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Iowa Child Support and Employers Partner for Success

By: Nancy Thoma

The State of Iowa's "Employers Partnering in Child Support" (EPICS) program was selected as a finalist for the 2001 Council of State Governments' Innovation Award. This program came about because Iowa's child support managers wanted to make it easier for the State's employers to comply with their child support collection responsibilities.

Since the early 1980's, the child support program nationwide has increasingly relied on the efforts of employers to withhold and then forward the child support owed by noncustodial parents. The passage of welfare reform in 1996 significantly increased the payroll deduction requirements of employers. EPICS was Iowa's attempt to ease the burdens placed on employers while facilitating the process of getting child support payments quickly into the hands of those who need them.

To foster a partnership between the business community and the Iowa Bureau of Collections, a task force of employers and State child support policy staff was created to listen to employers' concerns and make recommendations for program improvements. Chief among the task force's recommendations was the need to provide for more effective and more frequent communication.

This led straight to the creation of EPICS, which is a centralized one-stop service center for employers to receive child support-related services. Located in Waterloo, it handles employer inquiries about income withholding and medical support orders for over 80,000 employers in Iowa and across the nation.

EPICS uses technology to promote extended and additional access for employers. Staff are available by telephone, e-mail, fax, or through the EPICS Website, which is designed to handle employer inquiries, distribute and receive forms, and respond to requests from other states.

Once an employer has registered on the Website, an income withholding for child or medical support can be made available through the site. The employer can complete the form on-line and return it to EPICS electronically. An employer may also report a new hire on-line through the Website.

The goal of EPICS is to answer an employer's inquiries as quickly as possible. The focus on employers is critical since approximately 71 percent of Iowa's $245 million in annual child support collections comes from income withholding. One indication of customer satisfaction is that employers have been contacting EPICS to report on employee layoffs, terminations, and settlement payments.

Prior to the implementation of EPICS, employers in Iowa had to interact with as many as 19 child support offices, as well as 100 clerks of court offices, depending on who managed the case and where the custodial parent lived. Not only was this confusing and time consuming for employers, it often led to delays in support payments. Now, employers receive the same level of expertise and the same reliable information each time they call.

The results have been gratifying. In calendar year 2000, EPICS located and verified 25,401 new employers of noncustodial parents and generated 11,284 income-withholding orders. Collections received from wage withholding have increased 41 percent since the implementation of EPICS.

During this same time, the percentage of current support collected in the month due has risen from 49 percent in FY 1999 to 62 percent in FY 2000. EPICS answered 22,383 calls from employers in the first six months of 2001.

For more information, contact Nancy Thoma at (515) 281-5647 or by e-mail at nthoma@dhs.state.ia.us; or Carol Eaton, EPICS Manager, at (515) 242-3241, or by e-mail at ceaton@dhs.state.ia.us.

Dr. Heller Addresses APHSA Conference

Speaking in early December to the national meeting of the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA), OCSE Commissioner Sherri Z. Heller made the improvement of customer service and its connection to increasing collections a major focus of her remarks. Dr. Heller praised APHSA for its 70-year history of working to improve the health and well-being of children and families, and emphasized the need for a continuing partnership between APHSA and child support.

Throughout her speech, Dr. Heller highlighted the importance of "seeing things from the point of view of the customer." This angle of vision has helped her, she said, to gain insight into what she sees as a contradiction between the successes of the child support program and how poorly it tends to be perceived by the public.

Throughout her speech, Dr. Heller highlighted the importance of "seeing things from the point of view of the customer."

The successes of the child support program are many and include increased collections and paternities established, statewide automated systems, the National Directory of New Hires, State Disbursement Units, and other milestones. "But from the customer's point of view," she said, there is "little satisfaction in these accomplishments."

Dr. Heller believes the primary reason for this situation is that "not enough attention has been paid to customer service."

Customer service includes taking a more realistic look at how we report our program successes-and acknowledging our shortcomings. Actively trying to see the customer's point of view-another important form of customer service-also can help us sharpen our appreciation of new policy initiatives, such as working with faith-based organizations and seeking ways to support and promote healthy marriage and family formation in our programmatic initiatives.

Referring to the recently released, "Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study Baseline Report," Dr. Heller noted that unwed parents are committed to each other and to their children at the time of birth.

