Child Support Report XXVI, No. 6, 20040601

The State of Washington's Division of Child Support (DCS) received a Federal grant to study outreach strategies for incarcerated noncustodial parents (NCPs). DCS partnered with two other agencies, the Washington Department of Corrections (DOC) and the Washington Employment Security Department (ESD). DCS wants to increase child support payments from a group which traditionally has not paid child support regularly, if at all. ESD wants to help NCPs who have recently been released from prison become employed as quickly as possible, and DOC wants to decrease recidivism rates.

Project partners believed that inappropriately high child support orders and excessive child support arrearages might combine to create a disincentive to paying support upon the NCPs' release from prison. That, combined with employment barriers commonly faced by recently released inmates, might lead to higher rates of recidivism. In an effort to improve child support payment rates and employment, the project partners studied two outreach methods, low-effort and high-effort, to determine if either produced significantly different results.

A key component of both outreach methods was the child support information video created specifically for this project. The purpose of the video was to answer common questions inmates have about child support issues and to explain the benefits to the inmate of working with DCS on their child support case and with ESD to seek employment upon their release.

DOC showed the video to approximately 10,000 inmates during the project period. DOC estimates that about 30 percent of incarcerated individuals have children. During the project period (June 2001 through December 2002), DCS received 1,531 contact letters from inmates who had seen the information video.

DCS reviewed the child support cases of all 1,531 NCPs and sent each NCP a response with information about his or her individual situation with recommendations for actions to pursue, and the forms necessary to initiate the recommendation. DCS generally recommended that the NCPs seek to modify their child support obligation prospectively, to request a hearing on an administrative notice, or to request that DCS write off arrearages owed to the State of Washington. ESD also reviewed the inmates' situation and sent the NCP information and advice regarding employment options upon release. This was considered to be the low-effort outreach method.

By contrast, the high-effort outreach method added an in-person meeting with the incarcerated NCP. Each month during the project, DCS selected, based on release date and particular child support issues, a group of NCPs for a one-on-one meeting. Staff from DCS and ESD met with the inmates to explain their child support cases and the options available for their individual situations. DCS also explained how to complete the necessary forms and other information required for initiating the recommended changes to the NCPs' child support cases. ESD staff met with the NCPs to explain what employment resources were available to them upon release and to provide them with specific information about whom to contact at an employment assistance agency.

The total number of incarcerated NCPs in the project population was 1,531: 59 inmates had no child support case and 1,472 inmates contacted DCS. The number of inmates who initiated action was 525: 59 NCPs initiated the low-effort method and 466 initiated the high-effort method.

The results were mixed. The grant compared the NCPs' responses to both outreach methods. For the low-effort outreach, about 34 percent of inmates responded, and for the high-effort method, about 64 percent responded.

The impact on both arrears and order amount was greater for those NCPs who responded than the NCPs who did not respond. By contrast, the State noted more improvement in payment rates among NCPs who did not respond than those who did respond. The reason for this difference is unknown.

Dawn DeLong is Acting Executive Assistant, Washington State DCS

The state of our partnership is strong, asserted Commissioner Sherri Z. Heller to the Eastern Regional Interstate Child Support Association's (ERICSA) annual training conference in Atlanta. The Office of Child Support Enforcement leader was referring to the vital relationship with ERICSA in her keynote address in May.

Dr. Heller kicked off her remarks by paralleling the mission of child support with that of the Atlanta Habitat for Humanity. The local organization shared ERICSA's theme for the conference-Building a Dream for Our Children-by inviting participants for a little hands-on volunteer work on home building projects before the start of the conference. Habitat and the child support enforcement program both strive to build security for families, explained Dr. Heller, and to involve and empower their partners.

The Commissioner chose this forum to release some preliminary national statistical data from fiscal year 2003. She reported that child support collections reached an all time high of more than $21 billion-about a 5 percent increase over fiscal year 2002-most notable, she said, because it comes at a time when the child support caseload has declined. Some 72 percent of cases have orders, and more than 50 percent have a collection.

In discussing the impact of the program's growth and progress, Dr. Heller noted the child support program is moving from a program to recoup welfare costs to one which serves a mostly non-welfare clientele-Welfare recipients now make up just 17 percent of the caseload. The largest group of clients is families who used to be getting public assistance: 47 percent. Of great importance is the fact that 90 percent of child support collections went to families in 2003.

Welfare "leavers" are relying on child support income that helps prevent them from becoming welfare "returners," said Dr. Heller. "TANF staff can really start talking to clients about child support as a source of income that can be counted on to close cases and stay off welfare."

However, Dr. Heller also cautioned that still too many families aren't getting the help they need, and some child support debtors have figured out how some of the child support enforcement tools work, such as quarterly financial institution data match and the National Directory of New Hires. In addition, she cited the very poor obligors; those whose earnings aren't reachable through use of the automated tools.

The program is entering a new stage, Dr. Heller went on, "... not a wrenching, jarring change, like building the systems was, but revolutionary use of data to set our work priorities."

