The South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families

The Center Teams With Multiple Organizations for Unique Project

The Center for Fathers and Families along with South Carolina Office of Child Support Enforcement, Court Administration, Access to Justice Commission, SC Legal Services, and South Carolina Bar Foundation are working together on a project to help improve pro se modification of child support particularly for low-income non-custodial and custodial parents.  The project will provide access to user friendly on-line child support modification forms and an easy to use interactive software that helps the parent complete the form. 

The project will also provide helpful information for navigating the pro se process and answering questions about child support modifications. Through community outreach and partners, the project will increase awareness about the new pro se child support modification on-line tools and build a cadre for professionals who can help direct individuals to these on-line resources.  The project is made possible by a grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services Office of Child Support Enforcement.

Gale DuBose Joins Center Staff

South Carolina Fathers and Families Article Featured in National Journal Publication

South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families Director of Research, Evaluation and Program Integration, Irene Luckey, Ph.D., and Policy Director, Lisa Potts co-authored an article that was recently published in the refereed Journal, Child and Family Social Work.

Alternatives to Incarceration for Low-Income Non-Custodial Fathers, details how low-income non-custodial parents in the United States of America, primarily fathers, are at risk of incarceration for failure to make child support payments thus, clogging the prison system, preventing already at-risk fathers from employment and removing them from relationships with their children. The paper examines the innovative program through the South Carolina Fatherhood Initiative that provides an alternative to incarceration for low-income parents who are at risk of incarceration for non-payment of child support, allowing them an opportunity to find gainful employment; learn valuable life skills and establish closer relationships with their children. Data analysis from three years of program implementation suggests that low-income non-custodial fathers enrolled in the Alternative to Incarceration program have a much greater chance to fulfill their obligations, both as wage earners and as parents, when they are in a program that provides life skills, helps them find employment and provides other supports to help them improve their life situation rather than incarcerating them for non-payment of child support.

Child and Family Social Work provides a forum where researchers, practitioners, policy-makers and managers in the field of child and family social work exchange knowledge, increase understanding and develop notions of good practice. In its promotion of research and practice, which is both disciplined and articulate, the Journal is dedicated to advancing the well-being and welfare of children and their families throughout the world.

Child and Family Social Work publishes original and distinguished contributions on matters of research, theory, policy and practice in the field of social work with children and their families. The Journal gives international definition to the discipline and practice of child and family social work.

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