We're more than halfway through #2020APPAM with some great posters and panel sessions both regular and super, and the Presidential plenary. Maria Cancian, APPAM President and Dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, delivered her presidential address tonight titled Family Matters: Reflections on Who Counts and Why.

Using the example of child support policy, Cancian said that policy development and implementation has often been clouded by “assumptions of what non-resident parents owe their children. Unbiased analysis requires examining those assumptions. Diversity of discipline, methodology, ideology, and lived experience will strengthen our work.”

Cancian said that as child support policy was developed, motivation for cost recovery by governments and more punitive measures for non-resident parents were consistent with a racialized welfare policy. That reality was born of “a limited perspective” by policy makers. “Unacknowledged assumptions and perspectives have been barriers in child support policy,” she said.

Of late, however, a wider perspective that considered the diversity of those affected by child support policy made for significant changes in policy implementation. Cancian cited the example of National Child Support Noncustodial Parent Employment Demonstration (CSPED), designed to identify effective policies to help noncustodial parents support their children. These policies, which included ratcheting down punitive enforcement actions and right-sizing child support order amounts, resulted in major improvements in noncustodial parents’ attitudes towards the program. As a result, noncustodial parents’ sense of responsibility to their children also increased. Cancian served as principal investigator of the evaluation. “CSPED worked,” she said. “It transformed the relationship between non-resident parents and the child support system. It better served non-resident parents struggling to meet their child support obligation.”

This evolution in policy development and implementation is not an accident. “When I first came to APPAM as a graduate student, we were mostly economists and political scientists,” Cancian said. “It was hard to find folks from other fields. There was less attention paid to the importance of implementation. The more grounded I get, the more appreciation I have for people that concentrate on the implementation of policy and who are on the ground making changes.”

However, Cancian ended her address by adding that policy implementation will continue to change only if policy experts make concerted efforts to broaden the perspectives they draw on and from.

“The easiest thing to do is pick up the phone and call people you work with or go to a conference with,” Cancian said. “We need to proactively work against that to make sure there are a broader set of people around the table. We are not doing that because we want to be ‘nice’ because the data will be smarter and more useful. We will do better work.”

Just like in previous years, students, an important part of APPAM's membership, are writing blog posts in which they recap the Super Sessions they attended. Today, a blog post from University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Economics graduate student Marissa Reuther.

Sadly, tomorrow is the last day of the conference. The upside is that there is still plenty of conference left to be had. Four sets of panels and Super Sessions will lead directly into the Membership Meeting, where members hear about the business of the Association! Then, the Closing Plenary: The President’s Role in U.S. Domestic Policymaking rounds out the evening before we all head to the Closing Reception!

Since the panel sessions are set-up as meetings, you're an active participant, just like in person. And while you probably know how to make sure you're presenting your best self at a physical meeting, let's run through a few quick points on tips for the Virtual Conference:

Want even more tips? You're in luck! Ashley Causey-Golden, Equity and Inclusion Fellow and former APPAM Policy Council Student Representative, recorded a fun and quick webinar on how to best prepare for an APPAM Conference, and especially for our virtual #2020APPAM!

The best part of a research conference is undoubtedly the amazing work being presented, but the second best part of a research conference is getting to meet, see, mingle and network with fellow researchers, academic and practitioners, in the hallways of the meeting space. And while we can't do that physically, we have something you might like. A Slack! You may have already used Slack, but if you haven't don't worry, it's very intuitive, easy to set up, and you can even just use your browser (no need to install anything if you don't want to).

We're going to use the Slack as way to connect with peers, talk about each other's research in special policy area channels and find new ways to communicate with each other during a Virtual Conference!

Don't forget to join the Slack, use our Online Program!