Providing Equal Access to Justice
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. A key indicator of whether parents will comply with a child support order is their perception of the fairness of the process. This policy brief describes practices that improve the fairness of the child support process based on the procedural justice principles of respect, voice, neutrality, understanding, and helpfulness.
Read MoreProviding Employment & Income Supports for Non-Custodial Parents
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. Offering employment services to non-custodial parents benefits the entire family. These programs can help parents overcome barriers to employment and find jobs that lead to consistent child support payments. This fact sheet highlights two strategies: providing employment services and supplementing income.
Read MoreSupporting Healthy Co-Parenting
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. Research shows children have better outcomes when they are raised by both of their parents. This fact sheet encourages the use of family-centered strategies when working with families, which will increase the likelihood that non-custodial parents will be employed and pay support.
Read MoreTemporary Assistance for Needy Families: Sanctioning and Child Support Compliance Among Black Families in Illinois
The Temporary Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) block grant provides eligible families with cash assistance in return for compliance with specific requirements, such as cooperating with the child support program. This article reports on research done in the state of Illinois regarding policies around the receipt of TANF and the barriers to maintaining this benefit. The research found these policies create barriers that disproportionally affect families on the basis of their race.
Read MoreGathering and Using Family Input to Improve Child Support and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families: Approaches from the Human Services Field
Human services agencies are finding great value of engaging the families they serve in designing programs. Doing this helps combat issues of access, quality, and equity and ensures the families’ needs are being met. This brief provides examples of human-centered design practices and how agencies use the input to inform policy and operations.
Read MoreStates Should Use New Guidance to Stop Charging Parents for Foster Care, Prioritize Family Reunification
The federal Administration for Children & Families recently issued new policy guidance that allows state agencies to stop referring Title IV-E foster care cases for the establishment of a child support order. The old policy had very little benefit. These families are low-income. A support obligation takes money out of an already financially fragile family. Collecting support wasn’t cost-efficient. The new guidance promotes reunification efforts and help the custodial parent maintain the family home.
Read MoreChild Support and Reentry
Incarceration and the build-up of child support arrears are clearly linked. Incarceration of a paying parent causes child support arrears to increase and a high amount of child support arrears leads to incarceration. This article addresses ways in which the criminal justice system and child support should work together to ensure a successful reentry into society for parents. Reentering parents face challenges from institutional obstacles and state policies.
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 MoreParenting Time and Child Support: Information for Fatherhood Programs and Fathers
Fatherhood programs play an important role in helping fathers understand and address legal issues such as child support and supporting the fathers in building relationships with their children and coparent. While child support and visitation are separate legal issues, research shows the two are by nature connected and benefit each other.
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 MoreEmployment Effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit: Taking the Long View
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is tax credit meant to lift families out of poverty. It provides a tax credit to workers based on earnings and household size. Since its inception in 1975, it has been expanded five times. This paper examines each individual expansion in depth and studies the expansions as a group…
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 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 More2019 Employer Symposium Report
At the annual 2019 conference, the National Association of Child Support Directors (NCCSD) brought together a group of child support professionals and employers to discuss ways to improve communication, cooperation, and processes between the program and employers. This report summarizes the discussion and sets out the action items. The goals of the Symposium included, but…
Read MoreTransforming Colorado’s Child Support Services to a Two-Generation Approach
The Colorado Department of Human Services implemented in a pilot project to change its approach to delivery of child support services from enforcement to multi-generational. This report combines the implementation findings, which have already been released, with the findings of the impact study. The main goal of the project was to direct parents to employment…
Read MoreParenting Time Opportunities for Children Research Brief
The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OSCE) sponsored a grant-initiative, the Parenting Time Opportunities for Children (PTOC), to research the ways child support agencies could establish parenting time orders along with child support orders. This brief highlights the outcomes of this project. Historically, orders from the child support program haven’t addressed visitation, but research…
Read MoreChild Support Compliance in Fatherhood Programs: The Role of Hope, Role Salience, and Parenting Skills
This study evaluates the roles of hope, parenting role salience, and parenting skills in predicting change in a non-custodial parent’s compliance with child support. The authors surveyed participants in a responsible fatherhood program both prior to the start of the program and upon completion.
