Giving Hope and Support to America's Children| Child Support Report | Vol. XXVII, No. 10, Oct 2005 |
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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 Hosts African-American Forum Texas Child Support Program Responds to the Hurricanes Federal Parent Locator Service: Continuous Service Improvement Passport Denials Enable Large Collections US. Postal Service Child Support Payment Allocation Automated |
By: Tiffany Barfield
On Wednesday, October 5, Commissioner Margot Bean traveled to Gettysburg, PA, to deliver remarks to the Domestic Relations Association of Pennsylvania (DRAP) 38th Annual Conference. She was welcomed by Dan Richard, Pennsylvania State IV-D Director, Victoria Masek, DRAP President, and over 400 attendees. The commissioner drew a parallel between the significance of Gettysburg and the healing our nation went through in the wake of the Civil War and how now as a nation we are healing in the wake of the hurricanes. "My heartfelt thanks to all of you, the whole child support enforcement community, who have been assisting the child support enforcement agencies of the Gulf Coast region. Whether you've referred customers to Web sites, or eased an interstate process, the child support community has come together in the spirit we like to brag about - as a team, as partners." She highlighted Pennsylvania successes as indicated by its cost-effectiveness and PEP score of 100 percent and in the pilot project of Query Interstate Cases for Kids (QUICK). Commissioner Bean also noted that the child support vision is one all child support staff, from York County, PA to Houston, TX share: children should be able to count on their parents for financial, emotional, and medical support.
Commissioner Bean looks forward to her continued travels to visit our Federal, state, local, tribal, and international partners.
OCSE Hosts African-American Forum
By: Ja-Na Bordes
OCSE hosted its 2nd African American Forum on August 15-17 in Washington, D.C., with more enthusiasm and lively discussion than the year before - unbelievable! The agenda was overfilled with presentations, speeches, and panels, but when the group was asked if we should pare down our ambitious undertaking, the response, much to our surprise, was a resounding "NO!"
OCSE Commissioner Margot Bean delivered welcoming remarks and attended other parts of the forum. This was a great opportunity for the commissioner to seek ideas and input from community leaders. During the forum, Regional Administrators Carlis Williams (Region IV) and Leon McCowan (Region IV) discussed regional initiatives.
The forum is designed to share information and obtain thoughts and suggestions on improving services for the African American community. The forum again included representatives from state and local child support enforcement offices, national African-American organizations, and local community and faith-based organizations. The participants were again selected from influential African American leaders across the country, who share a sound understanding of the African American community and a desire to make a difference, to encourage extensive interaction. They included:
- IV-D directors and county administrators
- ACF grantees (present and past)
- Representatives of:
- National organizations
- Community/Faith-Based Organizations
- Historical Black Colleges and Universities
- Family court judges
- Researchers
Subjects presented included the National Child Support Enforcement Strategic Plan, performance measures, incentives and penalties; research on child support and minority fathers in fragile families; Special Improvement and Section 1115 projects; and Access & Visitation programs serving the African American community. Everyone was again very receptive of the new National Strategic Plan, and had high hopes for implementation in their communities to improve customer service and provide more culturally relevant services. There is much concern about the plight of the fathers who cannot pay, and the resulting negative consequences, and everyone agrees we need to distinguish between those who won't pay from those who cannot pay.
The Honorable Frank Pierce, Associate Judge, IV-D program, Houston, TX, presented on default orders, judgments/unjust judgments. Additionally, he was able to obtain a surprise visit and presentation by Gary Mendez, who had been featured in a video in Judge Pierce's presentation on his work with inmates.
Dr. Ronald Mincy, Columbia University, spellbound the participants with his energetic presentation on child support and fragile families. This included research studies and demographic analysis on how child support enforcement programs may be reflected in the African American community. Elaine Sorensen from The Urban Institute reported on Arrears and Debt Leveraging, and Dr. Harry Holzer, Georgetown University Public Policy Institute, discussed the impact of incarceration on child support.
