the parents is critical and supports should be in place to assist parents when issues arise.
Read MoreEnsuring Families Receive Child Support Payments
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 gives examples of state policies that direct support directly to families rather than the government. Research shows that families use this support to pay for essentials such as food and clothing and non-custodial parents actually pay support when they know it goes directly to their families. Ultimately, both the families and the child support program benefit from family pass-though and distribution policies.
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 MoreVoluntary Paternity Affidavit Program 2021 Hospital Survey Analysis
With the goal of increasing its paternity establishment performance measure, the state of Iowa conducted a survey to gather information about the hospital-based paternity acknowledgement program and reasons for the rejection of voluntary acknowledgements. This report gathers information on five different areas: the demographics of professionals who assist with voluntary paternity establishment at the hospitals, information about patient education, the materials and resources used during education, potential areas of improvement on the education process; and reports related to rejections of voluntary acknowledgements.
Read MoreCharacteristics of Complex Families in Maryland’s Child Support Caseload
A complex family is a family in which a parent has children with more than one partner. Complex families are growing in Maryland’s child support caseload. These families include non-custodial parents with multiple support orders and parents who are custodians and non-custodians. To better serve and understand them, Maryland studies the characteristics of complex families; their demographics, economic resources, and child support characteristics and outcomes; and the impact of child support paid or received on parents’ earnings.
Read MoreApplying Human-Centered Design to Human Services: Pilot Study Findings
Human-Centered Design (HCD) is way of developing solutions to service delivery challenges with the end-user in mind. The Administration for Children and Families recently studies the application of HCD principles to its human services programs. The Washington State Division of Child Support was one of three pilot sites. Washington wanted to apply HCD to improve its modification request process.
Read MoreParents’ Reflections on Their Experiences with the Child Support Program in the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt Demonstration
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement funded the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) grant to explore the use of the principles of procedural justice during enforcement with the intent of improving the regular receipt of child support payments. This brief compiles information received during interviews of parents who received PJAC-informed services and parents who received regular services.
Read MoreA Comparison of Approaches Informed by Procedural Justice and Traditional Enforcement in the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt Demonstration
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement funded the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) grant to explore the use of the principles of procedural justice during enforcement with the intent of improving the regular receipt of child support payments. Parents in the selected agencies were randomly assigned to one of two groups: one receiving PJAC services and one that applied traditional enforcement methods. This report compares the experiences of these two groups.
Read MoreA Helping Hand over Heavy Hand: Child Support Enforcement in the Era of COVID-19
The COVID-10 pandemic made enforcing child support orders, already difficult, even harder. This article explores the decisions made about how and when to enforce an order during the pandemic and the factors that influenced those decisions. The authors interviewed child support agency leadership, frontline workers, attorneys, and judges or family court administrators from five Wisconsin counties.
Read MoreCentering Child Well-Being in Child Support Policy
Child support policies should be designed to maximize child well-being. This brief, part of the Centering Child Well-Being in Child Support Policy series, examines policies to increase the child support that goes to families, remove barriers to payment, increase job retention, support father engagement, and encourage co-parenting.
Read MoreNoncustodial Parents and the GIG Economy
Collecting child support from parents who work in the gig economy is difficult, and the number of parents working in the gig economy is increasing. This brief uses Census Bureau information to define the gig workforce and the number of noncustodial parents who are working in the gig economy.
Read MoreProcedural Justice in the Child Support Process An Implementation Guide
Using lessons learned during the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) grant, this guide provides child support agencies detailed instructions on how to implement procedural justice-informed practices. The PJAC grant funded projects designed to improve outcomes for parents who were on the verge of a contempt referral using the principles of procedural justice.
Read MoreProcedural Justice in the Child Support Process Lessons from an Implementation Study of the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt Demonstration
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement funded the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) grant to fund projects which implemented the principles of procedural justice in working with parents facing contempt. This report analyzes implementation of the PJAC model. The model includes a case review, outreach and engagement, case conference, case action plan, and case management.
Read MoreReconciling Remote Learning with Imputed Income for Custodial Parents
Imputing income to custodial parents has become an issue during the pandemic. Many custodial parents left their jobs to care for children who were learning remotely. The author argues courts shouldn’t impute income under these circumstances. Instead, courts should exercise discretion and deviate from the guidelines or apply a good faith-best interests standard.
