VIRGINIA

BARRIERS PROJECT

Goal:Increase the collection rate for court-ordered child support in Spotsylvania, Virginia by identifying and addressing barriers to noncustodial parents' (NCPs) payment of support.

Strategic Plan: Supports Strategies 2, 8 of the National Child Support Strategic Plan.

Description:

Objectives:

• Identify common barriers affecting nonpayment of child support
• Develop prototypes of "common" nonpayers in the Spotsylvania area
• Compare these prototypes with "common" nonpayers in other jurisdictions
• Develop workable strategies to lower nonpayment through existing community agencies
• Refine the community-based strategies working with clients from a similar pilot project in Spotsylvania County

Key Partners:

• Local Juvenile and Domestic Relations District (J&DRD) Courts
• Rappahannock Area Community Services Board
• Local Department of Social Services
• Fredericksburg District Child Support Enforcement Office
• Local Commonwealth's Attorney
• Local Sheriff
• Area Jails
• Regional Adult Education
• Community Programs/Resources/Services

Target Population:NCPs who appeared before participating J&DRD Courts for nonpayment of child support and who could generally be characterized as "willing, but unable to pay" because of certain barriers to regular payment.

NCP's who are Barrier Project participants are provided job leads by Barriers staff who will call a prospective employer and inform the employer of the participant's situation in advance. The staff helps participants with resume writing and will submit the resume for the participant via computer or fax. Barriers Project staff are available outside of normal work hours to discuss issues of importance to the participant. The Barriers Project encourages the participant to pay some amount on a weekly basis so that the participant gets into the habit of paying child support. Monthly statements are provided to participants so they know the status of their child support account. Staff follow up on a participant's life situation, whether it is a job interview or a doctor's appointment that is being discussed. Participants are acknowledged by the Barriers Staff for getting a job, completing their GED, finishing school or having a birthday.

Results: The final evaluation of this project is not complete. The following preliminary data is encouraging:

Four out of five of the 495 NCPs enrolled in the Barriers Program (BP) since 2000 are currently enrolled.

NCPs who entered the BP between 2000 and June 2003 made payments which were 55.8 percent greater in the six months after entering the program compared to an equal period before entering it; this represents an additional $107,949 in payments.

More recently, NCPs who entered the BP during the interval of January to June 2004 increased their payments 823 percent in the six months after entering the program compared to the six months before entering it; the additional payments were $96,262.

Thirty-six (29.7 percent) of the 121 NCPs made sufficient payments, so their arrearages declined 20.2 percent.

If the 495 NCPs had been incarcerated for six months, in lieu of assignment to the BP, approximately $412,000 in payments for the support of their children would have been lost.

The work release unit at the Rappahannock Regional Jail has few available beds. The jail, which was built to house 592 inmates, now has 930. The operating cost for one inmate at the jail is $49.53 per day. Incarcerating 50 NCPs for six months would cost approximately $450,000.

Converting the BP to permanent status would cost $98,240 in staff costs. At the existing caseload, NCPs are making $386,000 in annual payments beyond what they would have paid if not enrolled in BP. The annual net benefit in increased payments would be $287,760.

Location:

The program is in place in Spotsylvania County and the City of Fredericksburg, a mixed rural and suburban area halfway between Richmond, VA and Washington, D.C.

The program was the brainchild of the Spotsylvania J&DRD Court Judge, and has not been adapted elsewhere in the state or by another state.

Funding:Section 1115 Demonstration Grant funds were used. This grant provides 95% Federal funds and requires a 5% state match.

Replication Advice: Any child support office willing to assign staff to handle case management functions and to establish working relations with other agencies (such as those listed above) would be able to realize overall cost savings in the courts and jails/prisons as well as significantly increase the amount of support paid by a traditionally "hard to collect" NCP population.

A new research project called Right Track was started in 2004 in Richmond and the Tidewater area of Virginia using much the same approach as in the Barriers Project, but it addresses arrearages in administrative as well as court-ordered child support cases.

Contacts:

Bob Owen

Project Manager - Central Office, Richmond

Phone: (804) 726-7434

Bob.owen@dss.virginia.gov

Bob Rodenski

Fredericksburg District Office Manager

Phone: (540) 899-4780

Email: Robert.rodenski@dss.virginia.gov