Overall, the forum included a day specifically related to child support enforcement. Other topics related to broader child and family programs, including:
- Creative community programming;
- African American Healthy Marriage Initiative;
- Teen abstinence programs;
- Plight of incarcerated parents;
- Grandparents raising grandchildren.
The forum had it all - videos and CDs, dramatic interpretation, comedy, surprise guests, and lively discussions.
Possible results were anticipated by participants who shared how they would return to their communities - re-energized to tackle issues they had become aware of, and who developed new partnerships. One of the recommendations put forth by the participants was to continue the partnering, cross-fertilization, and information-sharing on a regional and state-wide basis. It was the concensus that the mission, vision, guiding principles, and goals of the National Strategic Plan had not filtered down to the community level and that more proactive approaches are warranted to include minority stakeholders.
Some of the ideas, suggestions, and concerns included:
- Child support efforts should be targeted to specific populations with initiatives for special subpopulations, such as those incarcerated, youth and teen parents, grandparents, etc;
- Child support outreach and activities should be customized and be culturally appropriate, and community organizations should be utilized;
- How to assist low-income fathers with their parental responsibilities, including how to navigate the child support system;
- How to make the child support system more reasonable in establishing child support payments and working with non-custodial parents when problems arise. Our customers are fathers, mothers, and children;
- How to look at effective ways to get cautionary and positive messages to young people;
- Discuss the National Strategic Plan at every opportunity for the information to reach all service providers, and for states to be encouraged to incorporate the concepts;
- Child support should be present at other African American events, conferences, meetings, etc.
Follow-up actions include:
- on-going communication updates on a Listserve;
- responding to requests for technical assistance; and
- continue to provide examples of collaborations by child support and community-based organizations.
Everyone left with something they could use when they returned to their community:
- Contacts for networking;
- New programs, activities and practices;
- Grant information;
- A more optimistic outlook for the clients they serve; and
- Fresh ideas to pursue.
This was a great opportunity for sharing the successful impact of collaboration among programs and for seeking ideas through group discussions. Such discussions included:
- Child support enforcement updates;
- Partnering with child support;
- Creative programming for communities at risk;
- Grandfamilies - taking up the slack;
- Incarcerated parents; and
- Responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage - from dialogue to service delivery.
The overall consensus was that this forum was a great success and that these national leadership forums should be continued.
Texas Child Support Program Responds to the Hurricanes
By: Alicia Gray Key
First Katrina and then Rita brought disruption and misery to the lives of hundreds of thousands of families from Alabama to Texas and severely tested the ability of government agencies, including state child support programs, to cope with the disasters.
The Texas child support program, under the Office of the Attorney General, quickly mobilized to assist the thousands of families that had poured into the state from Louisiana because of Katrina. The principal concern underlying that effort was that the evacuees quickly and safely receive the child support paid on their behalf. Because of hurricane damage and suspended mail delivery, the Louisiana child support program was unable to send checks to families that lived within the New Orleans area. Also, support payments processed by the Texas State Disbursement Unit for delivery in the disaster area had to be put on hold, pending receipt of a new address from a custodial parent or instructions for making direct deposit.
Working with staff from the Texas State Disbursement Unit, the Harris County District Clerk's Office, and the Louisiana central child support office in Baton Rouge, the Texas child support program placed staff in satellite offices at evacuee centers in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. This process is needed to help identify Louisiana child support customers complete change of address forms developed by our program for delivery of support payments to post office boxes designated by the United States Postal Service for their respective shelters. The change of address forms were faxed on a daily basis to the Louisiana Office of Family Support, which then added the new addresses to its computer system so that support payments could be immediately dispatched to the evacuees' new addresses. Besides facilitating address changes, the Texas program staff assisted parents to contact one of the program's call center offices to provide new addresses. Also, direct deposit processes were temporarily amended to immediately accommodate requests from custodial parents in the affected areas.
