Child Support Report

Vol. XXVII, No. 4, Apr 2005

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.

Three More States Begin Child Support Healthy Marriage Demos "He's Got a Gift": Fatherhood Leader Teams-Up with Wyoming CSE Locate in PA: Art, Science or Both? OCSE Turns 30 - Leaders of the Pack: Three in Dallas Hit the Big 3-0 First Director Looks Back States Experience Success with ICR New Tools Aid Parents Talking with Teens

Three More States Begin Child Support Healthy Marriage Demos

By: Elaine Blackman

Georgia, Kentucky, and Texas will receive nearly $1 million each from the Administration for Children and Families to support demonstrations to improve each state's child support enforcement efforts. The projects funded under the authority of Section 1115 of the Social Security Act are aimed at developing and testing new strategies in the community to support healthy marriages and parental relationships.

In a March press release, ACF Assistant Secretary Wade Horn said the projects will "help improve the well-being of children, promote paternity establishment, and help parents provide increased financial and emotional support for their children."

In Georgia, a five-year project will include coalitions of faith-based and community groups, businesses, and the local child support office in developing and implementing curricula and skills-building by community groups, as well as a series of community roundtables to discuss the challenges of a community healthy marriage coalition.

State IV-D Director Robert Riddle sees the project as a "bold initiative in Georgia, where we hope to fully enlist the faith-based community to educate our customers on the value of fully committed relationships in the healthy development of children, emotionally and financially."

Kentucky's Undersecretary for Children and Family Services, Dr. Eugene Foster, says his State's grant will "improve child support enforcement and decrease the number of open child support cases." This project, also, will recruit community and faith-based organizations into a coalition (about 50 to 60 groups), and will include use of an in-hospital paternity program for marriage education.

Foster stresses that the project "should help enhance fathers' and mothers' commitment to each other and to their children."

In Texas, a two-year project will include regular visits to 550 low-income families after the birth of the child, marriage education, and motivation for establishment of paternity and child support orders.

Project coordinator Michael Hayes describes the heart of the project by quoting Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott: "The best child support is when a child is living with both parents in a stable, healthy, married relationship." Hayes says the project builds on studies that point to the ideal timing and place - at or around the time of birth - for accomplishing its goals. Most important, says Hayes, the project offers hopes for lasting relationships.

"He's Got a Gift": Fatherhood Leader Teams-Up with Wyoming CSE

By: By Elaine Blackman

Mention Wyoming, and some might see the cowboy astride a horse, surveying his herd's home on the sprawling range. Mention "Father Factor" to folks in the heart of cattle country, Cheyenne, and you may evoke an image of similar magnitude: Damion - a noncustodial dad whose inspirational efforts drive a distinctive partnership that promotes fathers' involvement in their children's lives.

Aldana has spearheaded a collaboration between a fatherhood group and the Wyoming child support enforcement agency - a relationship that's "breaking the barrier between dads and child support," declares Brenda Lyttle, Director of Wyoming's Child Support Enforcement Program.

In his position as Head Start Family and Community Coordinator in Laramie County, Aldana runs Father Factor, a group that's grown from eight young noncustodial dads in 2003 (then-called the Young Fatherhood Initiative under the Wyoming Health Council), to 50 whose experiences and ages vary. Its mission is "to support fathers in any situation," says Aldana, including custodial and noncustodial, as well as single fathers raising children alone. Most learned about the program from the Laramie County Head Start and through word-of-mouth.

Three groups meet for six-week sessions to talk about "coping with the struggles of fatherhood." In addition, three family events each session serve to unify the fathers with others involved in their children's lives. The goal, says Aldana, is that "no matter what the situation, parents work together as a team."

"A lot of the magic is that dads are talking to each other in a free way," says Lyttle. At the same time, Aldana encourages positive communication with their child's mother. One member is a military dad who married the mother of his daughter before he left for Iraq. He thanked Aldana for the education and support he received from his participation in Father Factor that helped him make that decision.

Other members include a grandfather with full custody, a stay-at-home dad referred to child care so he can attend school, and a single dad who is asking how he can get child support.

Aldana is filling a gap, says one member, by offering help to single dads. The 6-foot-plus, nurturing father of a 2-year-old son also may be changing a stereotype, suggests another member: "I'm learning that it's OK to be loving, and not just a tough guy, which is the way I was raised. ... I've been told it takes four generations to turn around abuse in a family; my goal is to be generation number four."

