The child support program is a good investment.

See this new paper.

Child Support ReportOffice of Child Support Enforcement http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/css

Vol. 39 No. 1 January 2017

SPOTLIGHT — SUCCESS THROUGH CHANGE

US Ratifies the 2007 Hague Child Support ConventionAnne Miller, OCSE

On August 30, 2016, President Obama made history when he signed the Instrument of Ratification for the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child

Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (commonly referred to in child support circles as the Hague treaty or Convention). With this significant achievement, the Hague treaty entered into force for the United States on January 1, 2017. This is the first global child support treaty that the United States has ever ratified. It contains groundbreaking provisions that, for the first time on a worldwide scale, establish uniform, inexpensive, and effective procedures for the processing of international child support cases.

U.S. implementation of ConventionRatification and implementation of the Hague treaty has been an ongoing process over the last decade. In 2007, after five years of negotiation, the Hague Conference unanimously supported ratification of the Hague treaty. The United States played a key role by leading discussions and being the first country to sign the Convention, signifying its support for treaty ratification.

The next step was to develop uniform law for states to use for Convention cases. The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act was amended in 2008 (UIFSA 2008) and contains provisions that expressly apply to Convention cases. In 2014, Congress passed Public Law 113-183 that required every state, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, to enact UIFSA 2008. Once all states and territories had passed UIFSA 2008, the president was able to sign the treaty and it is now in effect in the United States.

More families with supportThere are approximately 15 million child support cases in the United States, including an estimated 150,000 international cases. Thanks to the treaty, as the number of international cases grows, this critical tool will help ensure that children receive support regardless of the country where their parents reside. As of January 1, 2017, the United States now has a treaty relationship with 32 countries where the Convention is already in force, including the European Union.

This helps U.S. families because Convention countries must establish child support obligations as well as enforce existing orders. In addition, Convention countries must provide cost-free assistance in these cases. This means more U.S. families will receive child support without having to pay attorney fees to establish and enforce support orders in Convention countries.

The Convention is an incredible advance over the status quo. It provides a legal framework and administrative procedures that are both ground breaking and results-oriented. U.S. ratification of the Hague Child Support Convention means the United States will be party to an international child support system that is, in the words of the Convention, “accessible, prompt, efficient, cost-effective, responsive, and fair.”For details on The Hague treaty, read this issue's Special Supplement starting on page 11 and visit the OCSE International webpage.

1 USRatifiesthe2007HagueChildSupportConvention

2 Commissioner’sVoice– SuccessThroughChange

3 PlanningForYourSuccession

4 Wyoming—MovingForward

5 PATrainingInstituteCelebrates15thAnniversary

6 WashingtonStateIncreasesModificationRequests

7 DCLaunchesBehavioralInterventionsGrant

8 ProceduralJusticeGrantBegins

9 UsingTrauma-InformedServicesinChildSupport

10 ReachingParentsthroughSocialMedia

11 Expanded2007HagueChildSupportConventionCoverage

Inside this issue

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2 Child Support Report January 2017

COMMISSIONER’S VOICE

Success through Change

The child support program has “change” baked into its culture.

Sometimes change is incremental, building on the past and adapting to the future. Sometimes change turns the program in a new direction. Child support professionals constantly strive to improve performance and maintain

a can-do attitude. They learn about what works in other jurisdictions and then they try it at home.

It is a poignant time of change for me as the Obama administration and my appointment as OCSE commissioner come to an end. As I prepare to leave my position this week, I am filled with gratitude for the men and women in our program who do their very best to carry out our mission of obtaining child support for children. The job requires adapting to changing family needs and making adjustments in the way we do business. Child support professionals learn more than they would like sometimes about deteriorating relationships between parents. It can be a challenging and emotionally taxing job, one that requires persistence yet sensitivity to family pain. Sometimes it is a thankless job, so let me thank you. I am proud of you, and proud to have served as your commissioner.

We have accomplished a great deal together over the past eight years. In 2009, at the beginning of my term, I set four goals.

1 Incorporate a family-centered framework into child support policy and practice.

2 Support the efforts of state programs to increase program efficiency through technology.

3 Support tribal program growth.

4 Prepare for generational change within OCSE.

Let’s take stock. The child support program reached a new historical high in 2015 on every performance measure after recovering from a deep economic recession and program funding cuts. Going forward, we have a clear road map to the future that includes more realistic support orders, more effective case investigation strategies, and evidence-based early intervention and case management approaches. We’ve also increased service partnerships, and developed alternative dispute resolution processes such as case conferencing and problem-solving courts.