Four-fifths of the unmarried fathers provide financial or other types of support during the pregnancy, and the overwhelming majority of mothers want the father to be involved in raising their child.

The research has found that 83 percent of unmarried parents are romantically involved at this crucial moment. Seventy-three percent of the unmarried mothers put the chances of marrying the baby's father at 50/50 or better. Four-fifths of the unmarried fathers provide financial or other types of support during the pregnancy, and the overwhelming majority of mothers want the father to be involved in raising their child. From the "customer point of view," it makes very good sense to link this important data with the process of establishing paternity. Dr. Heller closed her remarks by commenting on the need for the child support program to earn and maintain public trust. The test for us should be and will be, she promised, "Does it merit the public's trust?" "Seeing what we do through the eyes of our customers," she said, "will go a long way in helping us meet that test."

National Family Week Proclamation

President George W. Bush proclaimed the week of November 18 through November 24, 2001 as National Family Week. The following are excerpts from his November 21 Proclamation.

"American families are the bedrock of our society. They are the primary source of strength and health for both individuals and communities across our Nation. . . . My Administration is committed to strengthening the American family.

Many one-parent families are also a source of comfort and reassurance, yet a family with a mom and dad who are committed to marriage and devote themselves to their children helps provide children a sound foundation for success.

Government can support families by promoting policies that help strengthen the institution of marriage and help parents rear their children in positive and healthy environments. . . .

My proposed budget includes initiatives that encourage family cohesion. It provides over $60 million for grants that encourage responsible fatherhood. . . . To strengthen States' ability to promote child safety, stability, and well-being, my budget also proposes a substantial increase in funding for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program.

These additional resources will help States keep children with their biological families, when safe and appropriate, or place children with loving adoptive families. . . . As we observe National Family Week, we must work to strengthen families in America as individuals and through Government and community-based organizations. This week serves to remind us of the values, security, and love that we give and receive in our families. . ." George W. Bush

6th Edition of Best Practices and Good Ideas Now Available

The 2001 (6th Edition) of the "Compendium of State Best Practices and Good Ideas in Child Support Enforcement" contains practical ideas for improving the performance of states' child support programs. The profiles provide information on results, describe the sources of funds, offer replication advice, and furnish contact information for follow-up and questions.

. . . contains practical ideas for improving the performance of states' child support programs.

While OCSE does not endorse any particular practice, we believe that by providing the child support community with examples of best practices and good ideas at the state and local level, overall program performance can be improved.

For future best practice publications, we would like to hear about innovative organizational and training practices in your state. These could be practices that are in place statewide or just in a local area. The important thing is that they produce results. We'd like to share them with readers in other states and jurisdictions.

Submit your practices to your ACF Regional Office CSE Program Specialist, or to Myles Schlank, the Chief of OCSE's Technical Assistance Branch in the Division of State, Local and Tribal Assistance. If you have questions or need further information, Myles can be reached at (202) 401-9329.

We also encourage you to visit OCSE's Home Page on the Internet at www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse/.

To request a copy of the "Compendium," call OCSE's National Resource Center at (202) 401-9383 and ask for IM 01-05.

In Pennsylvania, State/County Communication and Cooperation Assure Systems Success

By: John Clark

Pennsylvania recently received federal PRWORA certification of its automated sys- tem, PACSES (Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement System). PACSES has been cited by the "Child Support Enforcement FY 2000 Data Preview Report" for its success in exceeding the national average on all five performance measures.

Pennsylvania's accomplishment can be attributed to good communication and cooperation among the PACSES partners: the Bureau of Child Support Enforcement (BCSE), the 67 county child support offices, and the Domestic Relations Association of Pennsylvania, the counties' professional organization.

"Collaboration and effective partnerships with the County Domestic Relations Sections, including courts," Pennsylvania's child support director Daniel N. Richard says, "have always been key building blocks in our primary goal of providing timely and quality child support services to families of the Commonwealth."

PACSES has been cited by the "Child Support Enforcement FY 2000 Data Preview Report" for its success in exceeding the national average on all five performance measures.

Mr. Richard makes a presentation at each quarterly board meeting of the Domestic Relations Association and listens closely to the counties' concerns. The counties also hold regular meetings on issues related to PACSES. Other meetings that feature effective two-way communication between the State and counties include: PACSES Advisory Board meetings (in which county and State officials participate); the Title IV-D Advisory Committee; and annual Western, Eastern, and statewide Domestic Relations Association conferences.