Read MoreDo Carrots Work Better than Sticks? Results from the National Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration
The results of the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED) grant may have been modest, but these types of programs will move the child support program forward. CSPED tested the effectiveness of alternative methods of enforcing child support orders: adjusting orders, reducing punitive enforcement, and offering employment services to parents.
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 MoreWho is Not Paying Child Support?
The reasons behind noncompliance with a child support order are many and varied. This report updates existing research on the reasons for nonpayment of current support using a data sample drawn from 21 counties in Wisconsin. The report considers how changes in the order amount, employment status, and incarceration negatively affect a parent’s ability to pay support.
Read MoreDemographic and Socioeconomic Characteristics of Nonresident Parents
More than 9.7 million parents in the United States don’t live with their children. Recognizing the important role nonresident parents play in their children’s life, policymakers requested data on nonresident parents and suggestions for beneficial policies. The data in this report, obtained from the 2018 Survey of Income and Program Participation, captured demographic, relationship, and economic information.
Read MoreIntegrating Procedural Justice Principles into Child Support Case Management
The Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt Demonstration (PJAC) grant studied the effect of applying the principles of procedural justice to child support cases in which a non-paying parents qualified for a contempt action. This brief sets out information gained from the grant case managers about their experience working with the parents. Implementation of this model required a rethinking of the provision of child support services. The case managers had a smaller caseload, but the services were intensive.
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 MoreTask 11: States’ Child Support Guidelines for Children with Disabilities
This report explores the issue of setting child support for children with special needs. Estimates show an increase in the number of children with special needs over the last few decades. The children’s needs are wide and varied, which can make the cost to raise these children high. A parent may need to provide full-time care, which limits the parent’s ability to earn.
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 MoreConnecting Parents to Occupational Training: A Partnership Between Child Support Agencies and Local Service Providers
The federal Families First Demonstration Grant considered new ways of increasing the ability of parents who can’t meet their monthly child support obligation. Specifically, it integrated employment services and job training into local child support programs. In exchange for participating, certain enforcement remedies were stayed.
Read MoreCivil Contempt of Court for Child Support Noncompliance at the PJAC Demonstration Sites
The federal Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) demonstration project was a federally-funded project to study the effectiveness of using procedural justice methods to enforce child support orders. Civil contempt is a possible enforcement tool. This brief considers the application of procedural justice methods to the contempt process. Contempt is an enforcement tools of last resort and is historically adversarial. Several of the PJAC sites worked with the courts to soften the adversarial nature in an attempt to make the process feel fair and to ensure parents had their questions answered.
Read MoreNegotiating Race and Racial Inequality in Family Court
This article explores the role of race in court proceedings to enforce a child support obligation. The researchers found courts fail to recognize the role of race in father’s ability to support his child. Black fathers are getting hit from all directions: by a labor market that discriminates against them and by a court system with unrealistic expectations. Fathers are required to pay their child support obligation. Many meet the obligation through wage withholding from their job. For Black fathers, racism in the labor market prevents them from finding and maintaining a job that allows them to pay support.
Read MoreProcedural Justice Principles in the Midst of a Major Disruption
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) funded the Procedural Justice Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) grant to explore the application of procedural justice principles to enforcing child support orders. The grant targets noncustodial parents who are about to be referred for contempt for not paying their child support but have the ability to pay. This brief addresses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the project sites and the parents.
Read MoreWorking Toward a Resolution Facilitating Dialogue Between Parents Using Principles of Procedural Justice
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) funded the Procedural Justice Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) grant to explore the application of procedural justice principles to enforcing child support orders. The grant targets noncustodial parents who are about to be referred for contempt. This brief explores the use of case conferences to develop a case…
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 MoreWho Is at Risk for Contempt of Court for Child Support Noncompliance?
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement funded the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) demonstration grant to study the effect of applying procedural justice principles to child support cases. Specifically, the grant studied NCPs with the ability to pay but were about to be referred for contempt due to nonpayment. This report analyzes the…
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 MoreChild Support Enforcement-Led Employment Services for Noncustodial Parents
This report examines the issues relative to providing employment services for noncustodial parents (NCP) through the child support program (CSE). The report acknowledges the link between employed NCPs and the ability of the CSE program to income withhold, the most effective tool for collecting child support payments.
