Feds Test Jobs Program to Boost Child Support Payments
Published Date: 7/16/2026
Notice
Summary
The government is testing new programs to help parents who don’t live with their kids get better jobs and pay child support more regularly. Ten places, including counties and tribes, are trying out these ideas over five years, starting with planning and piloting. This study will show what works best and help improve support services for families, with public comments open until August 17, 2026.
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 1 mixed.
Job help for noncustodial parents
You may be offered employment and other support services if you are a parent who does not live with your children at one of 10 NextGen sites. The demonstration runs for 5 years, with the first 1.5 years for planning and piloting and 3.5 years for full implementation, and sites include locations such as Los Angeles County (CA), Louisiana, Minnesota, Virginia, and Washington.
Your employment and child-support data used
If you consent to be in the study, staff will enter your enrollment and service information into a Management Information System (MIS), and evaluators will use child support administrative data and the National Directory of New Hires to measure employment, earnings, and child support outcomes for the 12 months before and after enrollment. The evaluation will also include participant interviews and staff interviews as part of the data collection.
Time burden for participants and staff
Participating in NextGen data collection carries time costs: the MIS enrollment/participation form is estimated for 5,400 respondents at 1.5 hours each (total burden 8,100 hours; annual burden 2,700 hours), and there are 100 staff/community partner interviews and 100 participant interviews at 1.0 hour each (annual burdens shown as 33 hours each). The notice estimates total annual burden of 2,766 hours.
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Key Dates
Department and Agencies
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