August 2022 Child Support Report

You Matter: A Tribal Program to Help Parents Find Employment

The Tlingit and Haida Tribal Child Support Unit

Map of Alaska with pamphlet of You Matter tribal program

The Tlingit and Haida Tribal Child Support Unit is expanding efforts to uphold its commitment to family values and a holistic approach to child support. We’re excited to announce the rollout of our new program called You Matter, which helps noncustodial parents with an open child support case achieve their employment goals.

Participants work closely with an employment services specialist to develop individualized goals to obtain, maintain, or advance job opportunities. Our specialist works with parents to help them:

  • Identify any unique barriers and challenges preventing consistent child support payments
  • Develop strategies to obtain employment and earn a meaningful income
  • Create vocational and educational plans that fit their work history, education level, and physical abilities
  • Network with other service providers, community agencies, and employers to provide referrals for housing, transportation, medical, or other services
  • Learn skills like resume writing, interview techniques, dressing for success, and job retention
  • Work with educational institutions for higher education, vocational training, and job readiness opportunities

Parents in the program may also seek help with modifications, hardship requests, and waivers to assist in getting back on their feet. When parents have better employment and make more consistent payments, they can contribute to the emotional, physical, and financial future of the child. This has the potential to produce stronger families and communities. 

It is important for efficiency to keep the employment services position within our department. It allows the employment services specialist to work closely with the child support caseworker to address the barriers the parent may be facing. This collaboration makes finding and maintaining employment easier. We hope this program strengthens the relationship between noncustodial parents and our office so we can serve all parties in the case more efficiently. 

If you would like to know more about the You Matter program, email youmatter@ccthita-nsn.gov or call (907)-463-7785.

Collaborative Conversations in Region 7

Roberta Coons, OCSE

Map of Region 7 and five tribal logos

OCSE regional offices convene annual meetings with child support directors to share updates, discuss important issues, participate in trainings, and network. Prior to the pandemic, these multi-day meetings were in person. We’re excited by the prospect of meeting in person again as COVID allows.

The Region 7 office in Kansas City hosts Tribal Conversations. The OCSE team invites all tribal staff, including caseworkers, fiscal employees, and directors. This allows participants to share information in a large group setting and also join breakout groups based on their work needs. For example, caseworkers can meet with other caseworkers and discuss nuances about how each tribe handles certain issues. It also allows employees to network and develop relationships, so they’re comfortable reaching out to their counterparts with questions, ideas, and best practices. 

When the Tribal Conversations started in 2011, the OCSE Region 7 team developed agendas, organized trainings, and secured speakers. Now each tribal director assigns a staff member to the Agenda Committee, which designs the bi-annual meeting agendas and secures speakers. This allows tribal grantees to prioritize topics that are most important to them.

OCSE has received positive feedback from tribal staff who enjoy the Tribal Conversations. “You get the opportunity to discuss case situations, discover outreach ideas, and learn best practices from other tribal programs encountering the same challenges you find yourself facing,” said Stacy Caudle, the former caseworker turned director of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas. “These are some of my favorite meetings of the year, and I’ll be happy when we can start meeting in person again!”  

For more information, email roberta.coons@acf.hhs.gov.

Using Procedural Justice to Reform Driver’s License Suspension in Minnesota

Melissa Froehle, Staff Attorney, and Shauna Hoelscher, Enforcement Lead, Minnesota Child Support Division

Car key with green check mark

The Minnesota Department of Human Services Child Support Division became a PJAC Peer Learning Site to improve the driver’s license suspension process. Suspension is a required enforcement tool for collecting past-due child support, but current laws, policies, and practices are not effective for many noncustodial parents. In fact, it may do more harm than good. Suspending licenses to encourage payment assumes parents are able but unwilling to pay. But what about parents who face barriers to payment? 

Research in Minnesota shows this enforcement remedy disproportionately affects noncustodial parents with low incomes and communities of color. At least half of Minnesota’s noncustodial parents selected for driver’s license suspension earned less than $20,000 in 2019. Noncustodial parents who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) are more likely to have a license suspended for nonpayment of child support than white parents. 