Read MoreAccess and Visitation Program Update FY 2018
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 provided funding for the Access and Visitation program in 54 states and territories. Any program under this grant is intended to promote safe visitation between children and their parents. This report summarizes the key takeaways provided by the grant recipients for FY 2018 in the…
Read MoreTools for Better Practices and Better Outcomes: The Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) Project
he federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) funded the Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS)demonstration grant to explore the application of behavioral science principles to operational challenges in child support services. This report summarizes the outcomes and lessons learned from each intervention. The eight grantees implemented interventions designed to address barriers to the…
Read MoreMeetings and Reminders Testing Approaches to Increase Child Support Payments in Colorado
A long-standing issue in the child support program is the lag time between order entry and the first child support payment. It can be attributed to the wait in getting income withholding in place. Many parents don’t realize that not paying during this window can build up arrears. The Colorado Division of Child Support Services…
Read MoreAn Examination of the Use and Effectiveness of Child Support Enforcement Tools in Six States
The authors of this brief studied child support enforcement practices in six different states. The states had a wide range of caseload sizes and collection percentages for both current support and arrears and had different program structures. The study found five areas where practices varied: the use of judicial or administrative procedures; the use of…
Read MoreA 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…
Read MoreIncorporating Strategies Informed by Procedural Justice into Child Support Services: Training Approaches Applied in the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) Demonstration
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) funded the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) Demonstration Grant to explore ways to integrate procedural justice principles into child support enforcement. Six sites were awarded grants. This article shares the lessons learned with respect to training the employees at the six sites.
Read MorePersonalized Outreach Testing Early Parent Engagement in Washington’s Child Support Program
The state of Washington applied Behavioral Intervention techniques to see if it could raise parental engagement in the order establishment process. Data showed that a high number of new orders were set by default, without parent involvement, and that the payments received in the first six months of these orders were minimal. Washington designed an…
Read MoreImproving Child Support Enforcement Outcomes with Online Dispute Resolution
Part of the 2019 Trends in State Courts publication from the National Center for State Courts, this report summarizes Ottawa County, Michigan’s efforts to use Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) tools to improve child support outcomes for families. In 2016, Ottawa County implemented ODR tools with the goal of reducing the number of contempt hearings and improving order…
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 MoreChild Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED): Findings from the Benefit-Cost Analysis
In March 2019, the authors released the Final Impact Findings from the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration Grant. This report summarizes the benefits of the program relative to the program costs. The researchers studied the benefits and costs from four perspectives: the government, custodial parents and children, noncustodial parents; and society as a whole.
Read MoreFinal Impact Findings from the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED): Technical Supplement
In March 2019, the authors released the Final Impact Findings from the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration Grant. This report supplements that report with further information on the evaluation design, analytic methods, the variables used to assess the types of services received by the participants and includes additional impact results.
Read MoreFinal Impact Findings from the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED)
The Office of Child Support Enforcement sponsored the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration Grant to study the effect of child support-led employment programs on the payment of regular child support. Under this grant, noncustodial parents (NCP) were divided into two groups: one received no special services and the second received special services in the…
Read MoreStreamline or Specialize: Increasing Child Support Order Modification Review Completion in Ohio
Two counties in Ohio, Cuyahoga and Franklin, used behavioral strategies to raise the number of parents completing the modification review process. Using the existing method, parents were requesting a review of their support order but weren’t completing the process. These two counties designed interventions that would increase the number of completed requests.
Read MoreExplainers and Case Managers: Engaging California Parents During Child Support Order Establishment
Two California counties used Behavioral Intervention strategies to reduce the number of default child support orders. Parents in California were being served for paternity cases with a service complaint packet, which contained long and confusing documents. The counties were finding that most parents didn’t respond to service, which led to default orders.
Read MoreIllicit Substance Use and Child Support: An Exploratory Study
The authors of this study reviewed literature and interviewed professionals about the effect of substance use disorders (SUD) on the payment of child support.