Director Lyttle was first introduced to Father Factor last fall when Aldana invited her to help with the group's initial family event under his direction. Interest there led to participation in a winter workshop, as well as a third event in March co-sponsored with a local church.

Lyttle says she's getting to know some of the dads on a first-name basis, leading to a relationship that "Damion and I have been striving for. ... I wanted to become their friend first." Now that she has their trust, says Lyttle, "Damion has invited me to speak with them about paternity establishment and the rights and responsibilities that go along with paternity," and later about the importance of paying child support.

Lyttle believes that Aldana is the reason the Cheyenne group is so successful, insisting "he's got a gift" that's drawn more and more people. "He's very masculine and smart and full of inner character and strength; I think the other dads see that in him."

Aldana returns the compliment: "I told Brenda she inspires me because I see her energy," noting the events at which she helped kids in a bike race or brought materials to let them make crafts. "This is what community work is about-hands on."

Looking ahead, Aldana hopes to keep in touch with the dads after their sessions end. He envisions a center in the future where dads can enjoy mutual support, while the kids enjoy an activity room; a place where professionals can train the dads "so they can be successful in the community. ... If we can't be role models, then we're not good for kids."

And he expects that Father Factor members will one day become its facilitators-not such a stretch of the imagination for one who is breaking barriers.

Locate in PA: Art, Science or Both?

By: John Clark and Harry Werner

Every day the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) provides a wealth of data to the states that assist child support workers in locating custodial and non-custodial parents. In addition, the State Child Support Automated System produces new locate information. The latest information is available to child support workers either in the form of alerts or as new information posted to a record that they access. An effective locator can not simply assume that posted information is accurate. Pennsylvania's experience indicates that creative methods produce valuable information.

In many cases, the information on the automated system does not present the entire locate "picture." A good locator must assume four roles:

1. Air Traffic Controller - In many cases where there is an address on file and a new address is received, a decision must be made regarding whether the new address is accepted, rejected or verified.

2. Judge - Often, when there is no current address and you receive two addresses, you must decide whether to accept one over the other or try to verify.

3. Interviewer - Since the best source of information about a parent is the custodial parent, you must conduct an effective interview to discover any valuable information.

4. Investigator - There are a variety of sources for locate information. Local social service contacts, the internet and external locate requests to FPLS are three of the many resources utilized by effective locate professionals.

In Pennsylvania, many creative methods are utilized to locate parents.

• CSENET - The use of Quick Locate requests is increasing according to Mike Norieka of PACSES. He stated that, "The Quick Locate function of CSENET is very valuable and produces a rapid response. You receive an answer in 1 to 30 days."
• Private Vendors - Pennsylvania's experience indicates that a trial run of 100-500 cases should help a jurisdiction decide whether a particular vendor can help with locate. For example, County A tried a particular vendor with great results. County B tried this vendor and was disappointed. They found much better success with a different vendor. This indicates that a jurisdiction cannot rely exclusively on a company's reputation.
• In-Depth Interviews - As Deborah Fronheiser from Berks County said: "Many times, a custodial parent has valuable locate information without realizing it. When I encounter difficulty, I often conduct an extensive interview with the custodial parent. For example, I ask if the NCP has any hobbies and obtain information about membership in motorcycle clubs etc. which I utilize to find a new address."
• Working with Other States - York, Tioga, Mercer and other counties share information with their counterparts in neighboring states. If they suspect a CP or NCP is in the bordering state, their counterpart will access their state data base to provide valuable locate information.
• Utilizing Other Data Bases - Local data bases can be very valuable. For example, Allegheny County has access to information from local correctional facilities. This has proven to be a valuable resource.
• Co-location - The most common situation involves a child support worker being stationed in a TANF office. For TANF cases, the number of SSNs and DOBs provided to child support for putative fathers has increased dramatically. This occurred in the two Philadelphia County Assistance offices where child support is co-located.

In addition to locating NCPs, successful location techniques can reduce undistributed collections. This occurs because a successful location can find a good address for a custodial parent that has not claimed monies owed to them.

"Locate is one of the essential keys to help Pennsylvania achieve all five goals of the National Child Support Strategic Plan," said Daniel Richard, Director, Pennsylvania Bureau of Child Support Enforcement. Pennsylvania's locate success is indicated by the statistics. The Child Support Enforcement FY 2003 Preliminary Data Report indicates that Pennsylvania had child support orders on 81.5 percent of their cases which substantially exceeds the national average of 72.3 percent.

