What Services Does National Council On Child Abuse And Family Violence Provide

Child Support Program Prophylactic Practices

Child back up programs in the late-1990s partnered with domestic violence advocates to come with an arroyo to working with domestic violence victims. The result was a three-pick approach that was tested in Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri and Oregon. The offset selection (or the "greenish lite") of the approach was to fully enforce the support order and deal with the risks, which could be peculiarly dangerous in some instances. The second option ("scarlet lite") was to use for a good cause exemption (discussed above) in TANF cases or forego kid support services altogether in non-TANF cases. The final option ("yellowish light") was a condom informed approach to work with the individual to develop an enforcement program that is tailored to their state of affairs, including the common practices of address protection, advance alarm of back up enforcement remedies and the total abstention of sure enforcement remedies that may put the custodial parent or the child at risk.

A critical element for states to exist able to adopt a safety informed approach to child support is the role of child back up caseworkers and their ability to assist victims of domestic violence within their caseload. Similar to a benchcard, some jurisdictions have created desk cards or guides as a tool to inform caseworkers near all-time and promising practices and considerations when working with domestic violence victims. One example of a desk tool comes from the Oklahoma Section of Human Services - Child Support Services which has adult an extensive Family Violence Desk Guide for its workers. The guide provides staff with tools for recognizing and responding to domestic violence and ensuring victims tin can safely admission child back up services. The federal Office of Kid Back up Enforcement also created a desk-bound menu, Safely Pursuing Child Back up: A Caseworker Desk Carte du jour, which details promising practices for safely pursuing child support, including:

"Universally explicate all kid support plan requirements, the availability of waivers and other safeguards, and the full range of enforcement strategies.

Display posters and other literature in the office that reflect an sensation of domestic violence, encourage disclosures, and provide resource and referrals for victims.

Provide clear and accurate information almost kid support services and the status of a kid back up example when domestic violence is identified. Walk through the typical "life of a instance" and item enforcement actions that can be taken when child support is not paid, including if, when and how they will be notified prior to enforcement actions.

Provide acceptable time for a parent to make decisions almost proceeding with child support service and go out conclusion-making regarding child support services up to the parent. Provide information about the services of local domestic violence agencies.

Identify enforcement options whenever possible. Enforcement does not demand to be all or goose egg.

Pay attention to victim safety during part visits, hearings, and other proceedings by minimizing contact between the parents and arranging for security or sheriffs to exist available when requested, including to escort a survivor to and from her transportation."

Some other critical component for state child support agencies to be able to take a "yellow low-cal" or condom informed arroyo to providing child support services to victims is ongoing collaboration with country and local domestic violence experts.

Collaborations Between Kid Support Agencies and Domestic Violence Experts

Currently there are few formal collaborations between state child support agencies and country domestic violence coalitions, and typically coordination between these 2 entities develops informally rather than through statute or formal dominion. One endeavor to foster these collaborations comes from the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) which has created a toolkit, Enhancing Safe Access to Child Support: Four-D Program Inventory and Planning Resource, to help child back up programs develop formal partnerships with local domestic violence programs.

Cooperation betwixt state child back up agencies and domestic violence coalitions in the few states where this collaboration does be (including: Washington, Vermont, Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas) has resulted in a range of policy and procedural changes to increase survivor safe in the child back up program. 1 notable model of a child support and domestic violence collaboration that is making a concerted effort to provide safe access to the child support system is in Texas, where the state's Become Child Back up Safely is a collaboration between the Texas Office of the Attorney Full general's Kid Support Division and the Texas Council on Family Violence. Information technology offers a secure website with information nigh applying for child back up, TANF, Medicaid, child care services, and housing assistance, along with information almost preparing for court and the court process and following or modifying a child back up order. The collaboration has as well resulted in extensive specialized training for child support case workers and attorneys, review and extensive revisions to kid back up policies and procedures, training of domestic violence advocates, and availability of domestic violence advocates in some child support courtrooms.

While many of the collaborations thus far have been done without legislative involvement, the opportunity to convene stakeholders from both the kid back up and domestic violence programs is always a policy option for land legislators.

Safe Court Access

The family violence indicators discussed above notify child back up workers that sure precautions are necessary for that example, however, they do non exempt the protected parent from participation in the court process. Efforts to create safety courtroom access for parents who are victims of domestic violence include modified child support hearing procedures, training for court and child support staff, extra security at the courtroom house, and telephonic hearings and testimony.