In addition to ensuring that support payments could be safely directed to custodial parents, Texas program staff worked in FEMA-operated "Disaster Relief Centers" to assist evacuees in making changes of addresses, applying for support services, and answering general child support and consumer protection questions.
No one wants to have to deal with hurricane disaster, but we believe that, as unwelcomed as the challenges from Katrina and Rita have been, if required to do so, we will once again work with our colleagues in other states to effectively muster the human and technological resources to address any situation.
Federal Parent Locator Service: Continuous Service Improvement
By: Wendy Gray
The newest acronym to be added to OCSE's glossary and its Federal Parent Locator Ser- vice (FPLS) is Continuous Service Improvement (CSI). This CSI - not to be confused with the popular television series - is a new Federal effort to modernize the FPLS and its associated activities.
The proposed changes for the FPLS's CSI were developed after much collaboration between key FPLS stakeholders and partners. They assist states and OCSE to meet the long range strategic goals for the child support program articulated in the National Child Support Enforcement Strategic Plan for FY 2005-2009.
OCSE began defining the vision and business requirements for the future FPLS by meeting with its customers. These "visioning sessions" involved in-depth discussions with key FPLS stakeholders and partners at both the Federal and state level. Among the participants were representatives from OCSE, state CSE agencies, state CSE directors and/or their designees, State Workforce Agencies, and Federal partners - Social Security Administration, Department of Education, Internal Revenue Service, Department of Treasury Financial Management Services, and the Department of State.
Rather than consider each requested enhancement as a separate development effort, related requirements were identified and grouped as generalized capabilities. These capabilities were then ranked based on user support, user impact, tangible benefits, intangible benefits, costs, payback period and risks. OCSE then developed a method to analyze the enhancements according to the highest priorities and greatest return on investment.
There are three general areas of services the CSI plan will address: location/data sharing; collection and enforcement; and interstate case processing and electronic communication.
Location/Data Sharing
Location requirements that will be explored involve collecting location, income and asset information from Federal, state, and private sources, and then sharing that data with state CSE and Federal agencies. States suggested improving employment information by providing a means to receive and supply higher quality and, possibly, additional information about employers. They also wanted OCSE to consider providing access to additional locate data by expanding the address, employment, income/wage or asset data currently available to other potential sources such as Federal licensing, and the U. S. Postal Service. States urged facilitating the establishment, enforcement, and measurement of medical support by matching FPLS data against health coverage information maintained by Federal, state, and private entities and then providing states with the match results. They also felt that the timeliness and quality of data in the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) could be further improved by increasing the frequency of data submission by state workforce agencies, enhancing the verification and matching processes, collecting and passing on an "as of" date, if available, and identifying and filtering out redundant and non-current data.
Collection and Enforcement
CSI's collection and enforcement requirements involve providing states with a standardized and centralized mechanism to access enforcement remedies. In particular, states requested a standardized and centralized mechanism to freeze and seize financial accounts as well as centralized reporting of obligations to credit reporting agencies.
Interstate Case Processing and Electronic Communication
State workers hope to improve communications with their counterparts in other states as well as with stakeholders by means of improved electronic data exchanges. For example, they would like to see real-time access to other states' case data for customer service and case processing purposes. They urged OCSE to provide a means to facilitate the on-going synchronization of cases that involve CSE agencies in more than one state. They requested an effective, efficient method for state-to-state batch communication as well as a standardized data exchange format for states to submit income withholding orders to employers electronically. States also hope to see the development of an approved, standardized, cost-effective method of interfacing with Tribes.
As with all FPLS enhancements and changes, state input will be essential in every step of the process. As CSI gets underway, states will be asked for feedback to confirm the issues and improvements, validate business processes and data flows, provide input on alternatives for improvement, and assess user support, user impact, benefits, costs and risks. Some of the recommendations for changes may require additional legislative authority.
