Child Support Report

Vol. XXVII, No. 1, Jan 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.

OCSE Turns 30 - And Some 'Remember When' Vermont's Data Warehouse: PEAKS Another Great Year for Tax Refund Offset Collections OCSE Issues Rule for Public Comment On Use of Quantitative Standards for Review and Adjustment New Jersey's Annual Teen Parental Responsibility Media Contest Project Save Our Children Task Force Update: 'Operation Lost and Found' Results in Dozens of Convictions OCSE Invites Application for Grants under Section 1115 from Title IV-D State Agencies Mark Your Calendars Editor's Note In Memoriam

OCSE Turns 30 - And Some 'Remember When'

By: Elaine Blackman

When Michelle Jefferson retired last year from the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, she walked out with more than boxes packed with books and awards; her mind was filled with memories.

"In the early days [of OCSE], what struck me the most was the fact that we were all so very 'young' and energetic with a huge responsibility," says Jefferson, who began her career with the agency in 1975 on a task force to implement the Title IV-D child support legislation. "Everyone was so passionate and committed to doing the best they could on behalf of so many children …"

Now the Federal OCSE is marking its 30-year milestone, and others who grew up along with the program have occasion to reminisce too. Yet with recent retirees such as Jefferson, and other long-timers who'll likely step down over the next decade or so, some have asked: Who in the program will absorb their historical knowledge and distinct expertise?

Two OCSE pioneers who might own up to possessing such wisdom are Michael Fitzgerald and Michael Bratt. Like Jefferson, both recall the enthusiastic, hard-working, and youthful environment that characterized the program's infancy.

"Virtually everyone, even the director, was quite young, in our 20s and 30s," says Fitzgerald, a senior information technology specialist, who credits the group with the "monumental task of setting up the program … and writing the regulations in such a short period of time." Fitzgerald came on board when "high standards for the quality of work was the earmark of the agency and a cut above other government agencies of the time."

Bratt, a financial management and grants specialist, began his government career in 1974, just after the "hiring surge" in the 1960s. When he moved from his position in then-HEW's Social and Rehabilitative Services to one with the new OCSE, he, too, was among the mostly "young and idealistic" newcomers, he says, who took advantage of the opportunity to jump into the new agency.

So began OCSE's initiation into the government bureaucracy, taking on its acronym as its nickname, for starters. It was the year after Senator Russell Long of Louisiana perceived a connection between fathers who abandon their children and a growth in spending by the Aids to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) welfare program. This led to the legislation, Title IV-D of the Social Security Act, that established the separate agency in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and required every state to set up a IV-D program and State Plan.

Fitzgerald explains: "Congress was concerned that states shouldn't bury child support deep in the organizational structure of the state government, which was helpful as far as getting a child support program established in states at a level where it would get sufficient attention." He recalls that Missouri was the first to send in a State Plan.

Fitzgerald calls the legislation unique since it required an audit function and detailed criteria for handling cases. The audit group was "crucial in developing state programs, because it required close Federal oversight and monitoring that resulted in identifying deficiencies, and opportunities for OCSE to work with the states to improve their program operations."

Through 30 years, the number of acronyms for OCSE functions and systems continued to multiply. Its offices relocated four times; its structure reorganized too many times to count, as well as its place inside the HHS scheme of things. The agency operated under seven administrators and several transitional leaders.

"We all worked for the best program in the Federal and state government," touted Jefferson at her retirement party, adding, "I had the time of my life. I could not have asked for more."

Vermont's Data Warehouse: PEAKS

By: Cindy Griffith and Jeffrey P. Cohen

Anyone involved in the child support program knows it requires and generates vast amounts of data stemming from multiple events occurring in millions of cases on a daily basis. In addition to case related transactions, we must process and retain vast amounts of data for personnel and budgetary operations. Most other major industries such as banking, insurance, and retail, are also data driven. To achieve a competitive advantage, many of these industries turn to data warehousing and decision support systems as a way of turning data into actionable information.

