OCSE Home . Program Information . News . Publications . Policy . State Links . OCSE Search . Help

Tommy G. Thompson Named Secretary of Health and Human Services

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson is the nation's leading advocate for the health and welfare of all Americans. He is the 19th individual to serve as Secretary of the Department, which employs more than 60,000 persons and has a fiscal year 2001 budget of $429 billion.

Secretary Thompson has dedicated his professional life to public service, most recently serving as governor of Wisconsin since 1987. Thompson made Wisconsin State history when he was re-elected to office for a third term in 1994 and a fourth term in 1998.

During his 14 years as governor, Secretary Thompson focused on revitalizing Wisconsin's economy. He also gained national attention for his leadership on welfare reform, expanded access to health care for low-income people, and education.

In 1996, he enacted Wisconsin Works, or "W-2," the State's landmark welfare-to-work legislation, which served as a national model for welfare reform. The program required participants to work, while at the same time providing the services and support to make the transition to work feasible and permanent. W-2 provided a safety net through childcare, health care, transportation, and training assistance. Wisconsin's monthly welfare caseload declined by more than 90 percent, while the economic status of those taking part in W-2 improved. The average family on AFDC had been 30 percent below the federal poverty line. However, at the average wage of people leaving W-2, families were 30 percent above the poverty line.

The Secretary believes that child support is an important life-line to persons who are leaving welfare for jobs and striving to become self-sufficient. In remarks to HHS employees, he indicated that the child support program needs to be even more vigilant in collecting support on behalf of children and families, and that a substantial increase in collections must become a major agency goal.

Recently, Secretary Thompson worked to extend health insurance to many low-income children and families. As of November 2000, The BadgerCare program-Wisconsin's version of the State Children's Health Insurance Program-had enrolled more than 77,000 individuals. In addition, Wisconsin's Pathways to Independence was the nation's first program to allow the disabled to enter the workforce without the fear of losing health benefits. The program provides ready access to a coordinated system of services and benefits counseling. As governor, Thompson also created FamilyCare, designed to help elderly and disabled citizens, and allow them to receive care in their homes for as long as possible.

As governor, Thompson also created the nation's first parental school choice program in 1990, allowing low-income Milwaukee families to send children to the private or public school of their choice. He also created Wisconsin's Council on Model Academic Standards, which implemented high academic standards for English language arts, math, science, and social studies. Thompson also made unprecedented investments in the University of Wisconsin System through building projects and initiatives to attract and retain world-class faculty while keeping tuition affordable for students.

Secretary Thompson began his career in public service in 1966 as a representative in Wisconsin's State Assembly. He was elected assistant Assembly minority leader in 1973 and Assembly minority leader in 1981. Secretary Thompson has received numerous awards for his public service, including the Anti-Defamation League's Distinguished Public Service Award. In 1997, he received Governing Magazine's Public Official of the Year Award, and the Horatio Alger Award in 1998. The Secretary has served as chairman of the National Governor's Association, the Education Commission of the States, and the Midwestern Governor's Conference. Secretary Thompson also served in the Wisconsin National Guard and the Army Reserve.

Welcome!

Stephen Goldsmith Addresses NCSEA Policy Forum

On Monday, February 5, Stephen Goldsmith provided the keynote address at the National Child Support Enforcement Association's 2001 Mid-Winter Policy Forum & Policy Conference. Mr. Goldmith is the White House Special Advisor to the President for Faith-Based and Not-For-Profit Initiatives.

In his remarks to participants, Mr. Goldsmith took note of the conference theme of "Family Self-Sufficiency: The Child Support Connection," and emphasized the importance of the child support program to America's children and families.

Child Support Collections from Inmate Accounts at Milwaukee County Jail

Using the Wisconsin statute that allows for the pursuit of unpaid child support by "any appropriate remedy," the Milwaukee County Child Support Agency began seizing money from inmate accounts at Milwaukee County Jail beginning on January 1, 1999.

Arrested persons often are carrying a significant amount of cash. Sometimes this money is catalogued as evidence, and at other times it is placed in a safekeeping account to be returned to the inmate upon release.

The child support agency has established a working relationship with the jail cashiers who manage these safekeeping accounts. When an inmate enters the jail with a specified minimum amount of cash or a check made payable to him, a cashier alerts child support staff, who then run the inmate's name in the child support computer. Approximately one-quarter of the referrals are a match for someone who is delinquent in child support.

