In 2010, the Department of Health and Human Services through the Office of Child Support Services, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the American Bar Association (ABA) collaborated to address homeless veterans’ child support issues to help remove barriers to housing and employment. They established nine pilot sites in cities across the country that offered services through a partnership among the local child support agency, a legal provider, and either the VA or a veteran service provider. Other jurisdictions have also established child support initiatives focused on veterans. Based on their experiences, the toolkit identifies components of an effective outreach program for veterans. It also provides information about services provided through the VA.
Although the target audience is the child support program, the toolkit includes suggestions for legal providers who want to target services to veterans with child support issues, and for VA partners or partners who are veteran service providers.
The toolkit for child support agencies working with veterans, especially homeless and at-risk veterans, to help them address outstanding child support issues.
The toolkit has several components:
- Practical “how-to” information for participating in events such as legal clinics and Stand Down events
- PowerPoint presentations and sample forms and templates
- Lessons learned and promising practices
- Information on establishing effective collaborations to serve at-risk veterans
You may go to the Veterans Toolkit on the OCSS website to see the table of contents for the toolkit. The topics in the table of contents can be expanded for a summary and access to that section of the toolkit.
The Veterans Toolkit is available on the OCSS website through Information Memorandum 17-03.