We have a growing tribal program and international caseload, and every state is now operating under the same interstate jurisdictional laws. Although state systems are aging, they use the child support portal to connect across state lines as never before.

Here are just a few highlights of our accomplishments. We:

• Implemented a national strategic plan to enforce and facilitate payment of child support;

• Published a final rule to increase case investigation and procedural fairness in child support processes;

• More than doubled the number of tribal child support programs;

• Implemented the Hague treaty for international enforcement;

• Updated interstate policies and forms;• Implemented the child support portal that changed

the way we communicate in interstate cases; • Built the award-winning Model Tribal System; • Issued rules to improve data safeguarding,

intergovernmental case management, technology investment planning, and tribal automation;

• Implemented electronic wage withholding;• Strengthened the federal tax offset process;• Used data and research to inform program policy

and practice;• Launched major research demonstration projects

to test noncustodial parent employment programs, alternatives to incarceration, behavioral economics, parenting time, tribal innovations, asset-building, university research partnerships, and others;

• Upgraded our grant-making process;• Improved OCSE customer service and

communications — including designing a mobile-friendly website;

• Increased efficiency through automated state plan, annual reporting, and audit procedures; and

• Collaborated effectively with a range of other federal, state, and tribal agencies, such as with the U.S. Department of Justice to help re-entering parents obtain employment and support their children following incarceration, and with the American Bar Association and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to address the support obligations of homeless veteran parents.

But the thing that gratifies me the most is that we are seeing the real parents behind the cases. We know that our job is to collect the money, but to do so in a way that is in the best interests of children and families and helps put parents on the path toward regular payments every month. Research has shown us that helping unemployed and under-employed noncustodial parents get back on their feet and working productively is a huge step toward consistent child support payments for families and reduced costs for taxpayers.

You are awesome public servants. I wish you all the very best as the work of the child support program continues to move forward. Vicki Turetsky

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SPOTLIGHT — SUCCESS THROUGH CHANGE

Planning For Your SuccessionByron Van Patten, Administrator, Nebraska Child Support Program

It’s sobering to realize how many child support administrators and managers are nearing retirement.

The loss of their knowledge and experience can have an immediate and detrimental impact on your program’s operation.

Protect your jurisdiction by developing an effective succession plan involving every manager and supervisor so those who follow are adequately prepared.

Since we rarely select our successor, it’s critical to have a succession process in place so as many others as possible within your organization are ready to assume your position. Informing staff about your responsibilities results in a smoother transition, whether or not they become your replacement. Fully trained employees also serve as good backups when you’re out of the office.

My predecessor was a good administrator who was very open with his staff. I worked for him for over eight years and met with him daily to discuss our work.

Yet, when I took his place, I had little idea about how he handled many of his duties such as budgeting, federal reports, and legislation proposals. I didn’t even understand his filing system. Initially, I wished I had asked him more questions, but understanding his vision helped guide me through my early challenges.

Succession planning isn’t just a document but a way

of doing business.

Since I’m nearing the end of my career, I’m sharing information about my duties and responsibilities with my management team. While it takes time, it helps prepare one of them to step into my shoes and contributes to a healthy transition. They also know what resources are on the federal websites, what information is available on the child support directors website, and how other directors can be helpful.

Succession planning isn’t just a document but a way of doing business. For example, organization is an essential aspect of a good succession plan. Several years ago, I created an electronic file with the history of Nebraska’s child support program, an explanation of the legislative process, and a listing of our legislative proposals. I also included information about our computer system, report due dates, program statistical reports, contractual information, and other data that would have helped me eight years ago. I keep that folder updated and staff know where it is and what’s in it.

That is just part of full succession planning. If you want to build a more complete plan for your office, consider the following steps.

• Hire staff capable of taking your position when you retire. Provide the best possible training. Despite today’s tight budgets, invest in the future by sending staff to state and national conferences. You’ll find them beneficial to your office and your program.

• Let staff run with new projects — with the understanding that they will make mistakes. We learn far more from our mistakes than our successes.

It’s too easy to procrastinate rather than plan for succession. As child support directors, urgent day-to-day problems often distract us from planning for the future. In the case of succession planning, the future is now.For information, contact Byron Van Patten at Byron.VanPatten@Nebraska.Gov.

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Wyoming — Moving ForwardKristie Arneson, Director, Wyoming Department of Family Services, Child Support Program; Jill Kiester, District Manager, Natrona County Child Support; Chad Edinger, OCSE

Over the last several years, Wyoming has faced significant change and its related challenges. Wyoming

Child Support Program leaders have recently undertaken efforts to simultaneously address these areas:

• Budget cuts related to declines in the state’s largest industries;

• Caseload declines;• Potential increases in order reviews and

modifications, and related efforts to consistently base orders on ability to pay; and

• A continuous commitment to improve the percent of child support collected in the month it is due.