Read MoreTransforming Colorado’s Child Support Services to a Two-Generation Approach: Lessons Learned from Implementing an 11-County Pilot Study
The Child Support Services Division of the Colorado Department of Human Services made a conscious decision to change its service delivery method from an enforcement approach to a two-generational (2Gen), family-centered approach. Eleven counties have participated in a pilot project, the 2Gen Child Support Services Transformation Project, to implement the 2Gen approach.
Read More2Gen Procedures Integrating a two-Generation Approach to Child Support Services Colorado’s Service Level Approach
In 2013, Child Support Services Division (CSS) of the Colorado Department of Human Services began an agency shift its philosophy of providing services. CSS wanted to provide services in a way that would benefit the entire family.
Read MoreIn Their Own Voices: The Hopes and Struggles of Responsible Fatherhood Program Participants in the Parents and Children Evaluation
This report sets out information gleaned from fathers during interviews as part of the Parents and Children Together (PACT) grant. The fathers were participants in Responsible Fatherhood programs. The PACT grant was funded to study the impact of the Responsible Fatherhood programs, the program design process, and to discover characteristics of the participants. The outcomes…
Read MoreParents and Children Together: Effects of Four Responsible Fatherhood Program for Low-Income Parents
This report sets out the findings from a study on the impact of participation in a fatherhood program. This report is part of the Parents and Children Together (PACT) grant that was funded to study programs funded by the Responsible Fatherhood grant. This piece of the evaluation studied outcomes for fathers who participated in one…
Read MoreBuilding Connections: Using Integrated Administrative Data to Identify Issues and Solutions Spanning the Child Welfare and Child Support Systems
This article explores the process one state used to change policy using data. The state of Wisconsin used data to inform its policy change regarding referrals to child support in foster care cases. The results of the analysis of this data led to both the child welfare and the child support divisions working together on…
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 MoreCharacteristics of Participants in the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED) Evaluation
This report identifies the common characteristics of non-custodial parents who participated in programs funded through the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED) grant. The CSPED grant funded interventions designed to assist noncustodial parents who were behind in support and struggling to find employment. This report analyzes the data obtained from baseline surveys to identify…
Read MoreDemonstrated Results: Successful Collaborations That Improve Outcomes in Prisoner Reentry and Child Support
This article, written by MDRC staff, was originally published in the December 2018 Policy & Practice Magazine, the Magazine of the American Public Human Services Association. This article discusses interagency collaborations between corrections, labor, and child support designed to facilitate prisoner-reentry and reduce recidivism.
Read MoreChild Support Cooperation Requirements in Child Care Subsidy Programs and SNAP: Key Policy Considerations
This brief, part of the EMPOWERED Study conducted on behalf of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, presents findings from a formative examination of the use of child support cooperation requirements among child care subsidy programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This brief provides…
Read MoreParticipation in Responsible Fatherhood Programs in the PACT Evaluation: Associations with Father and Program Characteristics
This brief presents new findings on the factors that are associated with fathers’ participation in responsible fatherhood (RF) programs. It is based on data collected for the implementation study of RF programs, which documents how the programs were designed and operated and identifies challenges and promising practices. It uses data from the Parents and Children…
Read MoreDeFacto Parent and Non Parent Child Support Orders
Recently, state laws have recognized this parental right of “care, custody, and control” to opposite sex unmarried couples who bore the child of sex. Even more recently, state laws have recognized this parental right for those who did not engage in sexual intercourse leading to a pregnancy and birth. State laws have also increasingly limited…
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 MoreStates Leading the Way: Practical Solutions That Lift Up Children and Families
This is a link to Ascend at The Aspen Institute website where this report can be downloaded. The report “profiles effective solutions from Ascend partners throughout the United States and the work driven by leaders in Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Utah. It contains recommendations on processes that lead to better outcomes…
Read MoreLongitudinal Associations among Child Support Debt, Employment, and Recidivism After Prison
This is a link to an an article that appeared in The Sociological Quarterly posted on the website, Researchgate.net. The abstract is as follows: Recently released prisoners in the U.S. are increasingly facing the burden of financial debt associated with correctional supervision, yet little research has pursued how—theoretically or empirically—the burden of debt might affect…
Read MoreThe Safety Net that Works: Improving Federal Programs for Low Income Americans
This document is a compilation of essays, ideas, and policy recommendations authored by individuals with expertise in various federal anti-poverty programs. The author of one of the essays, entitled Empowering Child Support Enforcement to Reduce Poverty, is Robert Doar, Resident Fellow and Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Studies, and former IV-D Director of the New York…
Read MoreBuilding Assets for Fathers and Families (BAFF) in Tennessee
Tennessee was one of seven states that received a grant from the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement aimed at improving the economic stability of low‐income families in the child support system by engaging noncustodial parents (NCPs) in financial education, savings activity, and asset‐building activities.
