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Child Support Report - January 2000
A Window of Opportunity -- Fragile Families and Fathers
Reforming Interstate Case Processing
Verifying Employment with New Hire Data
Multistate Financial Institution Data Match (MSFIDM)
A Father Friendly Approach to Child Support
Indiana Child Support and Head Start Enter into Partnership
Child Support and Law Enforcement Team Up in Washington State
Proposed Food Stamp Rule Issued
A Window of Opportunity -- Fragile Families and Fathers
By Debra Pontisso
Recently, Dr. Elaine Sorensen, a Principal Research Associate with the Urban Institute, provided OCSE staff with an updated statistical profile of father involvement in the lives of their children, with a particular emphasis on "fragile families."
Preliminary data from two cities-Austin, Texas and Oakland, California-show that an overwhelming majority of unwed mothers and fathers (82 percent) were seeing each other regularly and/or cohabiting at the time of the child's birth. These data are from an ongoing larger survey, called Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing, in which more than 3,600 unwed parents in 21 cities are being interviewed at the time of their child's birth (for more information on this, see www.opr.princeton.educ/crcw/ff).
Based on nationally representative survey data, Dr. Sorensen also showed that father involvement remains high during the first two years of children's lives when they are born outside of marriage. The Urban Institute's National Survey of America's Families shows that 62 percent of children under the age of two born to unwed parents either lived with both of their parents (30 percent) or lived with their mother and saw their father at least once a week (32 percent).
These data appear to dispel the notion that most children born to unwed parents are a result of casual sexual encounters. The data also suggest that when a child is very young, most unwed parents attempt to establish an intact family, which Dr. Sorensen and others are now referring to as "fragile families." Twenty-seven percent of poor children under the age of two are living in fragile families, according to Dr. Sorensen.
These data appear to dispel the notion that most children born to unwed parents are a result of casual sexual encounters.
As poor children get older, however, the likelihood that their fathers are highly involved in their lives diminishes considerably. For example, 59 percent of poor children aged 13 to 17 live with their mothers, and their nonresident fathers are not highly involved in their lives. Only 24 percent of these children live with their fathers or see their fathers at least once a week (these numbers include children living with their two natural, married parents). In contrast, when poor children are under the age of two, nearly two-thirds of them live with their fathers or see their fathers at least once a week. (See sidebar for more on research into fragile families.)
In Dr. Sorensen's view, a "window of opportunity" exists in the fact that unwed mother-father relationships are strongest when their children are very young. As she points out, research shows that most unwed fathers of young children are initially involved and most unwed mothers want them to be. This becomes a reason to begin thinking about developing interventions at this stage of their relationships that would foster, support, and enable them to maintain or encourage family formation on a more permanent basis. These interventions, Dr. Sorensen believes, could be offered to unwed couples who are still considering the possibility of establishing an intact family, as well as those unwed mothers and fathers who are living together.
One intervention that might be appropriate for these fragile families is the use of community-based or faith-based organizations to help them overcome barriers to working together on behalf of their children. While the main goal of these services would be to encourage the establishment of intact families, if it appears that the unwed couple is unwilling to move in that direction, these organizations might still help the parents work together for the sake of their children.
For low-income families, Dr. Sorensen suggests the development of a comprehensive package of support services that includes employment-oriented services for both parents, as well as family-oriented services. These services should view the family as the unit of intervention regardless of whether the mother and father are married or living together. In addition, she believes it would be worthwhile for state and local child support agencies to think about developing "user friendly" information materials-perhaps a resource guide-that would provide unwed parents who want to stay together with information about available services in their community.
If you are interested in learning more about Dr. Sorensen's research, she can be contacted at the Urban Institute, 2100 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037, telephone (202) 833-7200.
Debra Pontisso is Advocacy Relations Specialist-Fatherhood Initiative in OCSE.
More on Fragile Families
The "Fragile Families and Welfare Reform" research project, directed by Irwin Garfinkel and Sara McLanahan, is attempting to shed light on factors which result in the lack of family formation among unwed parents and which contribute to the decline in father involvement over an extended period of time. This research project, which is responsible for the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Survey discussed in Debra Pontisso's article on Dr. Sorensen's research, plans to follow both parents of a child born outside of marriage for five years after the child's birth for the purpose of tracking changes, if any, in parental relationships, living situations, and the level of father responsibility and involvement.