In spite of funding cuts and caseload declines, child support program leaders are using some creative thinking to improve performance. They developed and implemented a new strategic plan and have several initiatives underway including:

• Expanding their use of marketing and outreach tools to bring in parents and caretakers who need services such as order modifications;

• Using motivational interviewing to determine the parents’ needs and build their buy-in for solutions and goals; and

• Volunteering to pilot an OCSE technical assistance toolkit currently in development.

Expanding marketing and outreach toolsEven though Wyoming is experiencing a shrinking economy, the child support caseload has been decreasing. Managers felt that there were important services some families were not aware of, such as order and paternity establishment, and there were other services families were not using, such as order modification. They needed a new way to market all of their services, so they developed an outreach campaign and new logo to educate the public and increase their caseload as a result.

One of the first marketing efforts was a movie theatre ad. It is currently running in many Wyoming theatres.

Families will see posters and bathroom advertisements throughout the state. There are commercials running on radio and a streaming music service. Airport advertisements should begin this spring. The state even has a commercial posted on YouTube.

Thanks to Wyoming’s weekly Facebook posts and ads, officials have also increased their Facebook followers. Districts are collecting data regarding the sources of new cases.

Motivational interviewingOfficials started testing a new program in Natrona County called motivational interviewing. When customers walk in the door, caseworkers use motivational interviewing techniques to communicate with parents in positive, engaging ways. At its most basic sense, motivational interviewing is a collaborative conversation to strengthen a person’s own motivation for commitment to change; it requires partnership, acceptance, compassion, and evocation. Caseworkers relied on core skills highlighted by the acronym O.A.R.S. — Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflections, and Summaries.

This methodology has elements of family-centered case management, procedural justice principles, and behavioral economics insights. It uses client-centered methods that get parents to identify goals and ways to move forward so they achieve those outcomes. In other words, the parents own the plan, so the caseworkers are not constantly telling or reminding them about the things they have to do.

Managers started by training staff and using role playing to help them understand how the parents feel. The child support office changed some of the legal language in their forms and written communication to make them easier to understand. Caseworkers use the techniques in every area including intake, establishment, enforcement, and case reviews. Staff can adapt different techniques to different situations. Caseworkers have five general questions they use to help with change and guide conversations.

• Why would you want to make this change?• How might you go about it in order to succeed?• What are the three best reasons for you to do it?• How important is it for you to do it?• So, what do you think you’ll do?

The program has been very successful. Parents have told staff, “No one has ever listened before.” They have also heard parents say, “I feel like you people care. I feel like I am getting help.” To reinforce the work, caseworkers provide positive follow-up. They contact customers who follow their plan successfully to let them know what a great job they are doing.

5 Child Support Report January 2017

Caseworkers also have positive things to say such as, “I can’t imagine going back to the old way of talking to or interacting with customers.” Natrona County believes motivational interviewing helped it bring in over $400,000 for families. Caseworkers have made positive contacts with more than 800 customers.

Thanks to promising results and positive feedback, offices across the state are beginning to use this new method of interaction. Officials recently offered training to representatives from all of the state’s judicial districts and the Eastern Shoshone and Northern

Arapaho child support programs. This summer, they plan to develop a statewide training program, a method to capture customer feedback, and a staff survey.

Piloting a new technical assistance toolkitOCSE has been designing, developing, and testing a set of technical assistance tools and resources and packaging them into a helpful toolkit. OCSE regional staff will be able to use them when they work with state and tribal child support programs on evidence-based approaches in practice areas

such as employment, order setting, distribution, parenting time, and domestic violence protocols.

Wyoming volunteered to pilot early versions of the toolkit for the employment practice area. Officials provided beneficial feedback and input for toolkit development.

Through these three coordinated efforts, and many others, the state continues to take significant steps toward breaking the cycle of children growing up without the support they need and deserve!For more information, contact Chad Edinger at chad.edinger@acf.hhs.gov .

PA Training Institute Celebrates 15th AnniversaryRobert Patrick, Director, Pennsylvania Bureau of Child Support Enforcement

It started as a two-week new hire orientation course and evolved into a cornerstone of the Keystone State’s child

support enforcement operations. The Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement Training Institute (PACSETI) debuted in July 2001. Today, it offers online training and resources, face-to-face classroom instruction, and individualized support for all state Domestic Relations Section staff within the County Court of Common Pleas.

