Child Support Report XXIV, No. 6, 20020601

Child Support Report

Vol. XXIV, No. 6, Jun 2002

Child Support Report is a publication of the Office of Child Support Enforcement, Division of Consumer Services.

CSR is published for information purposes only. No official endorsement of any practice, publication, or individual by the Department of Health and Human Services or the Office of Child Support Enforcement is intended or should be inferred.

New York State Courts And Division Of Child Support Enforcement: A Partnership for Success

Indiana Employers Use Internet to Pay Online

Technology Pay-offs

OCSE and DFAS Work Together On Wage-Withholding Order Endeavor: The KIDS 1st Program

The Tribal Child Support Enforcement Program

Improving Information-Sharing Among IV-D Agencies, Tribal Organizations, and State Courts Through the Use of Automated Systems Technology

SIP Grant Announcement

Dr. Heller Addresses Fatherhood Conference

OCSE 12th National CSE Training Conference

New York State Courts And Division Of Child Support Enforcement: A Partnership for Success

By: Peter Passidomo

Governor George Pataki announced in a New York Times article that for the seventh year in a row, child support collections in New York have hit a record number, During 2001, $1.29 billion was collected from parents. That was an increase over 2000 as collections exceeded $1 billion for the third year in a row.

Increases in child support collections like these are no accident. Rather, they are in large part a product of successful collaboration between the New York State Court System and New York State's Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE). This collaboration began with the Chief Judge of New York, Judith Kaye, and Governor Pataki, through his Commissioner of the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Brian Wing. Chief Judge Kaye and Commissioner Wing met five years ago to establish a joint task force to design a more efficient system for processing child support cases. The result was a new, expedited support procedure currently in place in the Manhattan Family Court. Over the past five years, representatives from the New York City Family Court, DCSE, and the NYC Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) have met every month to address the many common issues shared by the two branches of government.

In New York, all petitions to establish support are heard in Family Court by Hearing Examiners, who establish and modify support amounts. The 120 Hearing Examiners hear and act on of approximately one-half of all of the petitions filed in New York State Family Court. Court action is also required for certain types of enforcement remedies, such as suspension of professional licenses and incarceration of non-custodial parents for contempt of court. Child Support Enforcement's (CSE'S) primary responsibility is collecting and enforcing the support amount ordered by the court in cases involving Federally mandated Title IV-D child support. However, CSE may administratively increase the support amount by a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) under certain circumstances. CSE utilizes a vast array of enforcement techniques, including: income execution, attachment of State and Federal tax refunds, suspension of driver's licenses, and bank account seizures.

The court and DCSE have adopted programs designed to make the child support system more effective in collecting court ordered child support from self-employed parents. Traditionally, it is more difficult to collect child support from self-employed payors since their wages cannot be garnished. In an effort to collect arrears owed by self-employed payors, as well as other non-payors, DCSE developed an agreement with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, whose agents now assist in collecting the hard-to-collect child support arrears by collecting these monies as if they were a tax debt. This program has collected over $187 million since March 1997.

The court has vastly improved its process for the enforcement of orders against the self-employed. A new court rule was adopted that eliminates artificial barriers in cases where incarceration is being considered. The amount of time to secure an attorney is defined; hearings must take place within a short period of time; and the time for the final decision is limited. The findings of fact proposed by Hearing Examiners are uniform, facilitating review by a judge.

In New York City, the court and NYC OCSE have implemented a joint operation with court and child support staff working side by side to file petitions and offer enforcement services to litigants seeking child support. All filed petitions are sent to an "intake part" for an expedited support order, using service by priority mail with delivery confirmation and automated income information. Many of the cases are resolved in the "intake part" just three weeks after the case begins. To make the courts more accessible, a court rule was enacted to govern the procedure in telephonic hearings held in interstate and intrastate cases, and also for cases involving incarcerated individuals.

In the future, the court and DCSE plan to examine the expanded use of technology in support cases. Consideration will be given to: including on-line access to information about bank accounts, assets, income, addresses, property ownership, and credit card charges, among other information; use of electronic petitions; and the use of video-conferencing technology. However, it may be necessary to propose changes to evidence laws to ensure that this information is considered in all support hearings. This technology will be especially helpful in intrastate, interstate, and incarcerated parties' cases.

