Filter Publications
Oregon’s New Tool for Parents in The Child Support System: The Interactive Parenting Plan
Oregon’s Interactive Parenting Plan (IPP) is the first comprehensive, interactive tool created to generate customized parenting plans. It is the result of a joint effort of many stakeholders, including representatives of the court, the child support program, the private bar, mediators, community organizations serving families with safety issues, and experts in the field of child Read More
Issue(s): Child Support
Focus Area(s): Core Program Services, Family-Centered Interventions, Parenting Time & Co-Parenting, Program Innovations
Author(s): Jessica Pearson, Nancy Thoennes
Keyword(s): co-parenting, parenting time
State Approaches to Including Fathers in Programs and Policies Dealing with Children and Families
This brief reviews some of the ways in which federal, state, and local initiatives in the U.S. have attempted to ensure that father involvement is reflected in programs and policies dealing with children and families. The examples provided are not comprehensive but cover much of the national activity that exists at the state level and illustrate the various ways in which Read More
Issue(s): Child Support, Father Engagement & Healthy Relationships
Focus Area(s): Fatherhood Programs
Author(s): Jessica Pearson
Keyword(s): child support, fatherhood programs, healthy marriage
Integrating 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 (CSS) underwent a name change from Child Support Enforcement to Child Support Services. Along with this shift in name, a shift in perspective and priorities took place. Child Support Services began a transformation in agency culture towards a family-centered approach. As part Read More
Issue(s): Child Support
Focus Area(s): Core Program Services, Family-Centered Interventions, Program Innovations
Author(s): Lanae Davis, Nancy Thoennes
Keyword(s): 2gen, child support, program innovations, two-generation approach
An Evaluation of the Oregon Parenting Time Opportunities for Children Grant: 1.Mediation 2. Interactive Parenting Plans
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 Read More
Focus Area(s): Core Program Services, Family-Centered Interventions, Program Innovations
Author(s): Jessica Pearson, Lanae Davis, Nancy Thoennes
Keyword(s): child support, co-parenting
A Call to Revisit Promising Practices for Staffing Configurations and Cost-Effective Staffing Levels in Child Support Offices
The bottom line on why the child support community needs to revisit this issue is this: child support administrators and managers need more information about which staffing levels and configurations are the most efficient and effective for achieving the best results. Not only do they need this information for implementation, but also to overcome the Read More
Differences in State Child Support Guidelines Amounts: Guidelines Models, Economic Basis, and Other Issues
Federal regulations require each state to establish one set of child support guidelines that courts and hearing officers should apply as a rebuttal presumption in any judicial or administrative proceeding for the award of child support. Statewide guidelines encourage consistency in child support award amounts among similarly situated parties and provide predictable amounts to parents. Read More
Outreaching to Expectant and New Parents about Paternity and Child Support: Opportunities and Challenges
With nearly 40 percent (39.7%) of all births occurring to unwed parents, and unmarried parents making up over half of the child support caseload nationally (Pontisso, 2009), it is more important than ever for child support agencies to reach unmarried parents around the time of the birth of their babies to communicate important messages about Read More
Issue(s): Child Support
Focus Area(s): Core Program Services, Family-Centered Interventions
Author(s): Jessica Pearson
Enhancing Agency Collaboration and Case Processing
The child support and child welfare project was undertaken to improve collaboration between sister agencies in multiple jurisdictions. The Center for Policy Research of Denver, Colo., with grant funding from the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, conducted two meetings in Washington, D.C., in 2006 and 2007 to bring together top-level managers and other key representatives of child welfare and child support Read More
Issue(s): Child Support, Child Welfare
Focus Area(s): Core Program Services, Foster Care & At-Risk Youth, Program Innovations
Author(s): Jessica Pearson, Nancy Thoennes
Child Support Program and Parenting Time Orders: Research, Practice, and Partnership Project – Site Visit Report
Parenting time is typically not addressed for parents in the child support system. At the same time, parents who were not married to each other at the time of their children’s birth do not have easy access to family court services, pro se resources and/or staff support available to divorcing parents arising out of their Read More
Focus Area(s): Core Program Services, Family-Centered Interventions, Program Innovations
Author(s): Jessica Pearson, Rasa Kaunelis
Keyword(s): child support, parenting time
Establishing Parenting Time in Child Support Cases: New Opportunities and Challenges
Despite dramatic increases in collections, child support frequently fails to be the linchpin to family self-sufficiency that it could be, and many researchers, advocates and policymakers have concluded that future progress in collections will require making the child support system more fair and responsive to its growing poor, never-married caseload. High on the list of Read More
Issue(s): Child Support
Focus Area(s): Parenting Time & Co-Parenting
Author(s): Jessica Pearson
Keyword(s): child support, co-parenting