ACF Awards $3.9 Million to Minnesota to Assess Equity in Child Support

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded $3.9 million to the child support agency in Minnesota to assess equity within the child support program. The demonstration project, Advancing Equity in Child Support, will also help other child support programs examine their own policies and practices.  By building equitable child support policies and practices that treat everyone with fairness, children and families have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

This award will incorporate a comprehensive, evidence-informed understanding of the role of equity in delivering child support policies and services. “We believe equity is an essential part of administering child support to ensure we have quality services and fair outcomes,” said ACF Office of Child Support Services Commissioner Tanguler Gray. “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.”

The Advancing Equity in Child Support grant awarded to Minnesota funds a collaborative effort including Michigan, California and several other participating states and tribes in order to strategically advance equity in child support programs. The project will collect and use quantitative data to assess how parents of color are affected by the program. For example, are parents of color who owe child support subject to harsher enforcement methods than their white counterparts? Additionally, it will gather qualitative data regarding experiences in Minnesota from program participants and parents who could benefit from child support services.

Finally, the project aims to build knowledge and cultural competency for child support professionals through diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) training and assessments. Minnesota will also create a “DEI in Action Playbook” to share with the participating states and tribes to use in conducting their own equity assessments for child support programs.

“ACF launched our equity action initiative in August 2021 to pursue a robust approach to advance equity across our programs and processes,” said Jeff Hild, ACF acting assistant secretary. “This funding opportunity demonstrates our commitment to building a more just, accessible and equitable human services system that treats everyone with fairness.” 

The project period for the Advancing Equity in Child Support demonstration is two years.