The child support program serves parents in the context of their community. Child support agencies work with community-based organizations to help meet parent needs, and greatly enhance the success of families in our program. Across the country, these partnerships are diverse and center around a variety of issues.
Employment
The child support program can increase the likelihood of regular child support payments by helping the parent who owes support find and keep work and by connecting both parents to resources to help them achieve and maintain economic stability.
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Reentry
Parents who are in prison need child support orders that reflect actual income — both while they are incarcerated and after they return home. The child support program works with partners in the justice and reentry fields to help these parents.
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Family Violence
Child support offers financial independence from an abusive partner for many victims of domestic violence. To promote safe access to child support, OCSS works with state, local, and tribal child support programs to promote safe access to services through collaboration with domestic violence, fatherhood, and child welfare organizations.
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Veterans & Military Families
OCSS works with partners like the Department of Veterans Affairs, the American Bar Association, and their local affiliates to help low-income veterans resolve child support issues and other challenges.
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Fatherhood
Child support can play a powerful role in connecting fathers to their children. By engaging early in the process with fathers who owe support, the child support program can reduce the likelihood that they will fall out of contact with their children or accrue unmanageable child support debts.
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Homelessness
Persons experiencing homelessness are very often eligible for child support services. Through partnerships with community organizations and other agencies, child support can make a big difference by serving the needs of homeless persons and families.
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Parent Education
The child support program can be confusing and intimidating. It is important for child support agencies to work within their communities to help families understand the services available to them. We have resources that can help. Early intervention is key.
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Prevention
Child support education can help prevent the need for child support services by addressing the importance of being emotionally and financially prepared to support a child. Child support programs partner with middle schools, high schools, fatherhood programs, pregnancy prevention programs, and teen development programs to reach young adults.
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