Read MoreA New Response to Child Support Noncompliance
Research shows that parents are more concerned with being treated fairly than with the actual outcome of a child support case. With this principle in mind, the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) selected five sites to participate in the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) project, which will explore the application of procedural…
Read MoreIndependent Contractors and Nontraditional Workers: Implications for the Child Support Program
An increasing number of parents are employed in non-traditional jobs where income withholding is not available. This article identifies issues for the child support program with the “gig economy.” The research yielded three key findings: the larger number of parents employed in this manner means less consistent child support payments, automated enforcement tools have limited…
Read MoreStart Smart: Using Behavioral Strategies to Increase Initial Child Support Payments in Texas
As a recipient of the Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) grant, the Texas Office of the Attorney General implemented a project designed to increase the number of child support payments made during the first three months after order entry. For most cases, it takes about this amount of time for income withholding to…
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 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 MoreActual Earnings and Payment Outcomes Among Obligors with Imputed Income
Income imputation results in a financial support order, which is necessary to ensure that children receive support from both parents. But what are the payment outcomes in these situations? This report uses the sample of orders from Maryland’s 2011 to 2014 case-level guidelines review to assess outcomes of imputation on payment compliance. It compares obligors…
Read MoreBehavioral Strategies to Increase Engagement in Child Support
A person who comes into the child support office to accept service voluntarily is actively engaging in the child support process. In doing so, the person benefits from reduced fees, a greater voice in the legal process, and a better understanding of the way an order is established. The child support program benefits from increased…
Read MoreNudges for Child Support: Applying Behavioral Insights to Increase Collections
The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project, sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and led by MDRC, uses a behavioral economics lens to examine programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the…
Read MoreChild Support Resource Guide for State IV-D Directors
This Guide was developed by OCSE as a reference to on-line resources useful to state child support directors, including links to federal laws governing the child support program and key federal regulations and policy documents. It also provides brief overviews of various components of the program. The federal OCSE organization chart is included along with…
Read MoreBehavioral Intervention Materials Compendium
The Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project team, led by MDRC and sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) of the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, partnered with eight state and local agencies to design and implement 15 behavioral interventions, involving close…
Read MoreAn Evaluation of the Kansas Child Support Savings Initiative
The Child Support Savings Initiative was developed and implemented by Kansas to help parents who owe child support pay off debt while also saving for their children’s higher education. Parents who meet their current support obligations and make deposits into college savings plans, known as 529 accounts, receive matching reductions in their child support debts.…
Read MoreChild Support Cases without Support Orders: Three-Year Outcomes
The authors reviewed a sample of cases in the Maryland child support caseload for which child support orders had not been established and examined the outcome of these cases over a three-year time period. They found that 60.9% of these cases closed within three years; 21.6% had established support orders with a median amount of…
Read MoreNudging Changes in Human Services: Final Report of the BIAS Project
This is the final report (2017-23) of the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project conducted by MRDC under a contract with the federal Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in which 15 state and local agencies participated. The project consisted of identifying problems that are appropriate for behavioral interventions, designing interventions, and conducting…
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 MoreNonmarital Births: An Overview
This report by the Congressional Research Service analyzes the trends in nonmarital childbearing, discusses some of the characteristics of unwed mothers, addresses some issues involving the fathers of children born outside of marriage, and offers some concluding remarks. It also contains a brief discussion of paternity establishment within the IV-D program, and its positive impact…
Read MoreThe Story Behind the Numbers: Focused on Performance
This paper describes the dramatic improvements in performance that the child support program has made since the enactment of its federally mandated performance system in 1998. The growth in child support collections is reviewed, highlighting three factors that influence collections: (1) program investments; (2) employment and earnings of parents who owe child support; and (3)…
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 MorePatrick v. Patrick (Oklahoma 2016)
Child support may only be awarded for an adult disabled child if there is a causal relationship between the disability and the child’s inability to support him or herself. In this case, the mother could not be ordered to support an adult child who had entered treatment for drug and alcohol abuse. Assuming that substance…
Read MoreResearch Brief: Child Support, Parenting Time, and Safety Concerns
This is an August 2015 research brief, prepared by the Center for Policy Research for the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, describing the policy implications of legislation requiring parenting time orders, identifying implementation questions and alternatives analyzing current practices in family violence safeguards, and providing expertise on next steps for identifying and developing family…
Read MoreThe Impact of Child Support Laws on the Measured Outcomes of Children
Published in the Journal of Legal Issues and Cases in Business Volume 3 – December, 2014, this article documents the results of research performed by the authors in which they tested the hypotheses that 1) children whose families have more money have better outcomes; and 2) states with harsher punishments for failure to pay child…
Read MoreHealthy Babies — Healthy Relationships: A Project to Promote Financial and Medical Security for Children-Final Report
In the Healthy Babies—Healthy Relationships Project (HBHR), the Center for Policy Research (CPR) experimented with the delivery of information about paternity and child support to expectant and new parents in two settings that serve low-income and never-married parents: (1) Centering Pregnancy (Centering) Programs, which replace conventional, individual, prenatal care with a group centered model that…
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 MoreRoundtable on Domestic Violence: Child Support Program and Parenting Time Orders: Research, Practice & Partnership
This document contains the agenda, speaker biographies, and materials for a round-table discussion convened by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement under Contract with the Center for Policy Research. The purpose of the roundtable was to identify methods and strategies for addressing domestic violence in child support cases where parenting time is being established.…
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 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 MoreOperation Access Evaluation Report
The State of Colorado received a three-year federal grant to improve child support services for military families. El Paso County was chosen as the pilot site due to its large military population on four installations. This project, known as Operation Access, was designed to improve collaboration and communication between the local child support services office…
Read MoreA Portrait of Father Involvement Three Years after Non-Marital Birth
This is a link to a report that provides an overview of the intersection of in-hospital Acknowledgment of paternity (AOP), formal child support, informal support, parental relationships, and father involvement. Analyses presented throughout this report are primarily descriptive in nature and aim to give a broad understanding of the characteristics associated with each topic.