Read MoreIntegrating A Two-Generation Approach to Child Support Services: Colorado’s Service Level Approach
In 2013, the Colorado Department of Human Services, Division of Child Support Services began a shift in culture toward a family-centered, two-generation (2Gen) approach. As part of this effort, the child support program implemented services across generations within families. This document, prepared for the Colorado Department of Human Services, provides guidance for establishing and implementing…
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 MoreParents and Children Together: The Complex Needs of Low Income Men and How Responsible Fatherhood Programs Address Them
Broad changes in family demographics have left many children without the support or involvement of their fathers. As a result of high rates of nonmarital births and divorce, millions of American children do not live with both of their parents. OPRE Report 2018-18, prepared for the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE), Administration for…
Read MoreAn Evaluation of the Oregon Parenting Time Opportunities for Children Grant: 1) Mediation; 2) Interactive Parenting Plans Center for Policy Research
In 2012, the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement made “Parenting Time Opportunities for Children” (PTOC) grant awards to five states. The grants were intended to: …improve the financial and emotional support of children in the child support system by increasing safe opportunities for them to build relationships with both parents. The parenting time grants focus…
Read MoreMulti-Site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting and Partnering‒Research Brief
This brief presents findings on pre-and post-incarceration wages and child support participation in the five impact sites of the Multi-site Family Study on Incarceration, Parenting and Partnering (MFS-IP). Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the study includes implementation and impact evaluations and qualitative and quantitative analyses of participants in programs providing…
Read MoreLife After Welfare
This report, which includes a chapter on child support, examines outcomes of Maryland families who left cash assistance, focusing on their characteristics, employment and earnings outcomes, and the receipt of other public benefits. The main findings indicate that families’ financial situations improved after exiting Maryland’s Temporary Cash Assistance (TCA) program, compared with their circumstances before…
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 Collections to Offset Out-of-Home Placement Costs: A Study of Cost Effectiveness
Families that experience out-of-home placement (OHP) of a child in the child welfare or juvenile justice system are disproportionately poor, and the reasons for OHP often stem from poverty. Because OHP is expensive, and society values parental responsibility, federal and state laws require that parents be referred to the child support system to help offset…
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 MoreFatherhood Initiatives: Connecting Fathers to Their Children
The federal government’s support of fatherhood initiatives raises a wide array of issues. This report briefly examines the role of the CSE agency in fatherhood programs, discusses initiatives to promote and support father-child interaction outside the parents’ relationship, and talks about the need most see for work-oriented programs that enable noncustodial parents to have the…
Read MoreMaryland’s Child Support Caseload – A Profile of Custodians, 2015
Using Maryland data, the authors analyze current support and arrears owed to custodians, payments received by custodians, and payments retained by the state. Specifically, the authors utilize a sample of custodians who had active cases in July 2015 and examine each of these topics for the period of July 2014 through June 2015. The report…
Read MoreA Blueprint for Economic Security
This paper explores the intersections of the work-related experiences of men and fathers, child support enforcement policies and practices and support services for fathers with low-incomes. Consideration is given to the historical factors that are complicating efforts to end poverty. The Blueprint also proposes changes to child support enforcement efforts and support services for low-income…
Read MoreThe Safety Net that Works—Improving Federal Programs for Low Income Americans
This document is a compilation of essays, ideas, and policy recommendations authored by individuals with expertise in various federal anti-poverty programs. The author of one of the essays, Empowering Child Support Enforcement to Reduce Poverty, is Robert Doar, Resident Fellow and Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Studiesand former IV-D Director of the New York State Child…
Read MoreThe Young Fathers’ Employment Program in Maryland: An Initial Review of Participant Outcomes
The Maryland Child Support Enforcement Administration (CSEA) recently funded a three-county noncustodial parent employment program called the Young Fathers’ Employment Program. The participating counties were Baltimore, Caroline, and Talbot. The University of Maryland School of Social Work conducted an initial review or a pre-post assessment of participants’ employment, earnings, and child support payments. The researchers…