Annual comprehensive training programs are essential to ensuring effective and uniform implementation of support laws and policies. Since 1985, the court has provided an annual two-day training session for Hearing Examiners to review the law and to discuss courtroom issues and best practices. In 1999, DCSE began providing a two-day Child Support Enforcement Seminar for the Hearing Examiners. This seminar helps Hearing Examiners understand the agency's activities and provides updates to changes in the child support laws.

Collections have more than doubled since the collaboration began in 1996, and although there is still a lot of work to do, a lot has been accomplished and learned. Consistent with the achievements made and the independent role of the courts, we will continue to collaborate on as many issues as we can in order to support more effectively the children of New York State.

Peter Passidomo is the Chief Court Attorney, New York City Family Court.

Indiana Employers Use Internet to Pay Online

The Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) of Indiana recently unveiled its "speedy new online service" for employers to use in submitting child support payments to the State central collection unit.

FSSA Secretary John Hamilton noted that so far more than 130 employers in 40 Indiana counties use the system, which the State piloted last summer. The web-based payment service helps keep employees in compliance with court orders for child support payroll withholding and the employers save on postage and handling. The Indiana Support Enforcement Tracking System (ISETS) then relays the payments to custodial parents. Employers have submitted more than $1.7 million in child support payments online since they began using the website.

One Indiana employer praises this new system. "We've been very pleased with sending our people's child support through the website," said Terry W. Smith, CEO of Rock Industries, Inc. "The system is fast, efficient and dependable, and it eliminates costs we used to incur in using checks." Employers access the service through a secure site that requires a user name and password, which can be designated by FSSA's Child Support Bureau.

"This website is an all-around winner," Secretary Hamilton said. "Besides the savings for employers, it helps noncustodial parents meet their obligations to their kids. Taxpayers save because FSSA's staff needn't gather and manually process the checks."

Indiana is one of the leaders in providing this service. The states of Washington, Michigan, and Nebraska have also implemented web-based services within the last year. Indiana's new legislation, which takes effect July 1st, will require employers with more than one payment and who have 50 or more employees to remit their child support payments electronically.

For more information, contact Michele Swain, Family and Social Services Administration, (317) 233-2202, mswain@fssa.state.in.us.

Technology Pay-offs

By: Wendy Gray

Texas recently experienced record-breaking success with its Financial Institution Data Match (FIDM) unit. Here are three examples that add up to substantial financial support for children.

In the first case, the non-custodial parent (NCP), who lives in Michigan, had never paid child support. Texas was considering filing a criminal non-support case against him. However, when they got a "hit" on his financial accounts, they were able to get a $90,000 settlement and Texas was able to close the case.

In the second scenario, the NCP received a $4.1 million personal injury settlement in January 1998 but still had not paid any child support. When Texas put a lien on a matched account for $18,000, the financial institution informed the State that this person held other accounts that totaled over $4 million. Texas was able to collect the full arrears of $136,000.

And, most impressive: Texas filed a lien against an NCP who had three separate child support cases in which arrears totaled $264,108. This particular NCP had never made payments on any of the three cases. Through FIDM, Texas had proof of the NCP's ability to pay. After numerous communications with the NCP and his attorneys, the NCP signed an agreement for $200,000 to be disbursed among the three CPs.

Wendy Gray, HHS, OCSE's Office of Automation and Program Operations.

OCSE and DFAS Work Together On Wage-Withholding Order Endeavor: The KIDS 1st Program

Tired of snail mail? Do you want an efficient and reliable method of processing military wage-withholding orders? Try switching to the KIDS 1st Program! State Child Support Enforcement (CSE) agencies now have the opportunity to electronically send wage-withholding orders for military and civilian DOD personnel working in the United States and overseas to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS).

DFAS and the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) are working in tandem to bring you an up-to-date electronic method for transferring and processing wage-withholding orders. Get rid of all that paper - - South Dakota did! South Dakota piloted the KIDS 1st batch process last year and successfully placed it into production.

How exactly does this new batch processing application work? First, state CSE agencies create wage-withholding records formatted according to DFAS specifications and record layout. (The DFAS record layout is consistent with the universal wage withholding form issued by OCSE.) The OCSE Network then retrieves files containing records from the states' automated CSE systems and forwards them to DFAS for processing. At present, South Dakota is using this batch processing to send wage-withholdings to DOD.

Imagine the following benefits for your IV-D agency:

Fewer chances for errors due to multiple manual data entries.
Reduced processing time and postal cost by eliminating mail handling.
Automated generation of wage withholding order on CSE systems.
Termination orders are processed immediately, with no legal review required. Results: reduced costs for returned checks and reduced calls from non-custodial parents confirming termination.

