Filter Publications
Child Support and Child Welfare: Enhancing Agency Collaboration and Case Processing
What child support agencies share in common with child welfare agencies is children. Not simply children in the abstract, but often the very same children from the very same families — very often, poor families. When child support and child welfare operate entirely independently, the end result can be poorer outcomes for families. Vital information known to one agency may be missing at another. Absent parents who might be a resource for a child may not be located. Parents with children in foster care may receive child support in error and face the prospect of making repayments. Or, child support may never be established even though it would help the family to reunify and be self-sufficient.
Colorado Pathways to Success Formative Evaluation Final Report
The Colorado Pathways to Success Program is a multi-phased program funded by the Children’s Bureau with the aim of developing new initiatives aimed at preventing youth homelessness among current and former foster care youth aged 14-21. This report outlines the key intervention components of the model and reviews the evaluation, lessons learned, and preliminary outcomes Read More
Issue(s): Child Welfare
Focus Area(s): Foster Care & At-Risk Youth, Program Innovations
Author(s): Lanae Davis, Nancy Thoennes, Savahanna Matyasic
Debt Compromise Programs: Program Design and Child Support Outcomes – Final Report
This Office of Child Support Enforcement Special Improvement Project was undertaken to examine the features of effective debt compromise programs and to generate empirical information on the outcomes they produce. To identify best practices, the Center for Policy Research (CPR) convened a two-day conference in June 2009 with representatives of eight states that have experience Read More
Issue(s): Child Support
Focus Area(s): Core Program Services
Author(s): Jessica Pearson, Nancy Thoennes, Rasa Kaunelis
Debt Compromise Improving Child Support Outcomes – Conference Summary
On June 15-16, 2009, staff of the Center for Policy Research facilitated a meeting in Washington, D.C. to discuss concrete issues that states and local child support agencies must address in the design and implementation of debt compromise programs. The meeting involved representatives of debt compromise programs in the following state and local jurisdictions: California Read More
Issue(s): Child Support
Focus Area(s): Core Program Services
Author(s): Jessica Pearson, Nancy Thoennes, Rasa Kaunelis
Colorado 2Gen Procedures Manual
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 toward a family-centered approach. As part Read More
Author(s): Lanae Davis, Nancy Thoennes, Savahanna Matyasic
Author(s): Jessica Pearson, Nancy Thoennes
Issue(s):
Focus Area(s): Parenting Time & Co-Parenting
Author(s): Jessica Pearson, Lanae Davis, Nancy Thoennes
Preventing Relationship Violence Through Community Change: Results from a Baseline Survey on Coloradans’ Readiness to Address Relationship Violence as a Community
This report is part of an ongoing evaluation of the Stand Up Colorado social change initiative. Stand Up Colorado is a campaign aimed at preventing relationship violence (RV). The overall evaluation of the campaign will include both process and outcome components. This report focuses on the baseline survey that was conducted as part of the Read More
Issue(s): Gender-Based Violence
Focus Area(s): Domestic Violence Program Innovations, Intimate Partner Violence
Author(s): Echo Rivera, Nancy Thoennes, Tara Prendergast
Keyword(s): attitudes, baseline survey, color blind, domestic violence, Intimate Partner Violence, racism, sexism, social change, stand up colorado
The Whys and Hows of Process Evaluation
The purpose of an outcome evaluation is fairly straightforward. Conducting a rigorous outcome evaluation is not easy. Understanding the need for it is: Your funders, colleagues, and staff want to know if your program produced the intended results. It can be less obvious what a process evaluation will tell you or why it will be useful, but Read More
Focus Area(s):
Author(s): Jessica Pearson, Nancy Thoennes
Keyword(s): outcome evaluation, process evaluation
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