BARRIERS TO THE PAYMENT OF COURT-ORDERED CHILD SUPPORT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This disseminates the executive summary of the Virginia Department of Social Services, Division of Child Support Enforcement pilot project to design a case-management model to improve the regularity of payment. The goal of the pilot is to assess the impact of a pilot case-management model and of non-custodial parent (NCP) court-ordered referrals for service on the regularity of payment by NCPs with a history of irregular or non-payment.

RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Time Frame

We assessed the impact of the Barriers Project pilot year from the start-up of referrals in March 2000 through April 1, 2001.

Target Population

The Target Group consisted of 113 non-custodial parents (NCPs) who appeared in the Spotsylvania Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court for failure to make court-ordered child support payments and were referred to the Barriers Project. These NCPs can be characterized, generally, as "willing, but unable, to pay" because they faced certain identifiable barriers to regular payment.

The Control Group consisted of 29 NCPs brought to court for non-payment in the Westmoreland Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, who would qualify for the Barriers Project but could not be referred because the Project was not available in that court.

Both family courts are in the Fredericksburg child support "district," i.e., assigned to the Fredericksburg District Child Support Office for enforcement. The Fredericksburg office has a caseload slightly more than 14,000 cases. Virginia works cases both administratively and judicially, with about 70 percent administrative and 30 percent judicial.

Barriers In the initial phase of the Project, five common barriers facing NCPs in the Target Group were identified through extensive interviews with them and court attorneys, as well as interviews with child support staff and a review of the literature in the field. The barriers are visitation, conflict between parents, vocational issues, size of arrearage relative to income, and institutional status as a DCSE customer.

As a source of conflict between the parents, visitation and restrictions placed on it can contribute to non-payment of support. Conflict between parents is symptomatic of more basic causes such as poor problem-solving skills and a lack of mediation or counseling between parents, e.g., on how to have a functional family relationship after separation and divorce. Vocational issues include loss of employment, incarceration, injury or illness that affects regular earnings, and seasonal employment. The size of the arrearage relative to one's income, especially when combined with periods of unemployment, incarceration, or injury/illness, contributes to nonpayment. Finally, whether child support staff understand and treat these "willing, but unable, to pay" NCPs as fundamentally different customers than the "not willing, but able, to pay" NCPs can also contribute to irregular or non- payment.

Community Partners Network The Community Partners Network includes those agencies in the Fredericksburg region that agreed to provide direct services to Barriers clients, upon DCSE referral.

Outcome Measures

For the Target Group, the following quantitative outcomes were measured for the pilot year:

Imposition of Sanctions, both administrative and court-imposed

Number and Size of Support Payments

Number and Size of Payments to Arrears (percentage reduction in arrearage)

Size of Monthly Payment and Percentage of Total Debt Reduction

Reduction in the Cost of Jail Time for Non-Payment

Jail Costs Avoided through the Barriers Project