At OCSE, we believe equity is an essential part of administering child support to ensure we have quality services and fair outcomes. Our office works to advance racial equity for all, including people of color and others who have been historically underserved, marginalized, and held back by persistent poverty and inequality. You can read about our efforts and commitment to equity in our Equity Action Statement.
Upcoming equity grant
We also know it’s important to support equity work among state and tribal child support offices. We’ve highlighted equity work in the states in previous Child Support Report articles from Colorado, Michigan, and Illinois. Next month, state and tribal programs can apply for the Advancing Equity in Child Support demonstration . The grant recipient of this two-year project will examine child support guidelines, policies, and procedures to address the disproportional access to services.
The recipient will:
- Conduct an equity assessment to gather data on inequities in existing child support policies, programs, and practices. For this assessment, it will be important to engage with other state, tribal, and territorial agencies; equity experts; people with lived experience; and related entities like courts, employment programs, domestic violence organizations, and fatherhood organizations. The recipient will also conduct equity assessments for five to eight other states and tribes.
- Determine the best methods for addressing and mitigating inequities (equity analysis tool or other methods).
- Provide recommendations and model resources for ensuring equity in current and future child support programs, policies, and practices.
I encourage all child support programs to consider applying for this grant to advance equity for all in your state or tribe. When we build equitable child support policies and practices that treat everyone with fairness, it gives the children and families we serve the opportunity to reach their full potential.
You can register on Grants.gov to receive an alert when the Notice of Funding Opportunity is published. For past grant success stories or news on upcoming grants, visit the OCSE Grants page.
Tanguler Gray, Commissioner
This blog gives the commissioner a forum to communicate directly with child support professionals and other partners about relevant topics. The Commissioner’s Voice is reprinted from the March 2023 Child Support Report newsletter.