Read MoreChild Support, Debt, and Prisoner Reentry: Examining the Influences of Prisoners’ Legal and Financial Obligations on Reentry
This is the final report to the National Institute of Justice. The research attempted to examine the influence of child support orders and related debt on recidivism using data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI). The authors also examined the lagged impacts that child support obligations, legal employment, and rearrest have on…
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 MoreIf I Had Money: Black Fathers and Children, Child Support Debt, and Economic Security in Mississippi
This is a link to a report prepared for The Coalition for a Prosperous Mississippi (CPM), which supports a policy agenda to increase economic security for Mississippians. One major economic barrier for young black men is child support, particularly child support that is owed to the State as a result of their children receiving Temporary…
Read MoreWhat We Want to Give Our Kids: How Child Support Debt Can Diminish Wealth Building for Struggling Black Fathers and Their Families
This is a link to a study of black fathers and their child support debt using focus groups of 35 black fathers in 6 U.S. cities. It describes how child support debt prevents poor noncustodial parents, who are often struggling black fathers, from becoming financially stable and accumulating assets. This child support debt often contributes…
Read MoreParents and Children Together: Design and Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs
The Parents and Children Together (PACT) evaluation, conducted by Mathematica Policy Research for the Office of Research, Planning and Evaluation in the Administration of Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is examining a set of Responsible Fatherhood (RF) and Healthy Marriage grantees funded by ACF’s Office of Family…
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 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 MoreSeeding the College Dream – Final Report: An Evaluation of the Child Support for College Asset Building Initiative
This is a link to an evaluation of the Texas Child Support for College (CS4C) pilot program, which was created to provide an incentive for Texas child support program participants to save for their children’s college education.
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 MoreEvaluation of the Tennessee Parent Support Program
This report is a comprehensive evaluation of Tennessee’s Parent Support Program (PSP), which was conducted in collaboration with the Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). PSP enabled child support agencies in three jurisdictions to hire staff to provide case management and job‐focused services in addition to helping with parenting time. In the last…
Read MoreIntegrating Workforce Strategies with Child Support Services – Final Report
The State of Tennessee Department of Human Services, Child Support Division (CSD) was awarded a strategic planning grant from the U.S. Department of Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) in September 2011. The project was a strategic planning effort designed to engage multiple agencies in a collaborative process to improve financial outcomes for…
Read MoreToolkit: Workforce Programs for Child Support Populations Tennessee Workforce Strategies and Child Support Services Project
This toolkit, prepared under a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Child Support Enforcement to the Tennessee Department of Human Services, provides a step-by-step guide to establishing a workforce program for unemployed or underemployed, low-income noncustodial parents (NCPs) in the child support system. It is intended for use by…
Read MoreDon’t Forget Dad: Addressing Women’s Poverty by Rethinking Forced and Outdated Child Support Policies
This is a link to an article in which the author explores the linkage between poverty among women and low income men, and posits that harsh and adversarial child support enforcement policies polarizes the parents, and have negative impacts on the father, mother, and children. The author proposes transforming the “current uniformly applied punitive policies…
Read MoreWelfare, Research, and Poverty Status of Female-Headed Families with Children 1987-2013 Congressional Research Service
This report focuses on trends in the economic well-being of female-headed families with children, the principal group affected by the replacement of Aid for Dependent Families with Children (AFDC) with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Female-headed families and their children are especially at risk of poverty, and children in such families account for well…
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 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 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 MoreBuilding Assets for Fathers and Families: Colorado Triple Play Final Report
Colorado Triple Play, the name given to the Building Assets for Fathers and Families (BAFF) demonstration project in Colorado, was one of seven grants awarded by the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) to states around the country. The project, encompassing Adams and Jefferson Counties, began October 1, 2010 and operations continued through September 30, 2013.…