PACSETI covers the full spectrum of child support topics. It provides online basic establishment and enforcement training for new hires as well as specialized courses in advanced topics such as tax return analysis and complex intergovernmental issues. The program also offers professional and management development courses — including Lean Six Sigma — to help future child support leaders develop supervisory and project management skills.

The institute is a collaborative effort between the state Bureau of Child Support Enforcement, the Domestic Relations Association of Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania State University Justice and Safety Institute. Each stakeholder provides input on training material design, development, and implementation. This enables staff to quickly meet emerging needs, identify where to focus training efforts, and determine the best way to deliver that material.

Face-to-face training is one of the most significant workforce development costs. The three organizations created a robust catalog of online training and distance learning material over the last four years to provide operational efficiency. By 2015, the institute's 140 distance learning courses helped online enrollments increase 44 percent. This provided program-wide savings on training-related travel expenses.

While saving money is great, the staff recognizes the training value of in-classroom discussion and face-to-face interaction. Research indicates that distance learning must preserve interpersonal connections to be as effective as classroom training, so PACSETI uses several multimedia tools including telephone and video conferencing to meet participants’ needs.

The institute’s array of training delivery mechanisms contribute directly to Pennsylvania’s child support success. In 2015, PACSETI offered nearly 200 courses in a variety of formats. Each one is adaptable to each unique situation — whether it is a major system implementation or a change to policy and procedure — while maintaining consistency and quality throughout the material. This flexibility allows the program to train staff quickly and efficiently. Pennsylvania’s workers incorporate new systems and ideas into their business process almost seamlessly, thanks in large part to the effectiveness of the training offered through PACSETI.

For more information, contact Kevin Guistwite, Director, Division of Program Development & Evaluation, Pennsylvania Bureau of Child Support Enforcement at kguistwite@pa.gov or John Sankey, Program Manager, Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement Training Institute, Penn State Justice and Safety Institute at jws31@psu.edu.

10% 9%

20%

30%

40%41%

50%

Before After

Percentage of incarcerated parents requesting modification before and after intervention

6 Child Support Report January 2017

GRANT UPDATES

Washington State Increases Modification RequestsEmily Schmitt, ACF Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation

Incarcerated parents have limited ability to make child support payments while they are in prison, which can

lead to accumulation of significant child support debt. In Washington State, the Division of Child Support (DCS) recognized that few eligible incarcerated parents were requesting order modification reviews which could potentially lead to a downward revision of their order and minimize their debt accrual. In 2014, Washington DCS began working with ACF’s Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) project to try to improve those numbers. Staff developed and tested an intervention designed to increase the number of incarcerated noncustodial parents who applied for modifications to their child support orders.

The BIAS team worked with DCS to design and implement a behaviorally informed communications strategy to encourage incarcerated noncustodial parents to apply for order modifications. The campaign also made it easier for them to follow through, complete an application, and provide all of the necessary information for timely modification processing.

• DCS first sent a simple, electronic message through a state system for incarcerated individuals notifying parents that they could apply for a modification and that they would receive an application packet in the mail.

• Shortly after sending the electronic message, DCS staff mailed a written notice that told parents to check their electronic account for the message.

• Following the written letter, DCS automatically mailed modification packets to incarcerated noncustodial parents so they would not have to request one.

• DCS also prepopulated the application with information it had available — such as the parent’s name, address, and case number — to make the completion process easier for parents.

• The modification packet included a one-page tip sheet written in simple language and tailored to incarcerated parents. It provided suggestions for filling out the forms such as how to address questions that might not have a straightforward answer.

• They included a postage-paid, pre-addressed envelope so parents could easily return the forms.

• Finally, DCS sent follow-up electronic messages to parents reminding them to submit the forms.

A new report from ACF’s Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Simplify, Notify, Modify: Using Behavioral Insights to Increase Incarcerated Parents’ Requests for Child Support Modifications, describes the intervention and findings from the experiment that tested this new strategy. Researchers randomly assigned incarcerated noncustodial parents in WA to either receive the new outreach messages or the status quo level of outreach. The results demonstrated that the intervention increased the percentage of incarcerated parents requesting a modification from 9 to 41 percent, a 32 percentage point increase. Additionally, the intervention resulted in a 16 percentage point increase in the number of incarcerated parents receiving a modification to their child support orders within three months.

Incarcerated parents have limited ability to make child support payments while they are in prison, which can lead

to accumulation of significant child support debt.

