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This page provides information about select past Special Improvement Project (SIP) grants and Section 1115 Demonstration Grants.
In 2012, OCSE awarded Section 1115 grants to California, Colorado, Iowa, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wisconsin to test the efficacy of child support-led employment programs through the CSPED project. The goal was to increase reliable child support payments among noncustodial parents who are unable to pay child support. Wisconsin was also awarded a grant to manage the evaluation of CSPED.
In 2012, OCSE awarded Special Improvement Project grants to California, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Oregon to launch the Parenting Time Opportunties for Children (PTOC) program. The three-year pilot program tested approaches to safely develop parenting time orders at the time child support is established. The goal was to ensure children had a safe, ongoing relationship with both parents even after their parents’ romantic relationship ended.
In 2011, OCSE awarded three Section 1115 demonstration grants to Iowa, Michigan, and Washington to work with university partners to:
Universities and scholars brought expertise in research design and data analysis. State child support agencies shared expertise in managing and operating complex child support activities. Together, the universities and states developed pilots to test new ways of understanding paternity establishment rates, collecting on arrears-only cases, and incentivizing regular child support payments through debt reduction.
The grants ended in September 2016, but the work will continue because the activities foster a culture of critical inquiry focused on improved program effectiveness.