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 MoreBehavioral Economics and Social Policy: Designing Innovative Solutions for Programs Supported by the Administration for Children and Families
Insights from behavioral economics, which combines findings from psychology and economics, suggest that a deeper understanding of decision-making and behavior could improve human services program design and outcomes. Research has shown that small changes in the environment can facilitate behaviors and decisions that are in people’s best interest. However, there has been relatively little exploration…
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 MoreReview of the Pennsylvania Child Support Guidelines
This is a link to a report prepared for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, representing the federally mandated quadrennial review of Pennsylvania’s child support guidelines. It examines child support guidelines models, identifies similarities and differences between Pennsylvania’s guidelines approach and the approaches of other states, presents findings from the analysis of case file data…
Read MoreChild Support Models and the Perception of “Fairness”
This is a link to a research paper on the Institute for Research on Poverty (IRP) website that provides an overview of each of the three different models of child support guidelines – Income Shares, Melson, and Percentage of Income – and examines the perceptions of fairness of each model. In recent years, states have…
Read MorePolicies to Require and Enable Less-Educated Noncustodial Parents to Work and Provide Financial Support for Their Children
This is a link to a discussion paper on the Brookings Institution website that outlines three policy strategies to help low income noncustodial parents find work and meet their financial obligations to pay child support.
Read MoreTruth and Consequences Part III: Who Pays When Paternity is Disestablished?
This is a link to the last in a series of three monographs about paternity disestablishment. This monograph discusses the fiscal consequences to the child, the parents, and the state if paternity is disestablished.
Read MoreTruth and Consequences: Part II. Questioning the Paternity of Marital Children
There is wide variation among the states on the issue of paternity disestablishment for marital children. While some states have enacted legislation, few have adopted a comprehensive scheme that deals with potential challenges by husbands, wives, and paramours. This is a link to a monograph that discusses the need for states to have a comprehensive…
Read MoreTruth and Consequences: Part I. Disestablishing the Paternity of Non-Marital Children
In some states, there are detailed procedures for challenging paternity acknowledgments; in other states, there is little or no statutory guidance in this area. Some states have statutory and case law to guide the process of paternity disestablishment when paternity has been adjudicated or presumed, while others offer little guidance. This is a link to…
Read MoreTo What Extent Do Children Benefit from Child Support?
Child support provides a significant source of income for poor families. Child support also reduces the number of poor children by a half million and lessens income inequality among children eligible for it. Unfortunately, about 70 percent of poor children eligible for child support were not getting it in 1996.
Read MoreServing Parents Who Leave Prison: Final Report on the Work and Family Center
The report focuses on ex-offenders with Colorado child support cases who were offered assistance with employment, child support, and family reintegration.The research was conducted by the Division of Child Support Services with the Colorado Department of Human Services.
Read MoreDo Nonresident Fathers Who Pay Child Support Visit Their Children More?
This report examines the answer to the question raised by the title. Children who have child support orders and receive child support payments have more frequent contact with their nonresident fathers. Children living in poverty were less likely to have seen their fathers in the previous year than were children whose family earnings exceeded the…
Read MoreState of Washington Joint Agency Collection Project
This report summarizes the results of a federal grant to study ways to assist incarcerated and recently released non-custodial parents (NCP). Three agencies collaborated: the Department of Social and Health Services Division of Child Support, the Employment Security Department, and the Department of Corrections, all of which share a common interest in the success of…
Read MoreGetting Noncustodial Dads Involved in the Lives of Foster Children
This policy brief provides data that suggest that many, if not most, foster care children in the United States were not living with their father at the time they were removed from their home.
Read MoreDeclining Employment among Young Black Less-Educated Men: The Role of Incarceration and Child Support
In this paper, researchers document the continuing decline in employment and labor force participation of black men between the ages of 16 and 34 who have a high school education or less.
