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

Dr. Sherri Z. Heller Named to Head OCSE

Sherri Z. Heller has been named to head the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. For the previous six years, as Deputy Secretary for Pennsylvania's Department of Public Welfare Office of Income Maintenance, Dr. Heller carried responsibility for child support enforcement, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and child care, as well as food stamp, job training, and cash assistance programs.

Under her direction, Pennsylvania was a leader in child support enforcement, collecting more than $9.3 billion and automating its system of collection, enforcement, and disbursement of child support.

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge said, "Sherri Heller's goals have been to inspire people to succeed-not to use mandates and regulations to solve their problems. Her talents and expertise will be missed here."

Reflecting on the change, Dr. Heller, who grew up in the Washington, D.C. area and knows it well, says, "I think I bring a record of results: a recognition that government isn't a system of funding streams and programs but something people expect to work. I like the idea that I have something to work on that makes a difference to people."

Her previous experience includes a tour as County Administrator in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; Assistant to the President Pro Tem, Pennsylvania Senate; Executive Director of Lancaster County Mental Health/Mental Retardation and Drug and Alcohol Abuse Programs; and Chief, Division of Fiscal Administration of Pennsylvania's Department of Education.

She graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and holds a doctorate in education from Harvard.

Dr. Heller enjoys music and drama and performs frequently in community theatre productions. Asked to compare theatre to government, she pauses only briefly. "Success in both," she says, "means connecting with people."

More information about Dr. Heller's goals for the Child Support Enforcement Program will be featured in Child Support Report over the next several months.

HHS Awards $1.8 Million in R & D Grants

On September 28, HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson announced the award of more than $1.8 million in research and demonstration grants to 12 states: Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The grants support innovative programs for strengthening and improving the child support program.

"Increasing child support collections is vital for the millions of children in need." ...HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson

"Increasing child support collections is vital for the millions of children in need," the Secretary said, "and these fresh approaches from the states hold great promise for improving the lives of our children."

The projects will examine a number of broad areas. For example:

• Illinois will provide services to formerly incarcerated fathers to assist them to become more financially and emotionally connected to their children;
• Minnesota and New Mexico will increase services to previously underserved nonEnglish speaking populations, such as those fluent in Spanish or Hmong;
• Missouri will work with incarcerated fathers to improve their financial and emotional support of their children;
• New Jersey and Virginia will work with community service providers to increase child support program outcomes for children;
• South Carolina will collaborate with local community and faith-based groups to provide early intervention services to fathers to improve their payment of child support and their connections to their children;
• Texas will provide training to young, low-income fathers to enhance their ability to pay child support and improve their parenting skills; and
• Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming will use technology to improve overall management of their child support programs through improved use of data. The demonstrations require an evaluation. The grants will cover a substantial portion of the projects' costs, with the remaining costs coming from other federal child support enforcement funds. Each grantee also will contribute at least five percent of the total cost of the project.

Grant Recipients

Illinois Department of Public Aid

A collaborative effort with the Department of Corrections and community agencies to promote family self-sufficiency. $193,268

Minnesota Department of Human Services

Examining the role of language-specific child support workers in improving performance and customer satisfaction. $62,500

Missouri Department of Social Services

Incarcerated fathers collaboration project. $192,607

New Jersey Department of Human Services

A collaborative effort to promote healthy families. $127,600

New Mexico Department of Human Services

Comprehensive outreach supporting paternity and support order entry. $217,667

South Carolina Department of Social Services

Early intervention to enhance fatherhood initiative. $106,801

Texas Office of the Attorney General

The Bootstrap Project-mediation, partial child support reimbursement, and Jobs program. $105,245

Vermont Agency of Human Service

Data warehousing and data mining. $199,941

Virginia Department of Social Services

From case number to client: reducing barriers to the collection of child support through interagency collaboration and case management. $100,000

Washington Department of Social and Health Services

Building a longitudinal and predictive child support knowledge management system: a data warehousing and data mining project to build the capacity of Washington State. $200,000

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development

Wisconsin's Child Support Data Mart. $166,619

Wyoming Department of Family Services

Using data warehousing to improve children's medical coverage and management effectiveness in Wyoming's IV-D program. $124,993

Dr. Wade F. Horn Addresses OCSE's 11th National Training Conference

On September 10, 2001, Dr. Wade F. Horn, newly confirmed Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, provided the keynote address to more than 500 participants at OCSE's 11th National Training Conference. Commenting on his background as a child psychologist, he told his audience that most of his working life has been devoted to advocacy for children.

"All the programs I have overseen and all the strategies I have pursued in the past have had one goal: the well-being of children."...Wade F. Horn

"The well-being of kids," he said, "has been at the forefront of my thinking for a very long time. All the programs I have overseen and all the strategies I have pursued in the past have had one goal: the well-being of children. My work on fatherhood issues these past several years, important as it was for dads themselves, served the higher goal of enriching the lives of children."