Job Fair Helps Dads
By: Geraldine I. Jones
The Prince George's County, Maryland, Office of Child Support Enforcement, in cooperation with the County's Workforce Services Corporation, recently hosted a job fair for unemployed noncustodial parents. Twenty-six Washington metro area employers participated in the event called "Getting More Dads Involved in Jobs," while 75 noncustodial parents attended.
The fair featured workshops on job search, interviewing tips, and resume writing. Onsite resume services also were provided by child support staff. Participants presented completed resumes to job fair employers, and six dads were hired on the spot. Many others were interviewed and are being considered for placement by the participating companies.
"This event is a good indicator of our commitment to helping fathers find employment and to helping children receive the child support they need and deserve," said Prince George's County Child Support Director Geraldine Jones. The fair's coordinators, Daria Millard and Denise Hall, attributed success to the teamwork of child support staff, employers, and partners. The fair prompted numerous calls from custodial and noncustodial parents asking when the next one would be scheduled. The agency hopes to be able to do another job fair next Spring.
For more information, contact Geraldine Jones at (301)952-3649.
Geraldine Jones is Executive Director, Prince George's County Government Office of Child Support Enforcement.
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Reforming Interstate Case Processing
By: Dianne Offett
The Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 mandated states to adopt the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). One of the major provisions of UIFSA is that an interstate child support case should have only one order that is entitled to prospective (future) enforcement. This "controlling order" principle will move child support enforcement into a new way of establishing and enforcing child support orders. The state with this order is known as the controlling order state (COS).
(A) major provision of UIFSA is that an interstate child support case should have only one order that is entitled to prospective . . . enforcement. This "controlling order" principle will move child support enforcement into a new way of establishing and enforcing child support orders.
Previously, IV-D interstate procedures were based on the Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act (URESA). As a result of URESA's liberal order establishment procedures, many child support cases have multiple orders and arrears accruing under several orders. This means the child support practitioners must reconcile these orders to one prospectively enforceable order and also reconcile the arrears. This can be difficult because responsibility for maintenance of the payment record is not clear, and customers do not know what the arrearages are.
Over a year ago, OCSE's Division of Policy and Planning formed a work group called the Interstate Reform Initiative (IRI). This work group is composed of appointed state representatives, federal policy and interstate representatives, and an advisory group of interstate experts. Their task is to develop an interstate payment process that delivers child support payments to custodial parents and/or children as expeditiously and accurately as possible. It should emphasize uniform standards for disbursement, distribution, and interstate case processing, and also improve interstate accounting.
The IRI Work Group has had several meetings to discuss scenarios on how interstate cases are processed now and how current cases and future ones could be processed under UIFSA case processing principles. Discussion topics include general case processing issues, the Controlling Orders States' (COS) responsibility, features of interstate case management, establishment of a support order, determining the controlling order, reconciling arrearages, responsibility of enforcement, receipts, distribution, disbursement, maintaining the payment records, and system implications.
In September, the work group developed its first working draft concept paper. Currently, the state and federal policy and interstate representatives are meeting with states' IV-D directors, CSE practitioners, and CSE associations to solicit comments on the concept paper. The work group representatives plan to meet with as many groups as possible to obtain and consider comments before making revisions.
The work group has prepared a calendar of events through August 2000 at which a work group representative will present the concept paper and solicit comments. If you are interested in attending one of the meetings, please contact Dianne Offett at (202) 401-5425.
Dianne Offett is OCSE's Interstate Liaison Officer.
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The quality of the NDNH data sent to states is a key factor in reducing unnecessary employer verification requests. States have good reason to have confidence in New Hire data. One state studied the quality of matches returned to three of its counties from the NDNH and found that 82 percent of new hire data sent resulted in a successful locate. With accurate, current information about newly hired employees, child support agencies across the country have been able to locate noncustodial parents (NCPs) and issue income withholding orders more quickly than ever before.
Employers have been key partners in the success of New Hire Reporting. The timely submittal by employers of accurate data to the State Directory of New Hires (SDNH) is the first and critical link in the chain of this new locate system. Employers had hoped that the speed and accuracy of the new hire data they provide to states would reduce the need for employment verifications, which, because they must be manually processed, are time-consuming and costly.