For more information about this process, contact Bonnie Walters at Bonnie.Walters@DFAS.MIL or 216-522-5435 Ext. 41650 or the CSENet 2000 Service Desk at CSENet.2000@lmco.com or 1-800-258-2736. Testing and additional end-user support services are available to all interested states.

DFAS Kids 1st batch processing related resource material is found in the OCSE Resource Library at: /programs/cse/stsys/tab99.htm#dfas. The OCSE transmission specifications for DFAS files can be found at: /programs/cse/newhire/relmgt.htm.

The Tribal Child Support Enforcement Program

By: Kenneth Ryan

In 1996, with the passage of the Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), Congress added Section 455f to the Social Security Act, which authorizes direct federal funding " . . .to an Indian tribe or tribal organization that demonstrates . . .that it has the capacity to operate a child support enforcement program . . . ." Prior to 1996, though some of the 557 American Indian tribes had child support enforcement written into their legal codes and tribal courts routinely handled child support cases, there were no formally established tribal child support enforcement programs.

The Office of Child Support Enforcement first funded eight grantees in 1999 under the Special Improvement Project (SIP) Grants Program to develop fully operational child support programs. Since 2001, seven tribal child support enforcement programs have been funded under the Interim Rule that was written to allow tribes to implement the direct funding program.

The Interim Rule enables Tribes and Tribal organizations that currently operate comprehensive Child Support Enforcement programs to apply directly to OCSE for Federal funding without having to wait for the publication of the Final Rule which should be published either late this year or early in 2003.

The first seven direct child support funding grants awarded to Tribes were to previous SIP grantees. The funded Tribal programs are culturally and geographically diverse, and they represent a broad cross-section of tribes and tribal organizations in America.

The first Federally-funded OCSE grant was to the Chickasaw Tribe of Oklahoma. The Chickasaw grant is particularly noteworthy because, with this funding, the Chickasaw Tribe is able to provide child support services to 32 tribes in Oklahoma. Another Indian tribe from Kansas plans to join the consortium.

The Program Director of the Chickasaw Nation Child Support Enforcement Department is Chickasaw Tribal member Jerry Sweet. The Chickasaw Tribe has developed a comprehensive program for almost a third of all Oklahoma tribes. The tribe has a comprehensive agreement with the state of Oklahoma for many important services, including parent location, tax location, and specialized computer services.

The second tribe to receive direct funding is the Sisseton-Wahpeton Tribe of Sioux Indians from South Dakota. The three remaining tribes who have received Federal funding are: The Navajo Nation, Window Rock, AZ; The Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Tacoma, WA; and the Lac Du Flambeau Tribe of Chippewa Indians, Lac Du Flambeau, WI.

The Tribal Child Support Enforcement Program is located administratively within the Division of Special Staffs (DOSS), OCSE. For more information on Tribal Programs, call (202) 690-7733.

Kenneth Ryan is a Program Specialist with the Tribal office in the Division of Special Staffs.

Improving Information-Sharing Among IV-D Agencies, Tribal Organizations, and State Courts Through the Use of Automated Systems Technology

By: Nehemiah Rucker

Recognizing the crucial importance of the timely flow and exchange of information among agencies involved in child support enforcement, Congress earmarked $2,000,000 for the State Information Technology Consortium (SITC) of Herndon, Virginia, to help improve coordination between state IV-D agencies, tribal organizations, and state courts. The earmarked funds will enable the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) and SITC to enter into a partnership to provide technical assistance to states working to improve child support collections through the use of automated technology.

SITC was created in 1997 as a nonprofit consortium with a primary focus of providing technical solutions to common information technology challenges facing states implementing Federal, interstate, and multi-agency programs. Over the past four years, the Consortium has successfully assisted the Federal Office of Family Assistance in meeting the information and automated systems reporting requirements of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. It is expected that SITC will be equally successful in performing similar services for the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement.

OCSE recently awarded a contract to SITC to tap this consortium's expertise and experience in implementing a project entitled "Technology for Rapid Enforcement of Collections." The project is designed to identify and apply efficient, cost-effective technologies for improved data and document management and data exchange interfaces among state child support agencies, tribal organizations, and their local courts. In addition to more timely and effective information-sharing, increased child support collections are expected to be important end products.