Pilot program

We’re working with 12 counties in a pilot program to improve payment compliance by testing two changes: 

  • Proactively engaging and improving communication with noncustodial parents who currently have a suspended license or are selected for potential license suspension
  • Improving Minnesota’s child support payment agreement policy so it’s better tailored for noncustodial parents, particularly those with low incomes or sporadic or unstable employment 

Using procedural justice principles, child support workers review cases, call noncustodial parents to gather more information, and make case plans with noncustodial parents to address barriers to payment. In addition, we provide them with enforcement options that help them comply with payments. 

The case assessment includes an interview script that helps caseworkers with procedural justice approaches when collecting information from noncustodial parents. The caseworkers demonstrate respect, understanding, and helpfulness when working with parents and give them a voice in their cases. The assessment also includes guidance for establishing a new payment plan and provides new options for when a payment plan isn’t required. All caseworkers can also learn or enhance cultural competence through the Intercultural Development Inventory and training on topics like implicit bias.

We’re now evaluating the pilot to determine whether noncustodial parents achieved better outcomes than similar parents in non-pilot counties. We want to see if license suspensions decreased, communication and engagement grew, and child support payments increased. We’ll use this information to reform policies and procedures so we can equitably serve noncustodial BIPOC parents and improve the program.

OCSE awarded $2.1 million to six grantees during a five-year demonstration called Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC). In spring 2020, OCSE offered child support agencies the opportunity to apply to become a Procedural Justice Peer Learning Site and learn from the knowledge and tools developed in the PJAC demonstration. This article is the fourth in a series exploring how five Peer Learning Sites are applying PJAC’s lessons to their own local contexts. While this opportunity did not come with grant funding, all Peer Learning Sites received training and technical assistance from the support team of OCSE project officers, national experts, and PJAC evaluation staff. Peer Learning Sites also receive mentoring from PJAC grantees. For more information, email OCSE project officers Michael Hayes (Michael.Hayes@acf.hhs.gov), Tanya Johnson (Tanya.Johnson@acf.hhs.gov), or Melody Morales (Melody.Morales@acf.hhs.gov).

Resources for Modernizing Enforcement Systems

Division of State and Tribal Systems, OCSE

Computer showing a webinar with light bulb above it

Child support enforcement systems look a lot different today than they did in 2008 when a few states were migrating to web technologies. Now, OCSE has certified 15 state system solutions that use modern technologies and no longer rely on mainframes. Seventeen states are currently modernizing by replatforming/refactoring, building from scratch, creating transfer or hybrid solutions using other states’ components, or tailoring solutions using low code/no code techniques. An additional 14 states are in the planning phase, and five states have submitted a streamlined feasibility study for review and approval. 

We also support and oversee multiple Agile projects within the child support community. Two states follow an innovative method of Agile certification that an IV&V vendor can perform, which reduces the time for us to certify a state system. We engage with our state partners and provide a common platform to facilitate transfers and share ideas, technologies, and lessons learned.

Modernization resources

Statistics and data suggest that many legacy child support enforcement systems may be nearing the end of their lifecycles. Following the state systems symposium in February 2019, we completely revamped system feasibility study processes, guides, and templates. We’ve conducted multiple webinars to support the lifecycle process for states and tribes:

So, how do we anticipate modernization will evolve? Many states already migrated to cloud technologies, use modern languages (Java, C#, and .Net), employ open-source tools (Apache, ESB, Tomcat, WebLogic, OpenSSL, Struts, Linux), and are investigating ways to reduce development and lifecycle costs. More states may also migrate their family support services to statewide enterprise architectures to improve caseworker efficiencies and reduce overall lifecycle costs. Regardless of what comes next, OCSE is here to guide states as they improve their programs through modern technologies.

For more information, email Raghavan Varadachari or Danny Hutchison at OCSE.DSTS@acf.hhs.gov.

How Are You Collaborating?