Dr. Horn commended the child support program for growth in understanding of its mission in recent years-for "embracing the notion, supported by research, that children do better in intact families." In his remarks, Dr. Horn underscored the importance of healthy marriages and said that child support should be prepared to encourage and support couples who show an inclination to wed.

"If we want to make a real difference in the lives of children," he said, "we cannot afford to ignore the issue of healthy marriage."

Although working to involve both parents-resident and nonresident-in the lives of their children is important, Dr. Horn also said that child support must not lose sight of its primary responsibility to provide economic support for children. With the decline of welfare caseloads, child support is more important than ever to families struggling to gain and maintain economic stability.

Dr. Horn reminded those in attendance of the many nonresident parents who care deeply about their children and pay their child support faithfully. In cases where there are support orders, more than two-thirds of the parents are paying. Other nonresident parents want to fulfill their obligations but need help.

Some unwed fathers, for example, especially in low-income communities, lack the resources to provide financially for their children. These men need support in training for, finding, and keeping employment.

In some cases, however, parents who have the means simply do not pay. And for this group, Dr. Horn said, "it is appropriate to use every tool at our disposal to get them to pay."

While money alone cannot make up for the absence of fathers in their children's lives, the income from regular child support can make a decided difference in the quality of those lives.

An Interview with Pauline Burton, President of the National Council of Child Support Directors

On September 18, CSR spoke with Pauline Burton, President of the National Council of Child Support Directors. Pauline also is the Child Support Director in Colorado, a position she has held since 1996.

CSR: Pauline, thanks for taking time to speak with us. You've been director of Colorado's child support program for more than 5 years. What are some of the attributes of a successful child support director?

PB: First, it helps to really love the work. What we do is so important. Enthusiasm, the opportunity to be creative and to be innovative are real benefits to this job. Having a great staff coupled with strong legislative support allows for the building of a strong child support program.

CSR: How did you get into child support?

PB: I have worked in public administration and public welfare programs at a variety of levels in Colorado for a period of twenty years or so. During that time, I gained experience in every one of the human services programs except child welfare. In 1987, I had the good fortune to be appointed to Colorado's very first child support task force, which I am still a member of. As a result of that experience, I became very familiar with the child support enforcement program and in March of 1996 received the offer I couldn't refuse.

CSR: The past few years have been turbulent ones for the states' child support programs and directors. How do you view the overall health and well-being of the National Council?

PB: It's a very solid, very strong organization, in large part because the members-the membership is limited to child support directors-are dedicated and great leaders. It's also congenial. With a small group, you can get to know each other pretty well. That encourages frequent contact-sometimes on an almost daily basis-by phone, the Internet, e-mail, or in person. And that's a real source of strength. The directors are very supportive of one another. For example, we do a great deal of "surveying" to get perspective on an issue. If one of us has a problem or a question, we can quickly canvass the other directors and expect to get a lot of help with it.

CSR: There continues to be a good deal of turnover of state child support directors each year. What sorts of training opportunities are there for new directors?

PB: The Council hosts 2 or 3 yearly conferences/meetings that offer excellent training opportunities both for new and experienced directors. We also support continuation of OCSE's recently developed leadership training courses, which, I believe, have a component for new directors and their executive staff, as well as one for the more experienced directors and staff. We see these as valuable resources.

CSR: As president, what are you planning to emphasize this year?

PB: I think it's very important to establish a dialogue with OCSE's new Commissioner, Dr. Sherri Heller. All of us in the Council are looking forward to working with her. We hope to have regular conversations around some current significant issues.

"We . . . need to continue to build on the spirit of partnership that has been a hallmark of child support the past several years."

CSR: Such as . . .

PB: There's a fairly long list here: The reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, simplified distribution, removal of the cap on incentives, continuing to improve interstate enforcement, and issues around confidentiality and safeguarding information. We also need to continue to build on the spirit of sharing and partnership that has been a hallmark of child support the past several years in such areas as strategic planning and the use of Federal/State work groups to study issues and develop recommendations. We support a commitment to research and demonstration and would like to see more forums for stakeholders, such as the conference for state legislators that OCSE sponsored a couple of years ago.

CSR: Do you see any special challenges for the program?

PB: I think the main challenge is to stabilize the funding base of the child support program. The decline in TANF revenues has really changed the landscape. We also need to arrive at a very firm place in terms of our identity. As a program, we've moved in recent years from emphasizing recovery of costs to helping families achieve economic security, but we are still judged largely on how much money we collect. We need to find the proper balance and relationship between these two objectives, which I think are complementary but may also be seen as being in opposition to one another.

CSR: Thank you.

Faith-Based Organizations Encouraged to Be More Active Participants with Government

Elizabeth Seale-Scott, the Director of HHS's Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, addressed OCSE's 11th National Training Conference on the importance of faith-based organizations looking to be more active participants with government in the delivery of child support services.

Ms. Seale-Scott directed the HHS department-wide audit to identify existing barriers to the participation of faith-based and other community organizations in the delivery of social services by the department.

