Child Support Division Strategic Initiatives

We center the well-being of entire families by intentionally working with all family members in their lives together, regardless of their familial structure.

We collaborate and innovate with our partners to ensure participant and program success.

We acknowledge past systemic harms and work towards positive outcomes for all participants by embedding and advancing equity at all levels of the program.

We aim to consistently deliver a high-quality, responsive, and empathetic experience to program participants.

We support, invest, and resource our staff.

• Integrate whole-family approaches throughout the program, including practice, program, and policy decision-making. The approaches recognize and address the needs of children and adults simultaneously.
• Improve demographic data collection to better understand programmatic disparities and create comprehensive equity goals that reduce disparities in marginalized communities.
• Enhance intergovernmental relationships with Tribal partners to ensure children have the support they need. Provide support and technical assistance to Tribes seeking policy changes and those starting their own child support programs.
• Partner with other programs to develop new strategies that support the needs of families like integrating employment services with child support.
• Continue to analyze and modify enforcement practices in ways that are less harmful and benefit the whole family.
• Build on strategies to improve service to vulnerable populations such as those experiencing domestic violence.
• Work with national partners to advocate for federal performance measure changes more aligned with whole-family systems.

• Solicit feedback and involvement from parents and caretakers and those serving them to ensure the program is meeting family needs.
• Ensure all public facing materials and communication templates contain current information, are easy to find, use plain language and are available in multiple languages.
• Ensure case workers are accessible, responsive and well-trained in customer service skills.
• Pursue statutory changes to maximize the amount of funds that go to families.
• Offer high quality digital tools to make the program more accessible and convenient for families, employers and other partners.

• Create systems and tools to ensure consistent policy interpretation, application, and service delivery.
• Foster program partnership and communications, particularly between counties and Tribes.
• Continue to examine and improve program policies to better meet the needs of families.
• Advocate for consistent funding and capacity to make ongoing technology, business, and customer service improvements.
• Examine participant experience at all stages of the program and make changes to ensure positive and seamless experience across the program.
• Leverage technology to make child support services more efficient and effective.
• Use real-time data to drive decision-making and improve program performance

Uplift and recognize achievements of program staff. 

• Provide opportunities for staff to build relationships across the program and support mental and emotional well-being.
• Create a staff recruitment and retention plan to ensure the program can meet its future workforce needs.
• Ensure technology enhancement efforts enable current and future staff to perform their job duties more effectively.
• Provide opportunities for training and staff development on program management, customer service, empathy, whole-family systems, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.Improve demographic data collection to better understand programmatic disparities and create comprehensive equity goals that reduce disparities in marginalized communities