The Division of Child Support in the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services received a grant from the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement to build partnerships with universities to improve research capacity and program performance. DCS contracted with MEF Associates to support this effort. MEF worked with faculty at the University of Washington to design and implement random assignment field experiments that tested new approaches to improving child support collections. In addition, MEF assisted the state in thinking through the policy implications of research findings and developing strategies for disseminating the findings.