James Murray, OCSE Senior Advisor

Talk bubble with ellipses inside

Commissioner Tanguler Gray is passionate about improving service delivery and advancing the child support program to meet the needs of today’s families. OCSE’s partnerships give us firm footing to improve outcomes for families within the child support program. 

OCSE provides state, local, and tribal child support programs with information to partner with domestic violence, fatherhood, and child welfare programs. We also work with child support agencies to implement or enhance noncustodial parent employment programs to provide families with a path to financial self-sufficiency. Our partnership with the Office of Family Assistance helps us understand parents’ lived experiences with the child support program so that we may improve outreach and engagement.  

As you know, Commissioner Gray is big on engagement, and one of her 3Ps is People. Our engagement strategy is to always prioritize the people we serve in our efforts to promote their economic and social well-being. That requires us to cultivate good working relationships with our colleagues to successfully advance our mission.  

We believe in connecting with families and creating community. Many programs serve the same families as the child support program, and collaborating with those programs gives us vital information to enhance child support. We’d love to hear more about innovative partnerships at the state, tribal, and local levels. 

Let us know how you’re fostering collaboration and how OCSE can best support your work. Please email james.murray@acf.hhs.gov.

Making the Grade with Medicaid and CHIP

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Children with backpacks running into school

As families and caregivers prepare their students for the new school year, well-child visits and routine immunizations should be on their back-to-school to-do lists. After all, healthy kids are better able to focus on learning .  

Each year, children lose out on valuable time in the classroom because of preventable illnesses, and many kids are also misdiagnosed with learning disabilities when they actually have undetected vision problems . Plus, the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency caused many children to miss out on routine immunizations that provide protection against preventable diseases like measles, mumps, and rubella. Regular well-child visits and preventive care are the best way to make sure kids don’t miss out on learning, but many families continue to lack access to these important services. 

The Connecting Kids to Coverage National Campaign wants to remind parents and caretakers that enrolling in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) provides access to critical services such as immunizations, check-ups, eye exams, dental care, laboratory and X-ray services, and emergency services. Parents can enroll their child today or, if already covered, call their health provider to schedule an appointment to make sure kids are healthy and ready to learn. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends everyone ages 6 months and older get vaccinated against COVID-19, and everyone 5 years and older should also get a COVID-19 booster, if eligible.

Benefits of Care

With health coverage, students can get the care they may need to fully participate in classroom, after-school, and summer activities. Enrollment in Medicaid and CHIP is open year-round; however, coverage must be renewed annually. Eligibility depends on household size and income and varies by state. For example, children up to age 19 with family income up to $50,000 per year (for a family of four) may qualify for Medicaid and CHIP. Visit the “Find Coverage for Your Family” map on InsureKidsNow.gov to access information in your state or call 1-877-KIDS-NOW (1-877-543-7669). Coverage must be renewed every year — even if no personal information has changed. Parents and caregivers should confirm the address, phone number, and email on file with your state Medicaid office, especially if they’ve moved in the last year. 

Help families start the school year off right by encouraging them to enroll in Medicaid and CHIP so kids and teens can get the care they need to keep learning.

Resource Alert: 988 Suicide Prevention Hotline

988 is a new easy-to-remember number that connects anyone experiencing mental health related distress to compassionate care and support. The Action Alliance released a messaging framework to help agencies communicate about 988. Learn more at 988messaging.org .

Policy Recap

OCSE issued recent guidance to help states and tribes develop and operate their child support programs according to federal laws and regulations:

About Child Support Report

Child Support Report is published monthly by the Office of Child Support Enforcement. We welcome articles and high-quality digital photos to consider for publication. We reserve the right to edit for style, content and length, or not accept an article. OCSE does not endorse the practices or individuals in this newsletter. You may reprint an article in its entirety (or contact the author or editor for permission to excerpt); please identify Child Support Report as the source.

January Contreras    
Assistant Secretary for Children and Families             
Tanguler Gray
Commissioner, OCSE                                                                       
Crystal Peeler
Director, Division of Customer Communications                                 
Andrew Phifer
Editor, CSR.Editor@acf.hhs.gov                                                                               

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