The CSI project is designed to assist the states and OCSE to meet the long-range strategic plan for the child support program. If you have questions or comments about the CSI, please contact Linda Deimeke at ldeimeke@acf.hhs.gov.
Look for more on CSI in next month's edition of CSR on how caseworkers will benefit from FPLS short term enhancements.
Passport Denials Enable Large Collections
By: Rebecca Hamil
Two major events contributed significantly to a 27 percent increase in collections for the Passport Denial Program so far for 2005. The first is the rebuilding of Iraq, creating employment opportunities in the surrounding region. The second is the Department of State's Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. This initiative will require all travelers, including U.S. citizens, to have a passport to enter the United States for all air and sea travel to or from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda by December 31, 2006. The requirement will be extended to all land border crossings as well as air and sea travel by December 31, 2007. The program has collected over $12.5M in lump sum payments (voluntarily reported) from January through September.
Nearly all states have reported collections that were a result of individuals going to work in the Middle East. A Merchant Marine took out a second mortgage on his home to pay off his arrears of $146,000 to California when offered a commission as captain of a ship. Rhode Island collected $65,615 from an obligor working in Saudi Arabia when his passport expired. Maryland reported a $50,000 payment from an obligor working in Amman, Jordan, who needed his passport to work in Iraq. An obligor paid Illinois $11,500 so he could travel from Romania back to Baghdad. He needed a new passport when his was ruined by washing it with his laundry.
Collections from obligors needing their passports for travel within the Western Hemisphere are already starting to be reported. Alaska collected $78,425 from an obligor traveling for pleasure. California received a $30,000 payment from an obligor who travels frequently to Costa Rica for his import business. Missouri collected $13,641 from a missionary traveling to Mexico and South America. Illinois collected $10,330 from an obligor going on a Caribbean cruise over Christmas. His mother purchased the trip for him and then gave him her credit card to pay his child support balance in full.
Matrimony is often the catalyst to a lump sum payoff. An obligor traveling to Europe for his honeymoon paid California $84,890. West Virginia reported an obligor's girlfriend paid $8,888 so they could travel to Rome where she could say 'yes' to his proposal. Washington collected $7,246 from a bride's parents who paid for a wedding and honeymoon in Granada along with the groom's child support arrears. An obligor paid Iowa $6,000 when his fiancee would not marry him until he agreed to "take care of his child support issues" and obtain a passport to visit her family.
Professional sports players and entertainers create quite a few success stories too. Nevada reported that a major boxing promoter paid off all arrears, $40,000, for a boxer with a scheduled fight in Europe. A well known DJ in London paid $26,400 to New Jersey. Illinois reported that a major record label in Europe advanced a singer/songwriter $24,828 to pay off his child support debt. A player in the NFL traveling to a game in Tokyo paid Texas $15,000. The owner of a carnival paid Missouri $12,957 so that an obligor who worked for him could travel to Europe.
New York reports numerous collections, the largest of which was $68,501, from obligors who need passports for identification purposes.
Why the program is so successful is perhaps best explained by Gregg Dudash from Ohio. He tells the story of a $31,618 payment from an obligor who for several years had claimed he was unemployed. It turns out he was actually making good money working in Kuwait. Upon visiting the US Embassy, the obligor's passport was denied and literally punched full of holes. "Miraculously, he came up with the large payment," explained Dudash. "With the passport program, he was finally caught and forced to pay his debt."
For more information on the Passport Denial Program, or to report your own success story, contact Rebecca Hamil at rhamil@acf.hhs,gov.
US. Postal Service Child Support Payment Allocation Automated
Effective November 4, 2005, USPS automates its process for allocation of child support withholdings. For additional information visit http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/pol/DCL/2005/dcl-05-29.htm.
National Child Support Enforcement Association's Policy Forum & Training Conference
January 30 - February 1, 2006
Hyatt Regency
Washington, D.C.
For more information contact Shari Smalls at 202-624-8180 or ncsea@sso.org
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