The BIAS project was the first major opportunity to apply a behavioral economics lens to programs that serve poor and vulnerable families in the United States. Sponsored by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, the project applied behavioral insights to issues related to the design and implementation of social service programs and policies. The ultimate goal was to learn how programs can use behavioral science tools to improve the well-being of low-income children, adults, and families. MDRC is leading the BIAS project in collaboration with MEF Associates and academic behavioral science experts.

To receive updates on the project, sign up for the Behavioral Buzz newsletter.

Final HealthCare.Gov 2017 DeadlineIf you missed the HealthCare.Gov Open Enrollment Period deadline to sign up for a 2017 health plan, you still have a chance to enroll for coverage. You can apply by Tuesday, January 31, for coverage that will start in March.

If you do not enroll by Jan. 31, you will have to wait for a Special Enrollment Period. According to the HealthCare.Gov website, “You qualify for a Special Enrollment Period if you’ve had certain life events, including losing health coverage, moving, getting married, having a baby, or adopting a child.”

Always remember, you can enroll in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program any time of year, whether you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period or not. The InsureKidsNow website has more information.

7 Child Support Report January 2017

DC Launches Behavioral Interventions GrantJustin Latus, District of Columbia Child Support Services Division

The District of Columbia’s Child Support Services Division (CSSD) launched a Behavioral

Interventions for Child Support Services (BICS) trial in October 2016. CSSD received a Section 1115 grant to test how using behavioral insights to tweak business processes and communications can improve program results. CSSD’s intervention aims to engage custodial parents new to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseload earlier in the process.

In cases referred by the TANF agency, CSSD staff must work with parents to collect information to take the case to court for paternity and order establishment. When the Technical Assistance and Evaluation team (TAE) analyzed child support cases from 2014, it found that half of custodial parents receiving TANF did not attend their child support intake appointment. This prevented their cases from moving forward.

CSSD is testing whether better messaging influences more custodial parents to attend intake hearings. The division is using behaviorally informed messaging that more clearly identifies the consequences of failing to participate and the benefits that other parents experienced because they worked with CSSD. If they are successful, the division should see an increase in court-ready cases and a decrease the number of families receiving TANF sanctions because they failed to work with the child support program.

To prepare for the launch, the TAE team traveled to D.C. to train CSSD staff. The cases involved in this study are divided into a control group and an intervention group. The control group receives the normal CSSD communications while the intervention group receives new letters created by CSSD and TAE. These new letters are in color and contain socially influential messages that have been proven to spark action by customers in previous studies.

Two CSSD specialists handle parents in the intervention group while two others manage the control group. The intervention group specialists code the records so the BICS staff can send the new documents to the custodial parents.

The intervention materials include a revised appointment letter and a reminder letter that lets the custodial parents know that we are looking forward to

their upcoming visits. If custodial parents miss scheduled appointments, they receive a missed appointment post card that stresses the financial support their child will miss out on along with an invitation to reschedule. BICS staff follow up with customers via telephone to reschedule missed appointments.

CSSD will work with the TAE team to determine whether there is a difference in outcomes between the intervention and control groups. They will enhance the intervention in 2017 by using text communications to remind custodial parents in the intervention group that they have an appointment coming up. CSSD will roll out a final intervention in late 2017 to test approaches to bring in custodial parents who were previous TANF referrals but were sanctioned because they failed to give the child support office information on their cases.For more information, contact BICS site manager Kimberly Niono at Kimberly.Niono@dc.gov.

8 Child Support Report January 2017

Procedural Justice Grant BeginsTanya Miller, OCSE

The latest national, cross-site, federal demonstration grant is Procedural Justice-Informed Alternatives to

Contempt (PJAC). OCSE’s overall goals are to increase reliable payment of support, increase parents’ perception of fairness in child support processes, and reduce costs associated with the routine use of civil contempt actions when parents lack the ability to pay.

OCSE awarded grants in September 2016 to six project sites: Arizona, California, Michigan, Virginia, and Franklin and Stark counties in Ohio. Georgia is the evaluation grantee for this five-year project.

In December, the grantees, evaluators, and OCSE project officers convened in Washington, D.C., for a kick off meeting. Grantees spent two days learning about procedural justice concepts and applications, grant management, and randomized control trial evaluations. They also shared their project intervention ideas.

Robyn Mazur, director of Gender and Justice Initiatives at the Center for Court Innovation, conducted a procedural justice workshop called Respect Matters: How Fair Treatment Promotes Compliance. The grantees also had an opportunity to hear from Illinois Child Support Director Pamela Lowry about her state’s experience implementing alternatives to contempt. She explained that after the 2011 Turner v. Rogers U.S. Supreme Court ruling, Illinois adopted new policies and procedures based on procedural justice practices. The state also shifted its approach from civil contempt to other collection tools.