In the late 1990s, the Vermont Office of Child Support began researching the business benefits of data warehousing as applied in the private sector, and determined that a comprehensive and strategically designed system for analyzing and understanding information would enable us to improve collections, performance outcomes, and customer satisfaction without necessarily adding more frontline staff. Therefore, we applied for, and subsequently were awarded, a Section 1115 Demonstration Grant through the Office of Child Support Enforcement, which provided the opportunity to put our ideas in motion. Our three-year project, which involved incorporating multiple data sources, restructuring the data into a usable structure, and making it available to line staff, ended Sept. 30, 2004, on time, within budget, and far exceeding our expectations! The system, PEAKS (Performance Enhancement And Knowledge System), is utilized by program managers, supervisors, and caseworkers. Through a variety of mechanisms such as canned or ad hoc reports, digital dashboards, scorecards, and data mining, PEAKS allows staff to access and analyze aggregated child support data to spot trends and more effectively make informed decisions. Just as important, the system allows users to 'drill down' from the aggregated data to the specific case data, so staff can address the specific case problems. In addition to facilitating day-to-day case related decision-making, PEAKS allows us to address virtually all strategic facets of the child support program including child support processes, human resource issues, Federal reporting, budgeting, etc. PEAKS is a tool we use to focus our resources and energy. In addition to providing us with standard child support reports (caseload counts, locate and management reports), data mining technology also helps uncover patterns in case characteristics buried within data. Typically, Federally certified state automated systems are designed for viewing and updating cases one at a time, but PEAKS allows us the flexibility of viewing aggregated data in ways that uncover unexpected results (good and bad) that cannot be discovered when looking at cases one at a time. One example of our data mining outcome is a report used by staff to focus their activity on cases likely to create paternity data errors. Staff work selected cases, with certain case characteristics, that historically cause errors. This tool provides us the ability to prioritize our data quality analysis. Our future data mining activities will direct staff to the next appropriate case enforcement action, based on certain characteristics and historical patterns in enforcement outcome data. This moves us from looking at data for lagging indicators which reflect results from past actions, to using our data to generate leading indicator outcomes.

PEAKS also has a dashboard which features graphically highlighted selected indicators. The dashboard has several functional tabs (pages) leading the viewer to the desired information tab categorized primarily by operational units (Locate, State Disbursements, Regions, Management, etc.). The functional design makes searching for information easier for staff who are already familiar with the organizational structure.

Lastly, PEAKS provides us with the knowledge for strategic planning. We subscribe to the belief, "What gets measured, gets done," and PEAKS is now our primary tool for measuring. The ability we now have to focus energy on priorities, continually analyze data quality, and take future actions based on past performance, catapults us forward in strategically managing the overwhelming child support challenges ahead of us.

For more information, visit our project Web site http://www.ocs.state.vt.us/VTPeaks/ VTPeaks.htm which contains many project documents including PowerPoint presentations. Our Decisions Support System Implementation Guide is available on the site.

Another Great Year for Tax Refund Offset Collections

By: Scott Hale

A near-record $1.489 billion in delinquent child support was collected by OCSE from Federal income tax and administrative tax refunds for calendar year 2004. This amount fell just short of last year's amount. In 2003, there was an additional $119 million attributed to the Advanced Child Tax Credit (ACTC) payments that were not available this year. This year, the average amount collected per offset was $1,104, an 11 percent increase over last year and a 3 percent increase from 2002. Nearly 1.4 million families benefited from the offset program in 2004.

In comparison to last year, several states increased their amount collected. Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, and Puerto Rico, all reported higher collections in 2004, some their highest annual collections since the inception of the Federal Offset Program. "The success is really a result of our partnership with the state Child Support Enforcement agencies," says Roy Nix, the program's branch chief. "Working with the states, we've been able to continually improve the system and operations of the program."

Under the Federal Tax Refund Offset Program, state child support enforcement agencies report noncustodial parents who owe past-due child support to OCSE. These individuals are then notified in writing that they have been certified to the program and that their income tax refund could be withheld to cover their child support debt. An amount up to the total past due can then be deducted from their income tax refund.

OCSE Issues Rule for Public Comment On Use of Quantitative Standards for Review and Adjustment

OCSE recently published in the Federal Register, for public comment, an interim final rule that reinstates authority for state IV-D agencies, previously in effect for over ten years, to use reasonable quantitative standards as a basis for determining the appropriateness of adjusting an existing child support award, regardless of the method used to conduct the review.

Prior to a May 2003 regulation, State IV-D agencies were allowed to use reasonable quantitative standards, either dollar or percentage based, as a basis for comparison by which to determine the extent to which an order had to deviate from the child support guidelines before initiating an action to adjust the order. This was done to prevent IV-D agencies from being inundated with complicated and resource-consuming adjustment actions, particularly in cases where the adjustment was relatively minor.

The May 2003 regulation limited the use of such standards to only those cases which were reviewed by automated methods. This, in effect, eliminated their use in many cases where other methods, such as those that are court-based, are used. Such a limit should not have been created.

This rule, published December 28, 2004, reinstates the original rule with the opportunity for public comment. The comment period extends to February 28, 2005.

New Jersey's Annual Teen Parental Responsibility Media Contest

What does it mean to be a good parent? New Jersey CSE asked this question of its high school students, and their answers can be found in the inspiring, thought provoking artwork displayed in an annual calendar. All were submissions to the 2004 New Jersey Child Support Program's Annual Teen Parental Responsibility Media Contest.

Established in 1995, this annual contest invites teens to explore the important role of parents in the lives of children. For teen parents, and especially teen fathers, the challenge to be a good parent and an active participant in a child's life can seem overwhelming. This calendar has been created as a source of inspiration and guidance for young mothers and fathers.

Through this contest, as well as school outreach presentations, school curricula, transit ads, TV commercials, and other public relations events, the Office of Child Support Services is dedicated to helping young parents understand how vital their participation is in the lives of their children.

