This MDRC brief is an evaluation of the Behavioral Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) Project in Vermont, a randomized controlled trial. The report, which summarizes trial findings, examines the two key elements of the behavioral intervention that address noncustodial parents. One element was a change in the letters and outreach that parents receive to increase their meeting participation. A second element pertained to structural changes to the meetings that resulted in agreements between the parents. These changes led to the creation of Vermont Office of Child Support Services “Resolution Meetings” that parents attended instead of court-based Case Manager conferences as a result of previous non-compliance.

This Urban Institute report presents ways that young parents (under the age of 25) can balance education and work and offers recommendations on how public policy and educational institutions can support young parents. The report draws from interviews and data analysis from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth.

This research brief from the Office of Child Support Enforcement identifies findings from a five-site Parenting Time Opportunities for Children (PTOC) grant. The grant, awarded to child support agencies in California, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Oregon, was intended to demonstrate how child support agencies can include parenting time orders in child support enforcement actions. The brief describes how increases in noncustodial parenting time, with safeguards in place for child welfare, led to improved relationships and increased compliance with child support payment orders.

The National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families will host a webinar on October 10, 2019 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET to discuss strategies for supporting parents of children with special needs. Presenters will share tips on what parents can do to create a hopeful future for themselves as a couple and for their child. Topics to be covered include strategies parents can use after finding out that their newborn has a developmental disability, and resources for helping later in their child’s transition to adulthood. This webinar is intended for service providers who work with parents as well as parents and guardians themselves. Speakers from the UCLA School of Nursing, University of Utah, and Utah Parent Center will present.

This Urban Institute report reviews how patients can access opioid use disorder treatment at facilities in New Jersey that offer pharmacotherapy as a treatment option. The report summarizes phone survey findings about service availability, wait times, Medicaid coverage for treatment, and county-specific data to assess the demand for treatment options.

This Office of Child Support Enforcement-funded research-to-practice brief, prepared by MDRC, is the first of a series of assessments that share lessons from the implementation of the Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to Contempt model. The brief illustrates the training delivered to child support staff at six sites that have adapted a procedural justice-informed approach with noncustodial parents. The training includes guidance in the principles of procedural justice and its application, the dispute resolution process, mechanisms to respond to domestic violence, and how to utilize trauma-informed practices.

This set of four videos, developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service, highlights success stories among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training (SNAP E&T) program participants. The videos highlight the following themes: Self-Sufficiency, Economic Impact, Fit for Purpose, and New Partnerships.

This Office of Family Assistance dataset identifies combined federal TANF and state maintenance-of-effort (MOE) expenditures at national and state levels. The dataset, which includes tables and national and state pie charts, illustrates how the TANF and MOE funds were used for basic assistance; work, education, and training activities; and child care. The dataset also identifies in tables those funds that were transferred to the Child Care Development Fund.

The National Association of Counties will host the first of a two-part webinar on October 10, 2019 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to review the collection, management, and sharing of data among health and human services and justice systems to address incarcerated persons with mental illness. Subject matter experts from county health and human services and justice systems at the local level will discuss the processes they use to collect, share, integrate, and analyze pertinent data. The second part of this webinar series will be hosted in December 2019.

This Pew Trusts fact sheet profiles Louisiana’s expansion of efforts to provide access to opioid use disorder treatment. The fact sheet details how new legislation requires the Louisiana Department of Health to increase the number of providers to offer medication-assisted treatment and explains how state Medicaid funds can be used to cover case management at hospital settings. Additional legislation in the fact sheet also highlights requirements that the Louisiana Department of Health conduct a needs assessment and develop pathways for opioid treatment programs to receive approval.