The Federal Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) awarded a five year cooperative agreement to the Colorado Department of Human Services, Division of Child Support Services (DCSS) to establish the SAVES Center. CPR makes up the SAVES Center with partners Battered Women’s Justice Project (BWJP) and Centre for Public Impact (CPI). The SAVES Center aims to enhance the safe delivery of child support, paternity, and parenting time services to survivors of domestic violence. SAVES Center activities are centered around providing a comprehensive array of technical assistance and training resources for state, tribal, and local child support agency staff, judicial officers, and court staff involved in child support hearings, domestic violence service providers, legal services providers, and other related public and private agencies. Through the establishment of a national clearinghouse at savescenter.org, activities include: compile and maintain a national clearinghouse of promising practices for safe access to child support and parenting time services in states, tribes, and local child support agencies and court systems, and conduct and disseminate national research on domestic violence survivors’ barriers and needs related to child support and parenting time services.
CPR provides technical assistance and evaluation services to 13 SAVES demonstration projects funded by OCSE (12 states and one tribe), conduct research on the experiences of domestic violence survivors in the child support program, make policy recommendations, and create resources and training for child support professionals nationwide to promote safety and economic security for survivors.