Project Save Our Children Task Force Update: 'Operation Lost and Found' Results in Dozens of Convictions

By: Joseph McAtee

In September 2003, 50 chronic child support defaulters were arrested or surrendered in a nationwide sweep initiated by the Project Save Our Children (PSOC) Task Force. Dubbed "Operation Lost and Found," the sweep resulted from the cooperative efforts of the HHS Office of Inspector General, OCSE, state IV-D agencies, as well as state and local law enforcement agencies.

Since that time, Federal prosecutors have convicted 48 of the 50 defendants under the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, 18 U.S.C. §228, with nearly $2.4 million ordered in restitution to the children in these cases. One defendant died of natural causes before there were any further proceedings, and another was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.

The defendants in these cases owed up to $216,000 in unpaid child support to children residing in other states. Most of these noncustodial parents had not paid child support in over a year, with some never having made a single payment on their child support orders.

The convicted individuals included a 56-year-old former attorney and Deputy Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services, who oversaw the State's child support enforcement division in the mid-1980s. The NCP owed over $108,000 and had not made a payment since 1996. He was sentenced to serve one year, and ordered to pay the full arrearage amount. He was also placed on supervised probation for one year.

In another case, a California divorce mediator was convicted for the willful nonpayment of over $190,000 in child support for his children, who received public assistance due to their financial situation. He was ordered to pay his arrears in full and received a fine as well as supervised probation.

Others convicted as part of Operation Lost and Found include a mother of a 7-year-old daughter and a 5-year-old son, who owed over $25,000 and was ordered to pay restitution and placed on five years supervised probation. A California real estate appraiser was convicted for failing to pay nearly $116,000 for the support of an 18-year-old child with disabilities. He had not made a payment since 1995. Another NCP was also convicted and incarcerated for 22 months, with 24 months supervised probation, for failure to pay two child support orders with arrears totaling over $137,000.

In addition to the week-long Federal sweep, law enforcement authorities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont, and West Virginia conducted separate, coordinated round-ups. They collectively arrested more than 100 child support defaulters on state charges.

The PSOC initiative, in its seven-year history, has resulted in the conviction of over 700 individuals for the willful nonpayment of support across state lines. These convictions have brought more than $21 million in collections to families in paid restitution. We thank each of its Federal, state, and local partners for their tremendous efforts to obtain justice for the families affected by these crimes. Their success requires significant cooperation among government agencies.

OCSE Invites Application for Grants under Section 1115 from Title IV-D State Agencies

By: James H. Rich

OCSE invites applications from State IV-D agencies for fiscal year 2005 funding of demonstration activities intended to add to the knowledge and to promote the objectives of the Child Support Enforcement Program under section 1115 of Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. Only State Title IV-D agencies or their umbrella agencies are eligible to apply.

The National Child Support Enforcement Strategic Plan recently has been revised to include a set of updated objectives and related strategies. These objectives and strategies reflect how the CSE program has evolved and matured. It is no longer primarily a welfare reimbursement, revenue-producing device for the Federal and State governments; it is a family-first program, intended to ensure families' self-sufficiency by making child support a more reliable source of income.

A key aspect of the Plan is a set of strategies to meet its goals. We seek to help implement those strategies through demonstration projects in the priority areas outlined in this announcement. We anticipate that the section 1115 total program funding for FY 2005 will be about $1.14 million. We anticipate awarding ten grants. The ceiling on the amount of individual awards (section 1115 funds) varies from $60,000 to $175,000 per budget period per priority area, as detailed in the announcement.

The four priority areas for which states may apply are:

1. Use of Adversarial or Formal Proceedings While Increasing Financial Security for Children Born Out of Wedlock;
2. Developing a Comprehensive System of Early Intervention That Will Avoid Future Problems;
3. Having Reliable and Regular Payments Made in Cases with Infrequent Payments; and
4. Use of Specific Collaboration Protocols with Other Agencies.

Throughout the priorities, we note that faith- and community-based organizations may be used as collaborators with the States in the proposed projects, as appropriate.

The closing date for the receipt of applications is April 5, 2005. The complete announcement may be found onthe internet at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/ open/HHS-2005-ACF-OCSE-FD-0006.html. States may choose to apply by paper or electronically through http://www.Grants.gov.

To receive a paper application package by mail, states may contact Xavier Nelson at: OCSE/ACF, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW., 4th Floor East, Washington, D.C. 20447, 202-401-5373 or xnelson@acf.hhs.gov.

Mark Your Calendars

OCSE's 15th National Child Support Enforcement Training Conference

October 24 -26, 2005

Hyatt Hotel
Arlington, Virginia

Editor's Note

During 2005, the Child Support Report periodically will share some stories, milestones, and voices from the past to honor Child Support Enforcement's 30-year history.

If you have an idea for this column, or know of someone who's been working with a state or local IV-D office from the start, contact Elaine Blackman at 202-401-5353 or eblackman@acf.hhs.gov.

In Memoriam

Phil Sharman, long-time editor of the Child Support Report, passed away on January 6, 2005. His friends and colleagues at OCSE will miss him.

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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