National Council of Child Support Directors

For the National Council of Child Support Directors, The Lewin Group and its subcontractor, EcoNorthwest, explored the potential implications of changes to federal financing of child support enforcement programs contained in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA). The project involved two tasks the first being Data Analysis. Using child support administrative data and economic and demographic information from the Census Bureau and other sources, the project team explored the potential effects of the DRA provision on use of incentives for state match on state performance in two areas: support order establishment and collections made on current support due.The second task was a survey of IV-D Directors. The project team had conversations with 28 state CSE directors about a number of DRA provisions, including the treatment of incentives for match purposes, adoption of (or increase in) the pass-through of collections to current assistance cases, and the mandatory fee for non-assistance cases that generate $500 or more in collections per year. The directors described the extent to which they expect to make up the funding shortfalls and the potential implications of any loss in funding.

"Throughout the engagement, Lewin consultants listened to us and delivered superb analyses and thoughtful guidance–not canned solutions."  NONPROFIT HEALTH SYSTEM