April 2024 CSQ

Tennessee’s Child Support Reentry Program:
Employee Innovation Leads to Family-Centered
Solution
by Patti Wood, Director of Operations, Child Support Field
Services and Family Assistance and Child Support Contracts
Child support programs have a unique opportunity to address the needs of
families that have experienced the incarceration of a parent. Unlike other
social safety net programs, the child support program can have
responsibility for a child support case for many years and can develop a
deep understanding of the needs, wants, and desires that parents have for
their children. However, this partnership level cannot be obtained without
an intensive case management program that extends beyond financial
assistance. Parents who are recently released from a correctional facility
face myriad challenges, from obtaining a copy of their birth certificate as
well as identification, to facing incarceration for not paying child support
obligations.
In 2019, a group of emerging leaders within the Tennessee Department of
Human Services (TDHS) presented a proposal to department leaders
regarding the need for a TDHS-operated child support reentry team. The
proposal outlined the challenges justice-involved parents face and the
solutions that a specialized reentry team could offer to incarcerated and
recently released parents. This groundbreaking effort gained support from
executive leadership, and a commitment was made to create a TDHSoperated
child support reentry team.