No federal regulation requires states to verify employment before establishing a child support or income withholding order, and given that employment verification procedures are likely to pre-date new hire reporting, states may find it beneficial to review the purpose and relevance of employment verification when the data comes from the NDNH.
If permitted by state law and appropriate to the case, the child support agency is encouraged to issue an income withholding as soon as it gets information about an NCP's new employer. If the employee is no longer there, the employer, upon receipt of the withholding order, will notify the child support agency.
The support and cooperation of employers is essential to the success of the child support enforcement program. Eliminating unnecessary employment verifications can save employers time by reducing the amount of paperwork they must deal with, and this enhances the productivity of the child support program.
If you would like more information, contact Mike Torpy at (202) 401-5510.
Verifying Employment with New Hire Data
New Hire Reporting, which has been in operation nationally for little more than two years, has achieved impressive results. From the beginning of the program through November 19, 1999, a total of 110 million new hire (NH) records and a per quarter average of 137 million quarterly wage (QW) records have been posted to the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH).
In the first year of the program there were more than one million matches-employment and address information returned to states to assist in the location of non-custodial parents who owe child support. In the second year, with the addition of the Federal Case Registry (FCR) to the matching system, this number increased to 2.9 million matches.
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Multistate Financial Institution Data Match (MSFIDM)
Current Status
- 2,837 Multistate Financial Institutions Participating;
- 3.7 million delinquent obligors on Inquiry File;
- 48 states receiving matches;
- 662,619 matches distributed to states from July, August and September match process;
- 485,252 noncustodial parents had one account matched; and
- 177,367 noncustodial parents had multiple accounts matched.
State Success Stories
West Virginia
A family had not received a payment in more than two years from tax offset, wage withholding, or benefit payments. The State received two matched accounts from MSFIDM: a savings account with a balance of over $25,000 and a checking account valued at $4,000, both of which listed the noncustodial parent's girlfriend as the primary account holder. The State recovered $16,000 from the non-custodial parent and distributed it to the family.
Ohio
The obligor resided in the State and had two cases with combined arrears totaling over $20,000. The State received a MSFIDM match on a savings account and seized $14,793 by freezing the account. The collection was prorated between the two cases and distributed to the two custodial parents.
Florida
To date, Florida has seized 232 accounts and collected $191,706.04 as a result of MSFIDM matches.
A Father Friendly Approach to Child Support
By: Frank Powell Pierce
In Texas, the Attorney General's Office, which houses the child support agency, is helping to find jobs for noncustodial fathers who owe child support. In response to welfare reform, the Child Support Division of the Attorney General's Office is required to refer unemployed obligors who owe child support to local job training entities.
A primary resource in Harris County is the Houston Works Job Placement Center, which, with a Department of Labor grant and additional funding from the Hogg Foundation, has established the Young Fathers in Families Project.
In addition to employment training, young fathers may receive counseling for substance abuse, as well as training in parenting skills, life skills, and mediation techniques if needed to help prepare them for stable employment. The goal is to strengthen these young families and promote their healthy development through employment and other related services.
Referrals are made either by a Court Master or District Judge. The court makes participation a condition of the court order and sets a minimum of 30 days as the date of compliance with the court order. After placement, regular progress reports are filed by the placement service and the child support division monitors payment of support.
The goal is to strengthen these young families and promote their healthy development through employment and other related services.
Currently, in Harris County the two Child Support Masters are setting hearings and placing noncustodial parents into the Houston Works project on a regular basis. So far, more than 200 fathers have been referred either by court or voluntary referral. Referral criteria include high school dropout with low reading skills, poor work history, and/or substance abuse problems. Participants must meet two of these criteria to be eligible for placement.
While the project is too new to have produced statistical outcomes, Houston Works managers indicate that participants are enthusiastic and determined to succeed. As has been said, "the provision of genuine employment opportunities represents the surest route out of poverty for our nation's poor families and children."*
The Houston Works Job Placement Center, working with the Texas Attorney General's Office and a group of 19 local agencies in and around Harris County, is setting out to justify that sentiment by providing young fathers with stable employment and other opportunities.