SITC will begin its work soon. For more information regarding this project, contact Nehemiah Rucker, OCSE Project Officer, nerucker@acf.dhhs.gov.

SIP Grant Announcement

OCSE's Special Improvement Projects (SIP) grant announcement was published in the Federal Register on May 30, 2002, Vol. 67, No. 104. It is soliciting grants in the following six priority areas:

Helping low-income fathers meet their child support and family responsibilities;
Encouraging new ways to approach unwed parents to emphasize the importance of a healthy marriage to a child's well-being;
Increasing the number of child support cases with medical coverage for children;
Expanding the use of automation tools and best practices; and
Improving child support services for ethnic and culturally diverse populations, tribes and the international community, and
Furthering the child support mission to ensure all children receive financial and medical support from both parents.

Eligible applicants include state/local IV-D and other public agencies, tribes and tribal organizations, and nonprofit organizations, including community and faith-based organizations and universities.

Deadline for applications is August 13, 2002. You may access the announcement and application kit on our web site at /programs/cse/pubs/2002/news/sipp.htm or contact Jean Robinson, Staff Assistant, Division of State, Tribal and Local Assistance/OCSE, at (202) 401-5330 for a hard copy.

Dr. Heller Addresses Fatherhood Conference

In her address to the opening session of the 4th Annual International Fatherhood Conference sponsored by the National Center for Strategic Nonprofit Planning and Community Leadership (NPCL) on May 28, 2002, Dr. Sherri Z. Heller, Commissioner of OCSE, began by saying, "In my job, I focus on children's well-being."

Commissioner Heller then reminded her audience that "child well-being" was the first stated goal of NPCL's Partners for Fragile Families projects, which OCSE has helped support.

It is this focus on child well-being, Commissioner Heller pointed out, that "distinguishes these projects from other fatherhood programs, . . .in which community organizing, or employment-related training, . . .become the main goals of the program. . . ." These are important goals, she was quick to say, but, "unless they have an impact on these men's duties and opportunities as fathers, . . .they're not fatherhood programs."

Building on Assistant Secretary Dr. Wade Horn's concern that some fatherhood programs "make it look too easy to be a good father on an occasional basis," Dr. Heller raised the issue of paternity establishment and marriage. "When I look at the results of the Fragile Families demonstration projects so far, I see over 900 enrollments, and only about 400 paternities established. I find that hard to understand." The Commissioner asked how the needs of children be met if their fathers aren't acknowledging that they are the fathers.

Dr. Heller addressed the historical issue of child support agencies not always being the most supportive agencies in the world - especially for fathers who are struggling. But she noted that this is changing. She referred to this as a "cultural shift" in child support agencies all across the country - where the word "father" is used instead of "obligor" or "defendant." And the Commissioner credited NPCL, and organizations like it, for helping to bring about this change in perspective.

Commissioner Heller also credited this "cultural shift" to judges and child support professionals to "realizing that the most effective way to get child support paid is to start with more realistic child support orders, . . .and even consideration of the need to modify arrears when current support is paid in some cases."

"We will work to make child support enforcement more of a tool that fathers use to help support their kids, rather than a club that drives fathers away." ... Commissioner Sherri Z. Heller, Ed.D.

Dr. Heller gave the audience her pledge to keep working to "change the 'either/or' environment into an 'And' environment." She put it this way: "It shouldn't have to be a choice between paternity establishment (and court-ordered child support) or the potential for marriage and family formation. It shouldn't have to be a choice between showing up for your kids (and maybe getting picked up for a child support debt) or disappearing from your kids' lives in order to stay clear of child support enforcement. We will work to make child support enforcement more of a tool that fathers use to help support their kids, rather than a club that drives fathers away." Then she asked those who manage fatherhood programs to make a pledge - to ensure that fatherhood programs benefit children, not just non-custodial parents.

The Commissioner concluded her remarks with a reminder that child support and groups like NPCL share a common goal. Child support's main emphasis may be the economic security of the homes where children are being raised. NPCL's primary goal may be to focus on "many needs of non-custodial parents, including their skills and their hurt and their anger." But ultimately, our goals are the same: "It's all for the kids."

OCSE 12th National CSE Training Conference

The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Support Enforcement is presenting its 12th National Child Support Enforcement Training Conference at:

Hyatt Regency Crystal City

2799 Jefferson Davis Highway

Arlington, VA 22202

Phone: (703) 418-1234

Date: September 23-25, 2002