OCSE Turns 30
Leaders of the Pack: Three in Dallas Hit the Big 3-0

By: Elaine Blackman

James Travis remembers his first site visit, in late 1975, as a new program officer with the Region VI Federal OCSE in Dallas. He arrived at the just-started child support office in Little Rock, AR, not yet equipped, "cases still in cardboard boxes," and reviewed the requirements for developing a state plan with director R. E. Brians, a former police chief. Travis also recalls a return trip to Little Rock with coworker Leon McCowan, "in my cool 1976 Pontiac Grand Prix with the CB radio," to review the plan's status.

Arkansas' "Chief Brians" championed the basis for the program-"he was a no-nonsense person who viewed those who did not pay child support as deadbeats." But Travis, Regional Program Manager for the last 10 years, remembers it wasn't always easy trying to convince states to establish a single and separate IV-D agency aptly located in their organization.

Now, with countless state visits behind them, Travis and McCowan join Tomasia Pinter in marking their 30^th anniversary in Region VI. Pinter, the region's public affairs specialist, remembers the three working together in the pioneering spirit typical of OCSE's first employees; and she remembers the deadlines: "It was crucial that state plans were approved within 60 days."

A Close-knit Operation

The unity that characterized the early days in Dallas extended across the miles to other regional and central office staff. The Dallas three were part of a "true team spirit," says McCowan, ACF Regional Administrator (and Lead Regional Administrator for Child Support Enforcement, Technology, and Positive Youth Development) since 1991. "Everyone knew every one of the 300-some staff on the program side," he says, who all were given the responsibility and the authority, as well as the resources, to get the job done> "You knew you would be backed by your headquarters."

Travis also recalls the "rosy" outlook of former OCSE deputy commissioner Bob Harris: After a meeting in which the two tried to convince state folks of the need for a separate child support agency, Harris remarked, "I think the meeting went real well."

Leading the Way

With a combined 90 years of memories, the three are bound to have a few that boast of being "the first." Travis recalls that Region VI was the first to offer a conference venue for states to discuss current child support issues. The Region's states (Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas) continue to take turns hosting the annual Southwest Regional Child Support Enforcement Training Conference.

Travis and McCowan were the first OCSE regional representatives to travel to a National Child Support Enforcement Association (NCSEA) conference, in 1976.

Another first for Region VI: state performance goals. The performance agreement, negotiated with staff in each state, proved effective and provided a vehicle to review actions in the states designed to increase child support collections, Travis explains. It also "provided an opportunity to praise the state if performance goals were met or exceeded."

"We were visionaries leading the pack," says Pinter, when, in the early `80s, Region VI set up displays at national, regional, and local conferences. "OCSE had an opportunity to tout the newly created program" to other Federal and state agencies, organizations, corporations, educational institutions, "and most importantly, the general public- the taxpayers." (This effort followed a decade of increase in single-parent families and out-of-wedlock births, she notes.)

"It was exciting in the early days to talk with individuals about the purpose of the program, where to apply for services, and to share brochures," says Pinter, citing a conference of the National Association of Black Social Workers in Louisiana, where "interest by social workers and ministers exceeded all of my expectations." Pinter also enjoyed the opportunity to work with state public affairs specialists on public service announcements, following the 1984 CSE Amendments.

In her role as "regional lead" for the Fatherhood Initiative, Pinter notes that in 1999 Region VI led the way in partnering with state IV-D agencies and grantees to promote the importance of fathers staying connected to their children's lives, part of a nationwide DHHS public service campaign.

Embracing Change

For the Dallas staff, technological advancements have meant fewer visits to state agencies, thanks to teleconferencing. Also, by referring customers to the states' information-rich Web sites, notes Pinter, customers are increasingly aware of the roles of both the state agencies and OCSE. Travis credits the National Directory of New Hires for slashing the amount of time (up to three years!) they used to devote to some cases. (And he chuckles at the recollection of once thinking that Arkansas could spend an excessive $100,000 to contract an automated case management system.)

As one who grew up in child support, McCowan believes "a lot of the staff became managers because we were ahead of our time" and exhibited "creativity in the program." When asked about the staying power that the program appears to have had over so many of its staff, McCowan says, "It's kind of contagious. Once you get involved, you see how child support has grown." And he notes the evolving participation of dads, an aspect that's "brought the program to the forefront...It's a great program."

