The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is committed to supporting the economic and social well-being of children and families. ACF programs aim to empower families, support the development of children, and encourage strong, healthy communities.
This guide provides a listing and details of services for fathers and families.
Successful reentry is one of the greatest challenges facing America today and, especially the future of our children. The greatest predictor of whether a child will wind up in prison is whether his parent(s)— namely, the father—was in prison. Despite the many daunting challenges that fathers face upon their release, connecting them with their children and family is perhaps the most strategic one to address because it breaks the generational nature of crime and incarceration.
For child support to be a reliable source of income for children, parents who are incarcerated need child support orders that reflect actual income. This chart, which reviews practices, laws, and policies in different jurisdictions, is a companion to the “Realistic Child Support Orders for Incarcerated Parents” fact sheet, PAID fact sheet No. 4.
For child support to be a reliable source of income for children, parents who are incarcerated need child support orders that reflect actual income. This fact sheet highlights opportunities to encourage incarcerated parents to engage with the child support system, to reduce or suspend orders during incarceration to avoid arrears, and to offer post-incarceration child support services.
Child Support programs and courts across the country are connecting noncustodial parents to job services as an alternative to jail, which has achieved promising results. Job services are effectively helping parents find work, stay employed, pay child support, and avoid crime - at relatively little cost. This comparative infographic, "Jobs Not Jail", contrasts the impactful cost and benefit differences between the two. It displays how work-oriented services are successfully leveraging and achieving compliance from noncustodial parents who were once unemployed or underemployed. (Author abstract)
This fact sheet highlights outcomes of the Building Assets for Fathers and Families (BAFF) demonstration grant and describes ways that child support agencies and Assets for Independence project staff can collaborate to make asset building strategies available for parents, their children, and other family members. (Author abstract)
This final rule strengthens and updates the child support program by amending existing rules, some of which are 35 years old, to:• Set accurate child support obligations based on the noncustodial parents’ ability to pay;• Increase consistent, on-time payments to families;• Move nonpaying cases to paying status;• Increase the number of noncustodial parents supporting their children;• Improve child support collection rates;• Reduce the accumulation of unpaid and uncollectible child support arrearages; and• Incorporate technological advances and evidence-based standards that support good…
The Final Rule: Flexibility, Efficiency, and Modernization in Child Support Enforcement Programs updates guidelines for setting child support orders at 45 CFR 302.56 and the establishment of child support orders at 45 CFR 303.4. This fact sheet discusses specific revisions made to §§ 302.56(a), 302.56(c)(1), and 303.4(b). The goal of these revisions is to increase reliable child support for children by setting child support orders based on the noncustodial parent’s earnings, income, or other evidence of ability to pay. Orders set beyond a parent’s ability to pay can lead to unintended…
As the federal agency responsible for funding and oversight of state child support programs, OCSE has an interest in ensuring that: constitutional principles articulated in the U.S. Supreme Court Decision in Turner v. Rogers, 564 U.S.___, 131 S Ct. 2507 (2011) are carried out in the child support program; child support case outcomes are just and comply with due process; and enforcement proceedings are cost-effective and in the best interest of the child. The Turner case provides OCSE and state child support agencies with an opportunity to evaluate the appropriate use of civil contempt and to…
The goal of the final rule revisions is to increase consistent child support payments for children by setting child support orders based on the noncustodial parent’s earnings, income, or other evidence of ability to pay, including for incarcerated parents. Children do not benefit when their parents engage in a cycle of nonpayment, underground income generation, and re-incarceration. Support orders modified for incarcerated parents, based on their current ability to pay, result in less debt accrual, more formal employment, more child support payments, and less need for enforcement after they…