In the year and a half since its inception, approximately $300,000 in child support arrears has been collected.

Once a match is found, a motion, which must be signed by a court commissioner or judge, is filed, freezing the inmate's account and setting a hearing date at which the inmate will have an opportunity to object to the application of the money to his child support arrears.

In the last several months, efforts were expanded to State correctional facilities. A list of inmates is obtained with their dates of birth and account balances. A motion is filed for each inmate with a minimum specified amount of cash in his or her account.

The implementation of a statewide child support system in 1996 made possible referrals to other counties in the State when a delinquent payer in another county is found with cash.

In the year and a half since its inception, approximately $300,000 in child support arrears has been collected. Examples of successes:

• One motion started as a seizure of a $2,000 State correctional facility account. During the hearing, the inmate testified that the account was being funded by payments from a trust fund set up for the inmate from his mother's estate.
• Further investigation through the account manager at the State correctional facility led to the discovery of a savings account outside the correctional facility containing over $35,000, all funded by the trust fund. Total collections from the inmate exceeded $27,000.
• In another case, an inmate brought a bank deposit slip to court to show that he was on the way to the bank to make a deposit for his employer. After running the employer's name through the child support system, over $10,000 was seized from the employer's saving account for his own delinquent cases.
• Two other custodial parents were paid the entire amount of the arrears and interest due them after waiting over a decade for their child support.

For more information, contact Rhonda Gorden, Director of Child Support Enforcement for Ozaukee County and Assistant Corporation Counsel at (262) 284-8404.

Passport Denial Program Successes

Over $6.5 million in lump sum payments have been collected through the child support passport denial program since its inception in June of 1998. This sum only reflects amounts that are voluntarily reported and does not include the majority of lump sum payments, payment agreements, and wage withholdings entered into because of the program.

Over $6.5 million collected through the child support passport denial program since it's inception in June of 1998.

Jennifer Vandemmeltraadt, an income maintenance program supervisor in Minnesota's child support enforcement division, reports that the passport denial program is a terrific collection tool for her State (see box).

"The success of the program depends in large part on communication between all agencies involved," she said. "It is imperative for the responsible counties to be firm with an obligor who has been denied. If a passport is released without a legitimate payment agreement, we have lost this enforcement tool for 10 years. Minnesota has, for the most part, left agreements to the discretion of its counties, but the State retains the authority to override a passport release if an adequate agreement has not been made."

North Carolina's Elbert Keith reports that the passport denial program also has been a success for his State. Recently, North Carolina received an inquiry from an obligor regarding denial of his passport. He needed a passport to go to Iceland to perform a concert for which he would receive a large monetary payment. The obligor contacted the local child support agency and an agreement was reached in which his employer would make the $12,000 payment up front and recoup the payment from the obligor's performance fee. Mr. Keith was happy to report the total payment of $12,000 was given directly to the custodial parent.

For more information, call OCSE's Special Collections Unit at (202) 401-9389.

Scott Hale is the Federal Offset Task Lead in OCSE. Rebecca Hamil is the Federal Offset Customer Service Team Lead

Passport Denial Provides Impetus for Father to Pay Off Arrears

Passport denial recently was the mechanism for encouraging one Minnesota noncustodial parent to settle arrears that had grown to more than $30,000.

"Our office had been trying to collect current payments from this person for a long time," said Patricia King, a child support enforcement agent in Ramsey County, Minnesota. She received the case for collection in August 1999 after the child for whom support was ordered turned 18, making current support payments in Minnesota a moot point.

The father travels internationally on business. When a hold was placed on his passport in February 2000, making it impossible for him to leave the country, he immediately made contact with the child support agency. King and Ramsey County legal counsel negotiated with the father and his attorney for a week, finally reaching a debt compromise agreement that resulted in a lump sum payment of $22,000.

The number of passport denials is increasing as cooperation improves among states, the federal child support office, and the U.S. Department of State. This year, Minnesota began initiating passport denials monthly rather than annually, according to Jennifer VanDemmeltraadt.

Through denial of passports, Minnesota has recovered more than $80,000 in lump sum arrears payments over the past six months. In addition, consistent current support payments are being made on many other cases as part of settlement agreements.