First Director Looks Back

By: Elaine Blackman

In 1977, Louis B. Hays (second from right), as the first director of the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, joined (from left) Senator Russell Long of Louisiana; Anthony Mitchell, director of the Utah Department of Social Services; and James Bax, a former commissioner of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare's Social and Rehabilitative Services to tout the child support enforcement program to HEW Secretary Joseph Califano. Senator Long had spearheaded the legislation that created OCSE in 1975; Mitchell came out to present a model program in his State; and Bax was under contract to HEW to help promote the program to governors and state welfare directors. Hays, who now serves as rector at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Madison, CT, believes it was his "great fortune to play a part in the child support program for six years, the most rewarding" of his Federal career. He looks back "with nothing but the greatest of memories ... when a small but incredibly dedicated group of Federal employees were called upon to implement this new program." And he remembers "a great sense of camaraderie ... and a pleasure to work with states and local areas that carried out the program," as well as a good personal feeling of overseeing a program designed to help both children and the taxpayers. Some of his fondest memories were of the regional staff "on the front line," says Hays, and "I salute the three in Dallas who've been there since the beginning. It's quite an achievement."

States Experience Success with ICR

By: Pat Conrad

Improve interstate communication and improve information on interstate cases: These were two of the goals set by OCSE for the Interstate Case Reconciliation (ICR) Project when it was established in October 2002.

And by all measures, that's exactly what the project has been doing so far. ICR has turned out to be an impressive example of teamwork among Federal and state governments, and team members associated with OCSE's interstate initiatives.

ICR was launched by OCSE to improve interstate communication among states through the correction of unsynchronized interstate cases. Fifty-one participating states submitted files of all their interstate cases to OCSE for nationwide matching, and OCSE returned the match results back to the states with correct case IDs, County codes, case status discrepancies, and case participant information. The states were then able to update their systems with this data, using automated and manual methods.

From the beginning of the program, it was understood that the most important data element for interstate communication is the Other State Case ID, since this is the identifier that is sent on CSENet transactions and on payments sent via EFT/EDI. In May 2004, the first ICR match (ICR-1) determined that states had already been maintaining the Other State Case ID correctly on 654,300 cases, but the ICR match files returned an additional 749,700 Other State Case IDs that had been missing or incorrect.

The second ICR match (ICR-2) in September showed that the states had been busy updating their systems with the data provided through ICR-1. Nationwide totals of cases with the correct Other State Case ID was now 1,162,200 - an increase of over 500,000 cases in just four months! Smaller gains were achieved in case status correction.

ICR-2 provided states with additional case ID and case status corrections, and the states were challenged to complete their reconciliation activities by the end of March 2005. States are working diligently to meet this goal.

Many states have increased CSENet Exchange Agreements and transactions, and decreased CSENet errors since their participation in ICR. States are also reporting increased payment processing using EFT/EDI. (Look for more details in next month's CSR .)

Probably the greatest legacy of the ICR will be the standardizing of case IDs. Over the years, several states had developed different identifiers with different format lengths, and use of leading zeros, for their FCR, CSENet, and EFT/EDI interstate transactions. Since OCSE would be sending out other states' case IDs in response files, it was necessary for all states to standardize the use of their own case IDs before they sent in their extract files to the ICR, so the data returned for updating would be as reliable as possible. And all states have been able to do this.

When developing their ICR extract files and devising strategies for handling their ICR response files, states began looking at their interstate cases in a different way. Participation in the ICR required states to examine their systems in a way not required in the normal course of business. In response to this examination, some states increased the length of the field where the Other State Case ID is stored. Other states added edits to interstate screens to require workers to record needed data. Several states corrected situations that caused problems with electronic communication. Collectively, addressing these `small complications' in state systems has provided huge improvements in interstate communication.

OCSE's Interstate Case Reconciliation has proved to be a successful Federal/state partnership. The real beneficiaries of this project, however, are the families who need the services of more than one state to enforce their child support case.

New Tools Aid Parents Talking with Teens

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt announced a new set of communication tools to assist parents in talking to their teens about sex, relationships and the importance of abstinence.

Secretary Leavitt said, "Parents have a tremendous amount of influence on their children and we want them to talk with their teens about abstinence so that they can stay safe and healthy."

The 4parents.gov Web site is part of a new national public education campaign to provide parents with the information, tools, and skills to help their teens make healthy choices. The site includes a variety of topics, interactive tools, statistics and conversation starters.

"Teen Chat" and "Parents, Speak Up" are the result of a collaborative effort between HHS' Office of Population Affairs and Administration for Children and Families. Copies of the guides are available at www.4parents.gov or by contacting the OPA Clearinghouse at clearinghouse@dhhsopa.net.

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. Internet: http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse/ Permission to reprint articles is granted Acknowledging CSR is appreciated

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