Final Impact Findings from the Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED)

This report describes the impact of CSPED, an eight-state demonstration of child support-led employment programs for noncustodial parents behind in their child support sponsored by OCSE, which operated from 2012 to 2017. The aim of these programs was to provide a package of services that would enable noncustodial parents to be more financially and emotionally involved in their children’s lives. The package of services included enhanced child support services, case management, employment services, and parenting classes. CSPED was evaluated using random assignment. The final impact report presents the findings from the random assignment evaluation. The findings indicate that, although the program did not increase child support compliance, it did substantially improve how satisfied noncustodial parents were with child support services. The program also increased the sense of responsibility noncustodial parents felt toward their children and led to a modest increase in earnings during the first year after program entry.