"Minnesota's success with this program has not been limited to any socioeconomic class," VanDemmeltraadt said. "Payment agreements have been reached with obligors who may not be wealthy, but who, for example, have received out-of-country trips as a gift, as well as with professional musicians and athletes who travel abroad." Passport denial also has worked well with self-employed noncustodial parents for whom other enforcement tools such as income withholding may not have been successful.

Excerpted, with permission, from the Fall 2000 "Child Support Quarterly," a publication of the Minnesota Child Support Program.

Local Information Center Improves Customer Service in Beaumont and Nederland, Texas

Child support customers who call their local offices expect to have their calls answered promptly and their concerns addressed immediately. Those customers who become unhappy with agency services sometimes call their state legislators--a too frequent outcome in Texas before the State's legislature approved funding for four new child support call centers to be located in Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, and Austin. (Previously, all calls had been directed to staff in Austin.)

Customer service staff in the Information Center answer over 3,000 calls per week, with each staff member averaging over 80 calls per day.

Child support unit managers Cleve Halliburton of the Beaumont office and Terry Orick of the Nederland office of the Texas Attorney General's Child Support Division found themselves with a new responsibility and no additional staff. They decided to join forces to establish an Information Center for their combined five-county area, based in Halliburton's Beaumont office. Not considered large offices, their combined caseload is about 35,000 cases.

Within two months, seven staff were pulled from other duties in the two offices and assigned to answer customer calls-from both custodial and noncustodial parents. Data lines were used to transfer telephone calls from Nederland to the new Information Center in Beaumont so that calls would be local for Nederland customers as well as Beaumont customers.

Customer service staff in the Information Center answer over 3,000 calls per week, with each staff member averaging over 80 calls per day. Staff takes information from customers and resolves as many issues as they can, working with and updating the automated system as they do so. For example, Information Center staffers handle status changes, employer changes, payment information, and explanations of time frames.

Customer service staff focus on answering the phones rather than on doing long, complicated resolutions of problems. When a matter needs resolution by "production" staff, the customer service staff e-mails the production staff member, giving the customer's phone number and a description of the request.

Production staffers have three days to initiate a resolution of the issue-or actually resolve it. Generally, issues are referred to production staff only if their resolution requires an action on the case such as court action, extensive computer adjustments, or investigation.

Ninety-three percent of the calls are being answered, with an average wait of a minute and 13 seconds.

If a customer calls a second time, the customer service staff can see that they sent production staff an e-mail. So, the caller is referred directly to the production staff member. On the third call, the call is to be forwarded to the office ombudsman. Thus far, there has not been a third time caller. In addition, customers can access basic information such as payment information and court dates, or notify the office of an address change through the State's Voice Information Response System or its website.

Results

• Ninety-three percent of the calls are being answered, with an average wait of a minute and 13 seconds;
• Complaints to legislators have been reduced to one per week-down from three or four per day;
• Lobby traffic has been reduced, as customers are able to get the information they need by phone; and
• Production has increased, with more efficient use of staff.

If you would like more information, contact Cleve Halliburton, manager of the Beaumont child support unit, at (409) 654-2652.

Guidance on "Working with Federal Agencies as Employers," Now on Website

Recent OCSE guidance, "Working with Federal Agencies as Employers," is now available on the OCSE Website in NECSRS at /programs/cse.

A resource document developed to assist state and county child support workers in their interaction with federal agencies.

A resource document developed to assist state and county child support workers in their interaction with federal agencies, the purpose of the publication is:

• To provide federal agencies' addresses and contacts for sending income withholding orders;
• To help states streamline the process of redirecting child support payments of federal agencies from the counties to the state disbursement units (SDUs);
• To explain the coding on the U.S. Treasury checks that may arrive at the SDU without enough identifying information to link to state child support cases; and
• To assist states as they move from paper checks to electronic check processing through electronic funds transfer/electronic data interchange (EFT/EDI).

"Working with Federal Agencies as Employers" was sent to all states and county child support offices. If you would like further information about the publication, contact Nancy Benner at (202) 401-5528 or nbenner@acf.dhhs.gov.

Final Rule on Incentives, Penalties, and Audits

OCSE's final rule on incentives, penalties, and audits was published in the Federal Register December 27, 2000 (65 FR 82177). See Action Transmittal OCSE-AT-01-01, dated January 3, 2001.