As a result, Illinois reduced the number of contempt petitions filed in 2016 to just under 1,600 compared to nearly 6,000 filed in 2010. The state collected $430,000 on the 2016 petitions compared to $500,000 in 2010 and the average collection per case increased from $83 to $269. The state still uses civil contempt in cases where administrative enforcement tools are unsuccessful and the obligor has income yet willfully refuses to pay support. But, Lowry said that using contempt deliberately and not routinely is the best practice in collecting child support for families.

PJAC grantees discussed their current contempt processes and presented their ideas for the alternative approach they will try during this demonstration. OCSE gave grantees a draft model of the case flow the sites should use as their standard process so the evaluators can measure and analyze the demonstrations consistently for each site. The kick off meeting concluded with the evaluation team meeting with individual sites.For more information, read PJAC Press Release 10/5/2016 or contact OCSE Program project officers Tanya Miller, tanya.miller@acf.hhs.gov, and Michael Hayes, michael.hayes@acf.hhs.gov. For information on the evaluation, contact Project Officer Elaine Sorensen at elaine.sorensen@acf.hhs.gov

PJAC grant awardees in December 2016 kick-off meeting.

A trauma-informed office of child support professionals focuses on physical, psychological, and emotional safety for trauma survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.

9 Child Support Report January 2017

Using Trauma-Informed Services in Child SupportChanda Johnson, OCSE

Many individuals experience trauma during childhood that affects the way they interact in adulthood. It can also

affect the way customers respond to our services and how they interact with our program.

The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study — an investigation on emotional, physical, and sexual childhood abuse conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kaiser Permanente — confirms the widespread effects of childhood trauma. Almost two-thirds of study participants reported at least one childhood trauma and more than one in five reported three or more adverse childhood experiences.

Not all scars are physical. Individuals may be responding today with yesterday’s fear because of relational and emotional trauma from their past.

Trauma is triggered. Often, well-meaning caregivers and social service providers can cause further damage because they do not understand the impact the original trauma had on the victim.

As a child support professional, you may find that the trauma-informed approach principles developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration will help you understand why some clients respond the way they do. When you recognize trauma triggers, you can improve your service delivery. They remind you to assess the needs of the customer so you can provide the right services for that individual.

When we judge a client’s behavior without recognizing the impact of what happened to a person, we sometimes blame the victim, which can damage trust and communication. It does not make trauma victims more accountable; it harms them further and makes them less capable of meeting requirements.

Trauma-informed services reflect six key principles:• Safety• Trustworthiness and transparency• Peer support• Collaboration and mutuality• Empowerment, voice, and choice• Cultural, historical, and gender issues

“The goal of working with those who have experienced trauma is to first make them feel safe,” said LaShawn Scroggins, the OCSE training branch chief. “A paradigm shift to change the conversation would address the impact of trauma on trust and stable relationships.”

Scoggins offers four ways to reflect the key principles.• Establish a working relationship with the family so

that you can begin to understand and respect its history and triggers.

• Create a physical and psychologically safe environment for parents and staff.

• Focus on child and family engagement, empowerment, and collaboration; include the mental health community and other referrals.

• Create a paradigm shift in the conversation based on the understanding of the effects of trauma.

Although trauma-informed services are not treatment, using the concepts allow us to recognize trauma, integrate knowledge about trauma into policies and procedures, avoid re-traumatization, and provide available resources so they can seek treatment. A trauma-informed office of child support professionals focuses on physical, psychological, and emotional safety for trauma survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.For more information, review the Resource Guide to Trauma-Informed Human Services on the ACF website or contact LaShawn Scroggins at LaShawn.Scroggins@acf.hhs.gov.

Image courtesy of Flickr user EaglElla, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Innovation in Case ManagementOCSE granted an exemption to the Indiana Department of Child Services, Child Support Bureau, so it could use federal incentive money in an innovative way. The bureau purchased cell phones so several county prosecuting attorney offices could distribute them to noncustodial parents in a private sector case management program.

Caseworkers have used the mobile phones to help them manage cases in several ways. For example, the phones help them identify and target noncustodial parents who are unemployed or experiencing other circumstances that impair their ability to pay child support. They use the phones to help determine whether participants have barriers that may make it difficult to comply with a child support order, such as mental health problems, substance abuse or addiction issues, and circumstances that could affect the parent’s employability. Caseworkers can provide referrals to local social services and support the noncustodial parent through job readiness programs such as skills assessments, resume preparation, and job interview skills development.

