Maine

Administrative Process (Paternity Establishment)

Description/Goal

Maine's expedited paternity establishment project has used three key tools in slashing its backlog of paternity cases since 1991:

1. a specialized administrative paternity establishment procedure;
2. staff paternity specialists; and
3. an automated system which prompts appropriate processing of paternity cases.

With a backlog of 9,500 paternity cases in 1991, Maine developed several key goals: reduce the backlog substantially; expedite the 150 to 200 new paternity cases coming into the system each month; and establish paternity within one year of the date of birth of a child or location of a putative father. As a practical matter, a current additional goal is to maximize the incentive payments to the state through excellent performance on paternity establishment measures.

Key Tools

1. The centerpiece of the expedited paternity establishment project is an administrative procedure for the establishment of paternity. (See 19A Maine Revised Statutes Annotated Section 1605.) Maine relies heavily on administrative processes in both the establishment and enforcement of support obligations.

   Designed to permit easy transfer to the courts of default and contested cases, the expedited paternity establishment procedure allows many cases to be resolved completely within the administrative process. The administrative process emphasizes due process. It begins with “in-hand” personal service. With this step completed, the paternity case can be transferred to court without the necessity of additional service of process should the need arise.

   Once served the putative father has 20 days to deny paternity, acknowledge paternity, or request genetic testing. If he fails to respond, the case is transferred to district court for entry of a default paternity order.

   If the putative father admits paternity, he is offered an opportunity to acknowledge paternity and a support order is established administratively. If he asks for genetic testing, that is provided. If a high probability of paternity is demonstrated, he is offered the opportunity to acknowledge paternity, followed by an administrative order of support. Genetic testing that results in exclusion requires that the Department file a motion in District Court for a finding of non-paternity. Contested cases and those in which the putative father fails to appear for genetic testing also are transferred to district court.

   These procedures are generally carried out by child support agents without attorneys. Child support agents may even appear in court to present for the agency. Agency attorneys become involved only in contested cases and complex cases where points of law must be argued.

2. The agency now segments its caseload. Paternity is considered a specialty with designated staff assigned responsibility for these cases -currently a staff of 15 statewide.

3. Over the period of the project, the handling of these cases has been automated. At the beginning, there was no tickler system for managing paternity cases, and the most thorough description of the paternity establishment procedure was contained in the notebook of a diligent staff member who had made notes on the various processes for her own reference. Now the state's automated system tracks and structures the processing of paternity cases. Clerks rather than support agents track and follow up on routine matters such as arrival of affidavits, freeing agents to focus on matters requiring their attention.

   Most recently, improvements in the in-hospital paternity acknowledgment process in the state have resulted in a significant jump in in-hospital acknowledgments. The agency expects a gradual reduction in the proportion of new cases requiring paternity establishment as a result.

Results

Starting with 9,500 cases requiring paternity establishment in 1991, Maine has reduced to approximately 3,400 (out of a total caseload of 65,000) the number of cases in which paternity needs to be established. In October 1999, the cases awaiting paternity establishment included over 700 interstate cases and 400 cases still in initial intake and processing phase. With 150 to 200 new paternity cases each month, the “backlog” continues to decline as the state draws nearer to its goal of establishing paternity in all cases within one year of the child's birth or location of the putative father.

At present, all but the 20 percent of the paternity caseload which has locate issues and the 10 percent which are new cases have a case in process being handled by a paternity specialist.

Perhaps most important of all, speedy paternity establishment is a key part of ASPIRE - Maine's welfare-to-work program - and its pass-through of 70 percent of collections to families receiving assistance. The first step in ensuring child support payments for many needy families is establishment of paternity.

Location

The expedited paternity project is a statewide project. Maine's child support operations are centralized and state-administered.

Funding

Regular IV-D funding.

Replication Advice

Design a system which makes it possible to transfer default or contested cases to court without necessity of additional service of process. Shift the burden of staying in touch onto the putative father from this point on.

Make sure to handle the due process requirements - e.g., service of process - properly at the beginning of cases. Re-serve at the outset if necessary to be sure of good service. Taking care on this point will win the respect of the courts as well as ensuring the ability to move forward effectively. Be sure it is possible to complete uncontested cases within the administrative process.