Dr. Heller encouraged child support employees to look at their data: "Figure out the story behind the numbers." The program needs to make distinctions in this new stage, she said, from an enforcement standpoint, between those who have resources to support their kids and choose not to and those who would like to support their kids, but don't have the resources.

Dr. Heller also gave participants a glimpse of the upcoming five-year national strategic plan developed in cooperation with state, local and tribal IV-D leaders. The objective of the plan, she explained, is for every caseworker in the country to be able to see how his or her work impacts the goals of the program, and even more importantly, how it impacts our customers.

Dr. Heller closed with the message that it's time to return to a hands-on approach, comparing child support's mission to the heartfelt and hands-on experiences of Habitat for Humanity.

Elaine Blackman is a writer in the Division of Consumer Services

Goal: To increase the participation and information levels of the Child Support Enforcement Automated System (CSEAS) users.

Description: Beginning in October 2002, the User Analyst Team began holding periodic forums, broadcast via video conferencing to all interested users of the CSEAS system and partner agency staff that wished to participate. The purpose was to create an open line of communication between the end users and the systems staff to give additional information, clarify confusing activities and to give detailed explanations of any recent enhancements and changes to the CSEAS system.

An agenda is released of all topics the Team has determined to be consistent issues for the end users, with questions taken from each remote location following each agenda item. In addition to the agenda, there is a roundtable section in which issues can be raised for clarification and/or investigation by the Team.

Utilizing video conferencing equipment, the User Analysts are able to display CSEAS on the monitors at each remote location, and walk through the steps necessary to get specific desired results, to explain how enhancements work and to answer questions.

Results: From June through October 2002, the Team received an average of 150 contacts per month from end users of the CSEAS system that were seeking additional information on how to utilize the system properly. Following the introduction of the User Analyst Forums, the contact count has been reduced to an average of 100 per month. This has resulted in the end users of the CSEAS system using the system with less technical assistance. In addition to reducing the number of contacts, the time spent went from an average of 19 minutes to an average of 12 minutes each. This has enabled Team members to devote more time to ongoing automation activities and projects.

Location: The Forums are hosted from one of two locations in Salem, Oregon. Through video conferencing, all locations within the Division of Child Support are able to attend. The District Attorneys offices in the State of Oregon's Child Support Program are invited to attend at the nearest Division of Child Support Office.

Replication Advice: To make the forums meaningful to end users, ensure that the technical staff uses non-technical language to describe the actions of the system. It is important that the end users of the system feel involved as a part of the development process. Valuing input from them, and conveying that during forums, lets them feel a connection to the automation rather than a sense that it is "us versus them." Our Team also looks at this as an ongoing opportunity to help our users to get the most out of the system by making sure that we educate them on all of the hidden tricks and often missed shortcuts.

Darrin Jones is a User Analyst in the Program Services Region in Oregon; darrin.jones@state.or.us

Georgia's Constituent Services Portal Project makes child support payment information available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to custodial and non-custodial parents. Access to payment information is available without the inconvenience of busy telephone lines or visiting a local child support office.

Based on a Constituent Needs Gap Analysis, payment information was identified as the highest priority constituent need by custodial parents and non-custodial parents, as well as by child support agents. Parents can now view payments and payment details, request copies of checks, view case status, and update address and employer information. The address functionality allows custodial or non-custodial parents to update their mailing and residential addresses. Another priority area is case status information. The information provided includes upcoming appointment dates such as court dates or paternity test dates. Custodial and non-custodial parents have the ability to view recent child support enforcement actions taken on the case such as license suspensions or liens. Additional services include online payment, direct deposit setup and cancellation, email customer service, as well as the ability to request case closure and to add or update non-custodial parent locate information. A key aspect of the project is the online payment functionality. This feature allows the user to make a payment online using a credit card or a debit card. The user has the ability to apply the payment to a specific case or across all cases associated with the non-custodial parent. Custodial parents also have the ability to set up or cancel direct deposit automated services. The online screen provides a graphic to help the user identify the banking information necessary to set up or cancel this service.

The online service provides the mother or father the ability to apply online for child support services. The application functionality allows a user to start a new application or retrieve a saved application. An application is generated based on the user type, services applied for and the answers provided. This will increase the efficiency of the agent as well as benefiting the custodial and non-custodial parents due to faster application processing time and case creation.

In Georgia, OCSE is the first state agency to utilize technology in this manner. Other agencies are watching and learning as they prepare for their own online services.

Gary Driggers is in the Georgia State DHR Office. For more information, contact Cindy Moss, Director State Operations, Georgia Office of Child Support Enforcement, crmoss1@dhr.state.ga.us.

Currently nearly 200,000 child support cases nationwide have participants who are serving in the military, in active service in the United States or overseas, or as reservists or civilian employees of the military. Some of these cases may also include participants who are military or civilian retirees. The numbers of Department of Defense (DoD) personnel are staggering: 1.4 million active military, 800,000 civilian military, 2 million retired military, and 1.5 million reservists.