Cynthia Longest, Indiana’s child support director, says that early results from the first 60 days of the program showed great promise. The employment rate for the program participants went from zero to nearly 60 percent. New income withholding orders accounted for 95 percent of the child support payments and 90 percent of the participants remained enrolled. The cell phones are key to maintaining regular communication with the program participants, helping to keep them engaged. Indiana anticipates that it will be able to serve approximately 600 participants by the end of the current federal fiscal year.

Child Support Report Child Support Report is published monthly by the Office of Child Support Enforcement. We welcome articles and high-quality digital photos to consider for publication. We reserve the right to edit for style, content and length, or not accept an article. OCSE does not endorse the practices or individuals in this newsletter. You may reprint an article in its entirety (or contact the author or editor for permission to excerpt); please identify Child Support Report as the source.

Mark Greenberg Acting Assistant Secretary for Children and Families

Vicki Turetsky Commissioner, OCSE

Shawyn DrainDirector, Division of Customer Communications

Kim DanekEditorkim.danek@acf.hhs.gov

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MEDIA MATTERS

Reaching Parents through Social MediaGretchen Tressler, OCSE

The shift is happening! More than ever before, Americans are logging on to social media platforms to

view and share information, according to the Pew report Social Media Usage: 2005-2015. To reach parents directly, child support agencies are finding smart ways to connect through social media.

Who is your online audience?Women who make up the majority of custodial parents we serve use Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Men use LinkedIn and Twitter more, but — like most adult internet users under the age of 64 — they are also on Facebook. Hispanics, Latinos, and African-Americans prefer Instagram. More social media users live in suburban or urban areas and have a higher income.

Many people like to read about family-related information on their mobile devices rather than desktops, according to technology marketers. Additionally, adults under 30 like to check their social media profiles using their smartphones.

Your outreach, one post at a timeTo connect with parents using social media, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. You can follow the example of other child support and partner agencies. Ohio’s Cuyahoga Department Job and Family Services shares information with parents on Facebook. The Alaska Child Support Services Division posts a variety of information on Facebook and Twitter.

Here are a few tips: • Make positive, frequent, short, useful updates.• Share info about special events, education and job

programs, closures, and videos.• Have a Frequently Asked Questions section that

contains your top information.• Return the favor and “like,” “follow,” or “retweet”

your fans.• Keep posting! Social media users want to know

more about your services.

Remember, those who earn less tend to have limited Internet access, so be sure to share information you post online in hard copy form, too. Do your part to bridge the “digital divide” by informing parents about places where they can go online, like local libraries and public Wi-Fi spots. For more information, contact Gretchen Tressler at gretchen.tressler@acf.hhs.gov

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11 Child Support Report January 2017

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT

Expanded 2007 Hague Child Support Convention Coverage

On August 30, 2016, President Obama made history when he signed the Instrument of Ratification for

the Hague Convention on the International Recovery of Child Support and Other Forms of Family Maintenance (commonly referred to in child support circles as the Hague treaty or Convention). With this significant achievement, the Hague treaty became effective for the United States on January 1, 2017. This is the first global child support treaty that the United States has ever ratified. It contains groundbreaking provisions that, for the first time on a worldwide scale, establish uniform, inexpensive, and effective procedures for the processing of international child support cases.

U.S. implementation of ConventionRatification and implementation of the Hague treaty has been an ongoing process over the last decade. In 2007, after five years of negotiation, the Hague Conference unanimously supported ratification of the Hague treaty. The United States played a key role by leading discussions and being the first country to sign the Convention, signifying its support for treaty ratification.

The next step was to develop uniform law for states to use for Convention cases. The Uniform Interstate Family Support Act was amended in 2008 (UIFSA 2008) and contains provisions that apply to Convention cases. In 2014, Congress passed Public Law 113-183 that required every state, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, to enact UIFSA 2008. Once all states and territories had done so, the president was able to sign the treaty and it is now in effect in the United States.

More families with supportThere are approximately 15 million child support cases in the United States, including an estimated 150,000 international cases. Thanks to the treaty, as the number of international cases grows, this critical tool will help ensure that children receive support regardless of the country where their parents reside.

In the past, the United States has been limited to country-by-country negotiations. These types of negotiations are difficult and time-consuming. Previously, the United States only had bilateral arrangements with 14 countries and 12 Canadian provinces. As of January 1, the United States now has a treaty relationship with 32 countries where the Convention is already in force, including the European Union. This helps U.S. families because Convention countries must establish child support obligations as well as enforce existing orders.