Read MoreIn-Hospital Acknowledgement of Paternity Literature Review
This is a link to a literature review that summarizes what is known about paternity establishment, and the association between paternity establishment and the use of child support services. It is divided into three sections: (1) background and importance of paternity establishment, (2) factors associated with the use of child support services and provision of informal support,…
Read MoreDads on the Dotted Line: A Look at the In-Hospital Paternity Establishment Process
This is a link to a working paper that examines the process of voluntary paternity establishment from two perspectives—that of unmarried parents and that of birth registrars certified to administer the process. The study focuses on the context of the establishment process itself rather than the characteristics of those who establish paternity or do not.…
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 MoreIn Hospital Paternity Acknowledgment: A Portrait of Father Involvement and Support in the First Three Years after a Non-Marital Birth
This is a link to a report prepared by the Texas Child and Family Research Partnership for the Texas Office of the Attorney General, Child Support Division (OAG). It contains recommendations regarding ways to expand paternity education, increase or sustain federal performance of paternity measures, and reduce the incidence of rescissions of paternity establishments. Ultimately,…
Read MoreWhen Father Doesn’t Bother: Conditioning the Failure to Establish Paternity In-Hospital on Fathers’ Presence at the Birth
This is a link to a working paper in which the authors examine the failure to establish paternity in the hospital, where parents are offered an opportunity to voluntarily acknowledge the child’s paternity at the time of the child’s birth. Most fathers who are present at the time of the birth acknowledge paternity in hospital,…
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 MoreTaking the First Step: Using Behavioral Economics to Help Incarcerated Persons Apply for Child Support Order Modifications
This report presents findings from a behavioral intervention designed to increase the number of incarcerated noncustodial parents in Texas who apply for modifications to reduce the amount of their child support orders. Incarcerated noncustodial parents have a limited ability to pay their child support orders each month, due to their incarceration, which can lead to…
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 MoreMaryland’s Paternity Acknowledgement Program: Participant Entries Into the Public Child Support and Welfare Systems
This report by the University of Maryland School of Social Work attempts to answer the question of who is and who is not participating in Maryland’s Paternity Acknowledgement Program, and how many of the children of participating parents are known to the State’s welfare program within one year of birth.
Read MoreChild Support Program Promotes Marriage and Reduces Non-Marital Child Bearing: Research Fact Sheet
This is a link to a CLASP Research Fact Sheet, which provides a brief listing of the effects of child support on family formation and stability. States with stronger child support enforcement programs have lower non-marital birth rates and lower divorce rates than states where child support is not as effective.
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 MoreProcess Evaluation of the Bright Start Demonstration Program’s Implementation
This report is the process evaluation of Washington’s original three year demonstration grant for Washington’s Bright Start Program which is designed to enhance in-hospital paternity establishment, and offer parents information about marriage, genetic testing, and parenting plans.
Read MoreChild Support Outcomes of Maryland’s In-Hospital Paternity Acknowledgment Program
This report by the University of Maryland School of Social Work summarizes the research on the impact of Maryland’s voluntary paternity acknowledgment program by looking at the child support caseload and comparing if and how certain child support outcomes differ between children for whom paternity was acknowledged and those for whom it was not.
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