Given these figures, it's very clear that information from the DoD is critical for establishing orders for and collecting child support payments from military and civilian personnel of DoD. In today's military climate, it is even more critical that the child support program efficiently utilizes all data available to take appropriate action on child support cases, whether that is employing enforcement tools to ensure that members of the military remain current in payment of child support or taking action to modify an order that is no longer within guidelines. DoD currently remits payments for approximately 280,000 child support garnishments per month, with child support collections from members of the military totaling $20 million per month. And while these numbers are impressive, state child support caseworkers often report that military cases are among the most challenging.

The intent of this article is to assist caseworkers in understanding how to make the most of the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) and external locate data provided by DoD to states through the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS).

The NDNH provides New Hire (W4) reports automatically and continually to states when new or updated information is added. DoD submits W4 reports bi-weekly for active military, reservists, and military civilians. Information provided on the W4 record includes employee name, employee address, SSN, employer name, FEIN, employer address, and employer optional address. The employer optional address, which is the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) Cleveland Center, should always be used for income-withholding orders.

DoD submits Quarterly Wage (QW) records one month following the end of the quarter. Information is provided for military civilians, reservists, active military, military retirees, military reservists called to active duty, and US Coast Guard active and retirees. The QW record includes:

Caseworkers may request a DoD external locate to obtain information for retired military, retired civil service personnel, civilian retirees, active military and reservists. Information on the external locate response includes:

To receive the most recent year of income information stored on the NDNH, caseworkers can request an NDNH locate request.

For income information over one year old, states should send a court-ordered subpoena or a Freedom of Information Act Request based on the branch of service reported. If the branch of service is unknown, the request should be sent to the DFAS Cleveland Garnishment Center, which will then forward the notice to the appropriate location. The DFAS Cleveland Garnishment Center will no longer process verification of employment requests on current wages - remember that this is now done through an external locate request!

"The Work Number" is a database that provides employment and wage verification for civilian DoD personnel, which is not available through proactive matches or external locate requests. Information provided includes basic employment information, address, and payroll data, including current year-to-date pay plus payroll history for the prior two years. Caseworkers can register on "The Work Number"at http://www.theworknumber.com/socialservices/ or 1-800-660-3399.

A military employee's base pay and housing allotment, based on rank and years of service, can be determined by referencing the tables on the following website: www.defenselink.mil/specials/pay2003. For information pertaining to civilian and military pay, caseworkers should use http://www.dfas.mil/money/milpay.

Jean Shaw and Julie Hopkins are Senior Analysts, Communications and Outreach Team, OCSE

As part of a Special Improvement Project (SIP) Grant awarded by the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has implemented automated procedures designed to improve customer service and increase child support collections. These procedures are based upon the premise that it is easier and more cost effective to prevent delinquency in child support payments and to avoid the accumulation of chronic arrears if timely and reasonable steps are taken early on in the child support payment process to systematically remind custodial and noncustodial parents of their scheduled appointments and noncustodial parents of their pending arrears. Delays in taking such action invariably lead to missed appointments; unnecessary waste of valuable staff time and other resources; large accumulation of arrears; and, worst of all, the failure of dependent children to obtain the support they desperately need and deserve.

Accordingly, the North Carolina project is entitled "Early Intervention" and involves the timely use of an automated telephone dialer system to remind custodial and non-custodial parents, as appropriate, of: (1) scheduled appointments; (2) first payment due dates (in the case of new child support orders); and (3) pending delinquency (in the case of non-custodial parents facing delinquency for the first time).

The original SIP Grant was awarded to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Social Services, Child Support Enforcement Section, in January 2003. It was originally scheduled to expire May 31, 2004, but the State has been granted permission to operate the grant through May 31, 2005. As of June 1, 2004, the project has been implemented in twenty-five counties throughout the State and plans are to implement the project Statewide by August 2004.

Based upon data made available in connection with the initial two pilot counties in which the project was implemented, project results to date have been very favorable. In Harnett County, between March 2003 and March 2004, the number of custodial and non-custodial parents who appeared for their scheduled appointments after receiving a reminder increased from 23 percent to 46 percent. In Craven County, during the same period, the increase in these parents who kept their scheduled appointments was from 36 percent to 46 percent.

In addition, between March 2003 and March 2004, the number of new child support cases in Harnett County which became delinquent within 30 days of being reminded of their pending delinquent status decreased from 46 percent to 4 percent; and, in Craven County during the same period, there was a decrease in such cases from 37 percent to 33 percent. An update of progress made as the project is implemented throughout the State will be reported in a future article in the Child Support Report as data become available.

The state is delighted with these project results to date and hopes that even greater progress can be made in assisting parents to live up to their parental duties. This progress translates into more effective utilization of staff time and resources, increased child support collections, and greater hope for the happiness and well-being of children.

Nehemiah Rucker is a Federal Project Officer in OCSE. For more detailed information contact Sharon Stanley, North Carolina Grant Project Officer at (919) 255-3810 or Sharon.stanley@ncmail.net.