Main features of the Convention

Cost-free servicesOne of the failures of prior multi-national child support treaties was the lack of free services. In international cases, attorney fees and court costs can exceed the amount of support collected. Under the Hague Convention, treaty countries are required to provide free legal assistance in child support cases. Child support agencies in the United States already provide such assistance through the child support program. Now other treaty countries must provide free services to United States residents.

Expedited procedures for enforcing support ordersUnder prior treaties, procedures for recognition and enforcement of existing support orders were dependent upon a country’s domestic laws. That often meant extensive reviews by a foreign court and long enforcement delays. The Convention will greatly speed up the enforcement of U.S. orders. It limits the circumstances under which a court can review and object to an order. It requires that countries recognize U.S. orders unless a respondent raises a challenge in a timely manner. It also limits the objections that respondents may raise. The defenses are very similar to those now allowed under United States law.

Recognition of U.S. due process requirementsThe United States did not join prior multi-national treaties because they required the United States to recognize orders where personal jurisdiction was based on contacts between the creditor (custodial parent) and the forum. Based on Supreme Court decisions, in order to satisfy U.S. due process, there must be sufficient contacts between the respondent debtor (noncustodial parent) and the forum. The Hague treaty allows a country to make a reservation that it will not recognize and enforce an order based on creditor-based jurisdiction. The United States made this reservation.

The other treaty bases for recognition of orders are also common in the United States The treaty satisfies United States due process requirements of notice and an opportunity to be heard. It allows a respondent to object to recognition of a support order if there was a lack of notice and an opportunity for a hearing, and allows a court to refuse recognition of an order if it is manifestly incompatible with public policy.

12 Child Support Report January 2017

Protection in domestic violence casesThe Convention protects identifying information where there is a risk of harm to the parent or child.

Cooperation of government agenciesEach country ratifying the Convention must designate an office called a central authority that is required to cooperate with the authorities of other Convention countries. That central authority must provide a number of services, including transmitting and receiving child support applications and initiating or helping to initiate proceedings related to such applications. It must also provide appropriate locate assistance, help obtain financial information, facilitate service of documents and ongoing support enforcement, and help establish parentage where necessary to recover support.

Standardized procedures and timeframesWithout a treaty relationship, families face a complicated maze of different countries’ laws, forms, and legal systems. Under the treaty, each country must follow certain procedures to recognize and enforce child support orders. They must meet certain timeframes for allowing a challenge to an order and for providing status updates. Additionally, the Convention recommends countries use standardized forms that provide basic information required in child support cases.

Information about country laws and proceduresBefore a country can become a party to the Convention, it must:

• Provide a description of its laws and procedures concerning support obligations;

• Describe how it will meet its central authority responsibilities;

• Explain how it will provide effective access to services, including cost-free legal assistance; and

• Detail its enforcement laws and procedures.

One way it can provide that information is by completing a standardized country profile. The country profile ensures that there is public access to detailed information about a Convention country’s laws, procedures, legal forms, and its central authority contact information.

Post treaty review and monitoringFor a treaty to be effective there must be assurance that ratifying countries will implement its provisions. The Hague treaty is unique because it provides extensive support and incentives for countries to fully live up to their treaty obligations. It requires that special commissions periodically review the practical operation of the Convention and encourages the development of good practice guides. It also requires countries to cooperate with the Hague Permanent

Bureau in gathering information about the practical implementation of the Convention, including the gathering of statistics and case law.

U.S. leadership in treaty negotiationsThe United States participated in negotiations for the treaty from 2003 to 2007. The delegation included officials from the State Department, OCSE, and the HHS Office of the General Counsel, as well as subject matter experts. In addition to official U.S. delegation members, state and local child support experts participated in treaty negotiations as representatives of various child support and legal organizations. These included the National Child Support Enforcement Association, International Association of Women Judges, International Bar Association, International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, International Society of Family Law, and the Uniform Law Commission. The delegations from other countries benefited from the experiences of United States representatives of the private bar as well as public child support programs and they learned about effective U.S. enforcement techniques.

U.S. representatives not only participated in treaty deliberations but also played leadership roles on key committees. They served as members of the Convention drafting committee, and co-chairs of the Forms Working Group and Administrative Cooperation Working Group. The co-chair of the Country Profile Committee was a member of the National Child Support Enforcement Association delegation.

The Convention is an incredible improvement over the status quo. It provides a legal framework and administrative procedures that are both ground breaking and results-oriented. U.S. ratification of the Hague Child Support Convention means the United States will be party to an international child support system that is, in the words of the Convention, “accessible, prompt, efficient, cost-effective, responsive, and fair.”For details on the Hague treaty, visit the OCSE International webpage.