Frank P. Pierce is a former State Judge and the Senior Regional Attorney for the Texas Attorney General's Office in Region 6, which includes Houston (Harris County) and eight surrounding counties.
*The quotation is from John Naisitt, Mega Trends 2000.
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Indiana Child Support and Head Start Enter into Partnership
By: Geneva Evans Bishop
Indiana's State Child Support Bureau has entered into a partnership with the State's Head Start Association. Formalized by a Memorandum of Understanding, the two organizations agree to provide positive assistance to children and their parents in promoting the well-being of the family structure. This includes exchanging program information, participating in joint training, and trading appropriate referrals.
This initiative follows the partnership agreement between the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement and the National Head Start Association.
"It's a natural connection."
...........................................Joseph B. Mamlin, Deputy Director of Indiana Division of Family and Children.
"As Head Start programs develop local agreements with their child support offices," said Debbie Beeler, President of the Indiana Head Start Association, "I know families will benefit from the new relationships we are building." Joseph B. Mamlin, Deputy Director of Indiana's Division of Family and Children, agreed. "It's a natural connection," he said, "and I plan to continue to support and encourage communication between child support offices and local Head Start agencies."
On October 27, child support and Head Start staff presented a panel at Region V's (Chicago) Head Start Association training conference in Detroit. They discussed their partnership activities and the challenges of establishing a collaborative relationship. The group has been invited to present at Indiana's Child Support Alliance's annual training conference in June, 2000.
"To me," summed up Indiana's Head Start partnership Coordinator Donna Hogle, "the bottom line is that children will be more likely to receive the economic support that is their due and the responsibility of every person who parents a child."
If you would like more information about this initiative, contact OCSE's Geneva Bishop at (312) 353-8416.
Geneva Bishop is a Program Specialist in OCSE's Chicago Regional Office..
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OCSE CBT Course Wins Award
OCSE recently received a prestigious training award from Brandon Hall, a leading provider of information services to the technology-based training industry. Awarded the Bronze Medal for its computer-based training (CBT) course, Child Support Enforcement Orientation, the agency won in the category Technical Skills Training-CD ROM/Disk, Custom Program, Medium/Small Budget. Other winners in the awards program included such technology industry giants as Arthur Andersen, Microsoft, and IBM.
The Award Program's goal is to recognize the best multimedia and web-based training programs, showcasing exceptional instructional design and providing feedback and benchmarking to program developers. A panel of leading instructional designers, multimedia training professionals and Internet experts judged entries.
This award reflects OCSE's commitment to technology-enabled training via development of CBTs. OCSE, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Graduate School and Human Technology Inc., developed six CBT courses for the federal and state child support enforcement community. Thanks also to the members of the National CSE Training Work Group for their hard work.
This award reflects OCSE's commitment to technology-enabled training via development of CBTs.
This CBT Development Project supports Executive Order Number 13111, "Using Technology to Improve Training Opportunities for Federal Government Employees." The Order states that "a coordinated Federal effort is needed to provide flexible training opportunities to employees and to explore how Federal training programs, initiatives, and policies can better support lifelong learning through the use of learning technology."
Congratulations to Michelle Jefferson, Director, Division of State and Local Assistance, Yvette Hilderson Riddick, Chief, National Training Center, Charlene Butler, Project Officer, and the rest of the National Training Center staff for their fine work in producing this award-winning CBT course.
Return to top of newsletter Child Support and Law Enforcement Team Up in Washington State
During 1998, OCSE representatives met with law enforcement leaders in the Seattle Region to discuss how partnering can dramatically improve the enforcement results of difficult-to-collect child support cases. One outcome of the meeting: the King County, Washington model. King County Sheriff Dave Reichert recognized the link between a family that benefits from child support services and a healthier community. A cooperative partnership agreement was reached between King County (the State's most populous county) and the State Division of Child Support. The Sheriff formed a Special Support Enforcement Unit to team up with child support enforcement officers and prosecutors, targeting the most egregious nonsupport cases.
Between February and June 1999--its first five months of operation-the special unit, staffed with four full-time detectives and a clerk, cleared 407 child support-related arrest warrants. Deputies cleared an additional 72 misdemeanor and 8 felony warrants while serving the child support warrants.
