Project to Avoid Increasing Delinquencies (PAID)

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is partnering with States on the new national Project to Avoid Increasing Delinquencies (PAID) initiative. Many strategies and activities currently in use across the country have an impact on increasing the collection of current support and preventing and reducing arrears. These various efforts can be categorized generally as:

• setting appropriate orders;
• employing early intervention;
• reviewing and modifying orders;
• improving locate and enforcement; and
• managing existing arrears.

No one size fits all when it comes to what will produce the best results for an individual State. However, certain strategies hold promise for many States, and through this initiative we can work together to identify and emphasize those that can most effectively produce the results we all desire.

OCSE has developed the following products to enhance the PAID Initiative:

PAID Practices Guide: A high-level overview of practices that may increase collections and/or reduce arrears; intended for use by States, Territories, and OCSE as a tool to foster discussions of practices that could be employed to increase the collection of current support and prevent and reduce arrears.

PAID In Full Expanded Analysis: An expanded mid-level analysis tool that provides additional details on individual PAID activities listed in the PAID Practices Guide.

PAID UPdates: Highlights of individual PAID best practices collected from Child Support Enforcement agencies across the country and then transmitted electronically to States and accessible through the PAID Workplace.

PAID Workplace: A virtual workgroup accessible to State, Local, Tribal, and Federal staffs designed to provide up-to-date PAID related documents, resources and all other information pertaining to PAID.

For more information on PAID, see the following Dear Colleague Letters:

• DCL-07-06, Project to Avoid Increasing Delinquencies
• DCL-07-17, PAID Practices
• DCL-07-34, PAID In Full Practices Guide (#1-4)
• DCL-08-05, PAID 2007 Recap (includes PAID UPdates #1-8)
• DCL-08-23, PAID In Full Practices Guide (#5 and #6)

To access PAID resources and publications, contact PAID@acf.hhs.gov to join the PAID Workplace located at http://ocse2.acf.hhs.gov/wp_welcome.nsf.