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 MoreFamilies Left Behind: The Hidden Costs of Incarceration and Reentry
This policy brief is intended to help focus attention on the hidden costs of U.S. criminal justice policies.
Read MoreThe Implementation of the Partners for Fragile Families Demonstration Projects
This report describes the design and implementation of the Partners for Fragile Families (PFF) demonstration projects.
Read MoreDebtors’ Prison – Prisoners’ Accumulation of Debt as a Barrier to Reentry
This is a link to an article published in the July-August 2007 Journal of Poverty Law and Policy that discusses how unrealistic levels of debt and cost-recovery policies enforced by criminal justice and child support agencies can undermine the criminal justice system’s rehabilitation goals, the child support system’s goals to support children, and society’s interest…
Read MoreColorado Parenting Time/Visitation Project
This is a report on a Colorado demonstration project held in two counties to determine if increased access and visitation led to more engagement of non-custodial parents (NCP) with their children, and the payment of child support. The research was conducted by the Division of Child Support Services with the Colorado Department of Human Services.
Read MorePartners for Fragile Families Demonstration Projects: Employment and Child Support Outcomes and Trends
The Partnership for Fragile Families Demonstration projects, operating in 13 sites across the country, provided a range of services aimed at increasing the capacity of young, economically disadvantaged fathers in becoming financial and emotional resources to their children and sought to reduce poverty and welfare dependence. As part of a multi-component evaluation, this report examines…
Read MoreThe Potential Impact of Increasing Child Support Payments to TANF Families
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 includes incentives for states to increase the amount of child support that is “passed through” to families on welfare, rather than retained to offset welfare expenditures. Beginning October 1, 2008, the federal government will share in the costs of a $100 per month pass-through for families with one child…
Read MoreThe Underground Economy
The report of a task force led by former Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Maura Corrigan to examine the underground economy, and how it deprives minor children of financial support from their parents.
Read MorePromising Antipoverty Strategies for Families
In this paper, researchers review changes in family structure, the relationship between family structure and employment, and early evidence on differential impacts of the recession on families.
Read MoreFinal Report for the E-referral Demonstration: Project Summary, Training Implementation Evaluation, and Final Data Analysis
This report looks at the results of a three-year 1115 grant from the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement to the State of Washington to improve electronic referral and data sharing among the child support, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), and Medicaid agencies.
Read MoreEvaluation of the $150 Child Support Pass-Through and Disregard Policy in the District of Columbia
In April 2006, the District of Columbia implemented a child support pass-through and disregard policy for families in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseload, passing through the first $150 per month of child support paid to these families and disregarding this amount when determining their TANF benefits. This study provides a process evaluation…
Read MoreTossed on a Sea of Change: A Status Update on the Responsible Fatherhood Field
This is a link to an update on fatherhood programs across the nation covering programmatic priorities, funding, and evidence-based practices.
Read MoreThe Noncustodial Parent Employment Program: Employment & Payment Outcomes
This study takes an empirical look at the early outcomes achieved by non-custodial parents who were referred to Maryland’s Noncustodial Parent Employment Program (NPEP), which provides intensive case management and assistance with conducting a job search.
Read MoreDeadbeats, Deadbrokes, and Prisoners
This report examines child support legislation with respect to incarcerated parents, and the policies that parents who are incarcerated are “voluntarily unemployed”, and therefore not eligible for modifications of their child support orders.
Read MoreStrengthening families through Stronger Fathers: Final Impact Report for the Pilot Employment Programs
This final report discusses the 2006-2009 pilot employment program implemented by New York for parents behind in their child support. These pilot programs, part of the Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Initiative, provided employment-oriented services, fatherhood/parenting workshops, case management, and other support services to nearly 4,000 parents behind in their child support in four New…
Read MoreNew York Initiative Helps Fathers Increase Their Earnings and Child Support
New York launched a pilot employment program to help parents behind in their child support in four communities between 2006 and 2009. The program was part of the state’s Strengthening Families Through Stronger Fathers Initiative. This policy brief discusses the effect of this initiative on earnings and child support payments.
Read MoreWork-Oriented Programs in Child Support
This PowerPoint presentation describes lessons learned from past efforts to provide work-oriented programs for low-income parents behind in their child support payments.
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