Centering Child Well-Being in Child Support Policy
Each August during Child Support Awareness Month, we uplift the importance of ensuring that the income support program serving 1 in 5 children in the US is working for families. Now more than ever, elevated inflation and economic uncertainty make strong and equitable child support policy imperative for the well-being of families who experience the child support system.
We know that there is a better way to approach child support policy to build strong families and communities — and that’s why we’re proud to share with you our updated Centering Child Well-Being in Child Support Policy toolkit. Developed in Partnership with Good+Foundation, this policy toolkit features new analysis, recommendations, and models based on state child support director survey data. The survey found that many states are moving to adopt more pragmatic and family-centered child support policies, including the following innovations:
- Ensuring Families Receive All Child Support Payments
- Implementing Sensible Debt Reduction Strategies
- Setting Realistic and Accurate Child Support Orders
- Providing Employment and Income Supports When Noncustodial Parents Have Barriers to Payment
- Supporting Healthy Co-Parenting
- Providing Equal Access to Justice
Across the country, states, counties, and Tribes have embraced the research and are modernizing their child support programs through holistic, family-centered policies and practices that build partnerships with parents instead of adversarial relationships. They go beyond collecting money to address underlying reasons for nonpayment, ensure that children benefit from payments, and facilitate effective co-parenting.
Family-centered child support policies put children where they belong: at the center of child support policymaking.
In June, Commissioner Tanguler Gray announced that the federal agency which oversees the national child support program would be renamed from the Office of Child Support Enforcement to the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) to underscore the program’s commitment to serve and support whole families. OCSS supports states and Tribes by funding family-centered services like employment programs, fatherhood initiatives, demonstration grants, and reentry partnerships.
Learn more about what states are doing to adopt more pragmatic and family-centered child support policies in the Centering Child Well-Being in Child Support Policy toolkit.
Related Posts
Among the one in five postsecondary students who are parents, there are close to 1.1 million student fathers. This chartbook synthesizes the available research on student fathers to help inform the field’s efforts to support the success of all student parents.
The Aspen Family Prosperity Innovation Community Phase II sought to find and foster the most effective and innovative strategies to accelerate social and economic mobility for working families with low incomes. To do so, we elevated the voices and expertise of families with lived experience, were guided by 14 advisors, and we brought together 20 …
Ascend at the Aspen Institute builds intergenerational family prosperity and well-being for children and the adults in their lives through a two-generation (2Gen) approach. This mean we intentionally and simultaneously focus on supporting children and the adults in their lives together. We center racial, gender, and economic equity in all our work along with the …
Meeting Young Parents in LA County Where They Dream Read More »
We are pleased to share Ascend at the Aspen Institute’s newest report – Reimagining Child Welfare and Realizing a Networked Approach to Family Well-Being. Tapping the expertise and experience of families, Ascend Fellows, and the Ascend Network, this report is the result of our effort that began in 2020 to interrogate the systems, practices, and policies that …
We are delighted to share a new research report in partnership with Child Trends: Data on Families with Low Incomes Across America Can Inform Two-Generation Approaches. In this new analysis, research experts Elizabeth Wildsmith and Marta Alvira-Hammond paint a detailed picture of how families in households with low incomes in the United States have changed …
Data on Families With Low Incomes Across America Read More »
My heart is filled with love and gratitude for the courageous community of leaders our Ascend at the Aspen Institute team works with everyday. And I am simply delighted to share our Ascend at the Aspen Institute Impact & Inspiration Report. In this magazine-style 2022 Impact & Inspiration Report, you will meet just a few of those inspiring …
Through careful and rigorous research, we know that there is a better way to approach child support policy to build strong families and communities.
We have an abundance of talent that is ready to reimagine early childhood and well-being in America for our youngest children and families, but we do not have an abundance of leadership experiences that nurture, propel, and position them as the dynamic leaders our country urgently needs. Leadership that reflects the full diversity and genius …
Charting a New Future for Early Childhood Leadership in America Read More »
As we reimagine public systems and services to work better for families, we have an opportunity to do so in a way that honors the full diversity of family structures, as families themselves define them, and builds upon families’ inherent resilience. This requires an intentional and explicit commitment to applying a gender lens inclusive of …
Bringing Fathers Into Focus for Child & Family Well-Being Read More »
A new report released today by Ascend at the Aspen Institute (Ascend) takes stock of the two-generation (2Gen) field. It analyzes what has been accomplished, the lessons learned, and the opportunities ahead with unprecedented federal expenditures in social policy. The report comes at a time when Americans are more fully recognizing that a system that tolerates social, racial, gender, and economic inequities is on unstable ground — and we are reckoning anew with the history of racism, sexism, and economic exploitation that built them into the foundation of our nation.
Ascend at the Aspen Institute and The Jed Foundation Release a New Mental Health Framework with Recommendations for Supporting the Mental Health of Students Who Are Parents Washington, DC – A new study released today by Ascend at the Aspen Institute (Ascend) and The Jed Foundation (JED) finds that more than two in five (43 percent) …
Infant and parent brains and bodies undergo rapid growth and transformation during the transition to parenting, presenting a unique opportunity to positively impact two generations. In the 2015 report Two Open Windows: Infant and Parent Biologic Change, Drs. Pilyoung Kim and Sarah Watamura (also an Ascend Fellow) of the University of Denver highlighted research supporting …
New Research Shows Parenting Brain Changes in All Caregivers Read More »
Parents are a sizable but often overlooked student population in postsecondary systems. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed new demands on all parents with young children and shed new light on the multiple barriers that student parents face. The Aspen Postsecondary Success for Parents Initiative engaged a diverse group of leaders including parents, researchers, workforce development experts, college presidents, philanthropists, and …
NEW BRIEFS: Strategies and Innovations that Support Student Parents Read More »
Dealing with hurdles to access quality healthcare takes parents away from work and school and limits their ability to increase their own financial resources. Difficulty tracking the needs and outcomes of families makes it even harder to forge a clear path toward economic mobility. To address these barriers, Ascend at the Aspen Institute gathered state leaders, practitioners, researchers, …
New Brief: Aspen Early Childhood and Health Forum Read More »
This blog is part of Ascend’s Impact Series: stories and stats that illustrate the powerful, tangible impact a two-generation (2Gen) approach can have in building prosperity and opportunity for families. Talking with babies and infants can feel one-sided for many parents. But according to Agape Child and Family Services (Agape), conversations with young children are proven pathways …