Supported in part by federal funds, the Special Support Enforcement Unit operates out of the Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division. "I commend Sheriff Reichert and the division of child support for their collaboration on this project and hope it will become a successful effort for other counties across the state," said HHS Regional Director Mike Kreidler. "This partnership," he continued, "provides a two-fold benefit - enforcement of the rule of law and essential justice in our community, and the collection of necessary support for our children."
Judicial enforcement on hard-to-collect cases is generally reserved as a last resort remedy in a State like Washington where the majority of collections are achieved through administrative remedies. But for those difficult cases that end up as contempt referrals prosecuted through the courts, law enforcement plays a key role in completing the enforcement process and realizing maximum collection potential.
If you would like more information, contact Steve Tivel at (206) 341-7443.
Steve Tivel is a Support Enforcement Officer IV in Washington State's Division of Child Support.
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January
2000 Conference Calendar
10-12 Minnesota Family Ties Summit, Radisson Hotel, Bloomington, MN, Molly Crawford (651) 215-6279.
February
2-4 Arizona State Fatherhood Conference, Mesa Community College, Mesa, AZ, Robin Wolf (520) 723-1212.
7-9 NCSEA Year 2000 Policy Forum, Hyatt Regency on the Hill, Washington, DC, Carol Henry (202) 624-8180.
15-17 Interstate Reform Initiative, Embassy Suites, Washington, DC, Jan Rothstein (202) 401-5073. By Invitation Only.
22-25 California Family Support Council Quarterly Meeting, Riviera Resort & Racquet Club, Palm Springs, CA, Noanne St. Jean (559) 582-3211 X 2403.
March
1-3 Louisiana CSE Assn. Annual Training Conference, Holiday Inn Central, Lafayette, LA, Michael D. Brown (225) 342-4780.
14-16 Big Eight Information Sharing Conference, Hyatt Regency, Dallas, TX, Dan Fascione (215) 686-3724.
16-17 Wisconsin CSE Assn. Spring Training Conference, Mead Hotel, Wisconsin Rapids, WI, Linda Check (715) 346-1307.
19-22 National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges National Conference on Juvenile Justice, Tampa Marriott Waterside Hotel, Tampa, FL, James Toner (775) 784-6012.
27-29 OCSE Interstate Conference, Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, Alexandria, VA, Kathy McCaughin (202) 401-0904.
27-29 Ohio CSE Assn. 8th Annual Spring Conference, Adam's Mark Hotel, Columbus, OH, Cheryl Markino (614) 228-5551.
31 Oklahoma CSE Association Spring Conference, Marriott Hotel, Oklahoma City, OK, Barbara Hatfield (405) 262-8789.
April
12-14 Mississippi CSE Assn. 9th Annual Conference, Bayview Resort, Biloxi, MS, Monty Simpkins (601) 965-1200.
May
1-5 Fifth Annual Bi-Regional Interstate Child Support Conference, Site TBA, Reno, NV, J.P. Soden (415) 437-8421.
3-5 North Dakota Family Support 11th Annual Training Conference, Site TBA, Fargo, ND, Kathleen Ziegelmann (701) 241-5640 or Rosanne Robinson (303) 844-3100 X 394.
9-11 California Family Support Council Quarterly Meeting, Granlibakken Resort & Conference Center, Tahoe City, CA, Noanne St. Jean (559) 582-3211 X 2403.
21-24 ACF User's Group, Galt House, Louisville, KY, Robin Rushton (202) 690-1244. State and Federal Staff Only.
21-25 Eastern Regional Interstate Child Support Association, Marriott Renaissance Center, Detroit, MI, John Graham (724) 830-3263.
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Proposed Food Stamp Rule Issued
A proposed rule was issued December 17, 1999 in the Federal Register (64 FR 70919) by the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Department of Agriculture, implementing provisions of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (welfare reform). The proposed rule allows states to require food stamp recipients to cooperate with child support as a condition of food stamp eligibility.The rule also allows states to disqualify individuals who are in arrears in court-ordered child support payments. We encourage you to review the proposed rule and forward any comments to the FNS during the comment period, which ends February 15, 2000. If you have any questions or would like a copy of the rule, please contact Marilyn R. Cohen at (202) 401-5366.
Marilyn Cohen is a Program Specialist in OCSE's Division of Policy and Planning.
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