The report, "Unlevel Playing Field: Barriers to Participation by Faith-Based and Community Organizations in Federal Social Service Programs," dated August 2001, summarizes the initial findings from HHS's Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, as well as those of four other cabinet departments with similar faith-based offices.

Among the report's findings are two of special significance relative to how religious and grassroots organizations seek to serve the common good in collaboration with the Federal Government:

• Smaller groups, faith-based and secular, receive very little federal support relative to the size and scope of the social services they provide; and
• There exists a widespread bias against faith-and community-based organizations in federal social service programs.

Ms. Seale-Scott counsels faith-based organizations that may be considering a partnership with the Federal Government to:

• Be knowledgeable about their communities;
• Use trained volunteers to help with the workload;
• Study the organization of federal, state, and local governments, especially their funding mechanisms;
• Recognize the importance of accountability and record keeping;
• Understand their own organizational strengths; and
• Be active in seeking other funding, as government grants are not meant to sustain operations over a long period.

Northeast Hub Hosts Meeting on Arrears Management

By: Jens Feck

Northeast Hub Director Mary Ann Higgins recently convened a two-day meeting on arrears management in Philadelphia for the states and territories in the Northeast Hub. The meeting grew out of a recommendation by Alisha Griffin, New Jersey's child support director.

Meeting participants organized the issues, strategies, and best practices identified in four simultaneous roundtable discussions into a framework to develop guiding principles and state-specific policies for managing arrears. Relevant definitions, issues, strategies, and next-steps were organized into four categories:

• Prevention of Arrears (with a focus on pre-child support activities);
• Order Establishment (including default orders, retroactivity, unemployed noncustodial parents, and nonchild support obligations);
• Early Intervention (including noncustodial parent access to modification and review and adjustment, prompt terminations, and immediate enforcement actions); and
• Accrued arrears management (including enforcement suspension, arrears compromise, arrears sell-off, and segregation of able to pay from not able to pay).
• Northeast Hub jurisdictions view this meeting and the subsequent release of the "Northeast Hub Report on Managing Arrears," to be the first steps towards the successful management of a difficult issue. The amount of arrears has grown to over $80 billion nationwide.

Those who participated in the meeting intend to redesign, expand, and implement new policies to accommodate various arrears issues and to report on implementation successes and barriers in future meetings.

In addition, Northeast Hub States intend to share their work products with their counterparts in other regions and at future training conferences. For more information about the Hub meeting and to obtain a copy of the "Northeast Hub Report on Managing Arrears," contact Jens A. Feck at (787) 766-5196 (jfeck@acf.dhhs.gov).

Nebraska Receives Certification

Nebraska has received certification of its computer system for meeting the requirements of the Family Support Act. Congratulations to the State for this achievement.

6th Circuit Affirms Constitutionality of CSRA

On September 25, 2000, a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals determined in United States v. Faasse, a case considering a Commerce Clause challenge to the Child Support Recovery Act (CSRA), that most provisions of the CSRA were unconstitutional.

Then on December 1, a rehearing en banc was granted and the September 25 opinion was vacated. On March 7, 2001, an en banc panel of the 6th Circuit Court heard oral arguments.

[Editor's note: En banc reviews are rare and generally require all of the appellate judges to consider the matter in question.]

The 6th Circuit . . . upheld the CSRA as a constitutional enactment under the Commerce Clause.

Finally, on September 14, 2001, in an 8-4 decision, the 6th Circuit overturned the earlier decision and upheld the CSRA as a constitutional enactment under the Commerce Clause.

The court stated, "All ten of our sister circuits that have considered the constitutionality of the CSRA in Commerce Clause challenges after United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995), have upheld the statute. We now join them in concluding that the CSRA is an appropriate exercise of Congress' power under the Commerce Clause. Therefore, we AFFIRM the judgment of the district court as to the constitutionality of the statute."

The majority's statement includes the following: "[A]n interstate court-ordered child support payment clearly is a 'thing' in the interstate commerce. . . . Therefore, the Congress may freely regulate the interstate court-ordered child support payment, provided we find that the statute's means are rationally related to its ends, which we do."

2001 Conference Calendar

October

21-25 Western Interstate Child Support Enforcement Council (WICSEC) Annual Training Conference, Omni San Antonio Hotel, San Antonio, TX, Cheryl Kabler (512) 460-6348.

November

4-8 ACF Information Systems Meeting, Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C., Federal and State Staff Only, Robin Rushton (202) 690-1244.

7-8 NE Hub ACF/DOL Conference on Welfare-to-Work, Sheraton Rittenhouse Square Hotel, Philadelphia, PA, Joanne Krudys (212) 264-2890 X 127 or Juanita DeVine (215) 861-4054.

12-13 NCSEA Fall Training Conference, Interstate and Administrative Enforcement, Adams Mark Hotel, Indianapolis, IN, Carol Henry (202) 624-8180.

26-28 Tennessee Conference on Child Support Enforcement, River Terrace Resort & Convention Center, Gatlinburg, TN, Gladys Carr (615) 313-4880.