One strategy that states have taken to train court personnel is the creation of benchbooks or manuals that describe what domestic violence is and what it may wait like in the court. Some benchbooks also provide best practices for judges and court personnel when dealing with cases that involve domestic violence. Other strategies include benchcards or checklists that are quick tools for judges to identify or address domestic violence in the courtroom. The Centre for Court Innovation has created a Domestic Violence Benchbooks: A Guide to Court Intervention that describes various land benchbooks and the common themes between them.

The Texas Family Violence Benchbook details best practices when family unit violence is nowadays in kid support hearings. These best practices include assuasive the victim to attend the hearing past telephone or video briefing, assuasive the victim to have advocates, family unit members or other back up in the courtroom with them, prohibiting the parties from existence left alone during any role of the hearing, ensuring that security personnel are present at all times, and providing an escort for the victim when leaving the courthouse. The benchbook besides provides a look at the victim'south journey through the courtroom procedure and details an example of a courtroom timeline that tin can be prepared and provided to a victim.

In improver to country-specific benchbooks, the federal Office of Kid Back up Enforcement created a benchcard detailing the specific considerations when a child back up case involves domestic violence. The benchcard defines domestic violence, the connection betwixt domestic violence and kid support, and the various safety concerns and considerations when dealing with a child back up case where domestic violence is involved.

Even more comprehensive than the development of benchbooks, some states accept required domestic violence grooming for all judicial officers who hear child support cases. 1 example of comprehensive judicial training comes from Texas, where the Function of Courtroom Administration worked with the National Briefing of Juvenile and Family Court Judges to deliver specialized domestic violence training for all associate judges in the state assigned to child support and child welfare dockets.

Domestic Violence Task Forces/Commissions/Councils

Some other opportunity for collaboration between the child support and domestic violence programs is through country job forces/commissions/councils. The opportunity for cantankerous-advice and learning can be invaluable to the constructive protection of domestic violence victims within the child back up caseload.

While every land and D.C. has a Domestic Violence Coalition, approximately 20 states have a legislatively created domestic violence task force, commission, piece of work group or the like. Of those, merely one, S Carolina'south, specifically incorporates a child support component or coordination with the state child support programme.

In January 2015, S Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, through executive order 2015-04, established the Domestic Violence Task Force to "address the cultural issues surrounding domestic violence in the Country of Southward Carolina, including social, economical, and geographic issues as well as professional standards and best practices within government and non-authorities organizations." The task force consisted of 40 members from across the state, and was divided into three divisions, Criminal Justice, Victim and Offender Services and Community Awareness, Education and Outreach. Notably, the Victim and Offender Services Partition was chaired by Katie Morgan, Director of Kid Support Services within the Department of Social Services.

Below are the 20 legislatively created chore forces/commissions/councils.

map of 20 legislatively created domestic violence task forces

Domestic Violence Fatality Reviews

In 2007, more than 2,000 people in the U.S. were killed by an intimate partner, bookkeeping for 14 percent of all homicides that year.

In addition to domestic violence coalitions, task forces, councils and commissions, the majority of states also take a domestic violence fatality review team that reviews all cases where domestic violence was a factor in a fatality with an centre towards prevention. In the absence of a formal domestic violence fatality review squad, some state Domestic Violence Coalitions volition assume that role.

Of the 30 states and ane territory with domestic violence fatality reviews in statute, no country includes a mandatory representative from the kid support programme in its domestic violence fatality review team's statutory membership. Some states keep the membership of the review teams open up ended, assuasive for discretion in who is involved without the need for legislation. For example, Alaska's statute includes "other organizations, departments, and agencies determined to be appropriate," in the domestic violence fatality review team membership list.

map of 30 states with a domestic violence fatality review

Legislative Options/Considerations

What are the cooperation requirements in your state?
Who does the domestic violence screening in your state, TANF or child back up? And what happens when domestic violence is found?
How many kid back up cases are flagged for domestic violence?
What are the prophylactic court access mechanisms available to domestic violence victims in your state?
If you take expanded cooperation requirements to SNAP or Medicaid, exercise you take good cause exemption in statute?
Require courts to provide condom options to appear/show?
Does your state have a domestic violence coalition? Is the child support program at the table?
Does your land have a domestic violence fatality review lath, and if and then, is child support included in the membership?

Contact Us

For more data or to asking technical assistance on country or federal kid support policies and programs, please transport a message to Children & Families staff. As a membership organization serving state legislators and legislative staff, we exercise not respond to inquiries or provide legal advice related to private kid back up or family law cases.