This rule promulgates federal regulations on the new performance-based incentive system and performance penalties, and establishes standards for certain types of audits required by the Child Support Performance and Incentive Act of 1998. The rule adds new regulations and revises existing regulations contained in 45 CFR Parts 302, 304, and 305.

These changes largely implement the statute and provide clarification on the operation of the new incentive system, performance penalties, and aspects of audits.

Final Rule on Medical Support Notice Delayed

The effective date for the final rule on the National Medical Support Notice has been delayed for 60 days until March 27, 2001. The delay will allow Department officials the opportunity for further review and consideration of new regulations.

The final rule, published December 27, 2000 (65 FR 82154)), implemented provisions of the Child Support Performance and Incentives Act of 1988 (Public Law 105-200). These provisions require state child support enforcement agencies, under title IV-D of the Social Security Act, to enforce the health care coverage provision in a child support order.

Child Support and SSA Employee Assistance Program Broadcast

Recently, Jan Downing of OCSE's Division of Consumer Services, and Sheila Bradley, of the Policy Division, were invited to present a program about child support by the Social Security Administration's Employee Assistance Program broadcast network. This live, interactive video program is broadcast to more than 900 offices across the country. Each site is equipped with a VCR to video tape the broadcast to share with employees who cannot attend.

The programs have been very successful in reaching people who have interests in common but are separated by geography.

The programs, which offer expert information and the opportunity to ask questions, have been very successful in reaching people who have interests in common but are separated by geography. We are interested in knowing if any state child support agencies are offering a similar service for their county offices.

For more information, contact Jan Downing at (202) 401-9375.

Collections Update

Nationwide child support collections in fiscal year 2000 reached $18 billion. Also, the Federal Government collected a record $1.4 billion in overdue child support from federal income tax refunds for tax year 2000.

Collections in fiscal year 2000 reached $18 billion.

More than 1.42 million families benefited from these collections. In addition, a program to match delinquent parents with financial records found more than one million accounts belonging to more than 690,000 delinquent noncustodial parents nationwide.

Delaware Receives Award for Customer Service

Delaware Health & Social Services, Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE) recently was honored with The Hammer Award-presented to teams of state and federal employees whose work creates a government that works better, costs less and delivers results. Vincent Meconi, the Secretary of Delaware's Health and Social Services, presented the award to DCSE. David Lett, the Federal Regional Administrator, and Juanita DeVine, the Child Support Program Manager, congratulated Delaware on their outstanding achievement.

The award recognizes DCSE's Enhanced Service Delivery Initiative (ESDI) that changed the way customer service is delivered in Delaware. ESDI introduced two new technologies to enhance customer service: The Automated Assistance Line (AAL) and Automated Call Distribution (ACD). DCSE also staffed a centralized customer service unit, which receives all incoming calls for the Division and provides immediate answers to questions or forwards them to caseworkers for action.

DCSE Director Karryl D. Hubbard said, "By removing all incoming calls from caseworkers to a centralized customer service unit, caseworkers have more time to dedicate to parent locate activities and other responsibilities. This system has allowed caseworkers to get back to the nuts and bolts of their job and improve performance."

For fiscal year 2000, the AAL recorded 1.1 million calls, 900,000 of which were resolved by the automated system. The AAL, available to customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, has saved Delaware $900,000 annually, the estimated cost of hiring additional staff to answer all the calls handled by the automated system.

According to State officials, DCSE's efforts to redesign its customer service delivery system would not have been possible without its partnership with the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. Through this partnership, DCSE was able to tap into a large base of resources, identify the best systems in place in other parts of the country, and decide what would work best in Delaware.

Additionally, OCSE provided customer service training to Delaware child support workers, ensuring a commitment to quality customer service. This project is a good example of how an effective partnership can improve service to all child support customers.

Mark Your Calendar for OCSE's Next Child Support Enforcement Training Conference

The Administration for Children and Families Office of Child Support Enforcement's 11th National Child Support Enforcement Training Conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington Virginia, September 10 - 12, 200l.

These conferences are noted for their emphasis on practical information and techniques that can improve your casework and management skills. For early-bird information, contact OCSE's Bertha Hammett at (202) 401-5292 or bhammett@acf.dhhs.gov.