Working closely with partners on complex issues can sometimes be a challenge. "The long-standing relationship between the counties' Domestic Relations Offices and the Bureau of Child Support Enforcement," says Jeanette E. Bowers, President of the Pennsylvania Domestic Relations Association, "has not been free of opinion differences and healthy debate. That is also true of the relationship among the 67 county programs . . . [but] long ago we realized that the success of the program depends on our ability to work cooperatively."

Ms. Bowers cites as an example the implementation of Pennsylvania's Statewide Collection and Disbursement Unit. Moving from 67 disbursement units to one central location was not easy. However, the shared commitment to provide financial support to children-and to meet the federal requirement- motivated the implementation team, made up of staff from PACSES, BCSE, and the counties' Domestic Relations Associations.

Other examples of cooperation include:

• The State and counties working together to establish a comprehensive training academy for child support workers;
• PACSES building upon its success in enabling customers to access information about their child support cases via the Internet; and
• The PACSES team, with input from the counties, developing an Internet portal that will substantially improve access to information and the automated system by child support workers and customers, while protecting customers' privacy.

If you would like more information about Pennsylvania's Child Support Enforcement System, contact PACSES Project Director Jeffrey E. Rowe at (717) 705-5100.

Bridging the Digital Divide: Illinois Child Support Enforcement Program Helps Head Start Parents Access the Internet

By: Karen Newton-Matza

To help bridge the "digital divide," the Illinois Department of Public Aid, Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE), provided funds from their Head Start/Child Care/Child Support collaboration grant to teach Head Start parents how to use the Internet. DCSE contracted with staff at the University of Illinois at Chicago Family Start Learning Center (FAST) to create an Internet training course for Head Start parents.

FAST provides computer literacy courses for low-income adults. Working part-time for almost a year, FAST staff created and refined their training package, "Exploring the Internet with Net Notes." In the course, students are taught how to use the Internet and find free access to computers at their neighborhood libraries.

FAST staff trained 35 Head Start parents to teach other parents how to access the Internet. Meeting for eight weeks in local libraries, 60 parents completed the course, which is taught in English and Spanish.

Parents learned basic computer terms, signed up for free e-mail, and learned how to use search engines to find information. They practiced navigating the Internet by visiting the Illinois Collaboration Web- site at www.regionvqnet.org/2gether4kids. The Web-site, which was created as part of the Illinois collaboration grant activities, features information on each of the three programs, plus helpful links.

For more information on the Head Start/Child Care/Child Support collaboration project, contact Lois Rakov, who manages the grant, at (312) 793-4568. For more information on the Illinois Collaboration Website, contact Karen Newton-Matza at (312) 793-8213, or visit the Website. For more information on the course, "Exploring the Internet with Net Notes," or the Family Start Learning Centers, contact Shelly Maxwell at (312) 746-5416.

The Illinois Collaboration Website

"2gether4kids"

For almost three years, the Illinois Collaboration Website has brought together a diverse group of people working to improve the lives of Illinois' children. Initially conceived as a training site to help parents learn how to use the Internet, "2gether4kids" has grown into a free-standing site where people can go to find information about Head Start, child care, and child support enforcement programs.

The site, which is available in Spanish and English, also features links of interest to mothers, fathers, and grandparents, as well as a link to information on child development.

Delivering Effective Customer Service

Some may think that becoming customer oriented is more difficult in the public sector than in the private sector. But according to a recently released OCSE-funded study on delivering effective customer service, child support agencies benefit from providing excellent customer service. Excellent service in child support can lead to increased information sharing, increased trust, improved relationships, increased compliance, and, ultimately, increased collections.

The review suggests that child support agencies should make customer service their goal. The evidence also suggests that low staff turnover will lead to high customer satisfaction and that employees who perceive that they are meeting customer needs will have high job satisfaction.

No single tactic, technology, or mission statement is the key to effective customer service delivery.

The study, carried out by the American Bar Association and Circle Solutions, Inc., included a review of customer service literature, the annual reports and Websites of 40 companies mentioned in the literature, and telephone interviews with companies cited in the literature as leaders in customer service.

Three agencies-two private companies and one child support agency-were visited on-site for interviews and data gathering. Throughout the study, an advisory group of four state child support enforcement directors provided input and feedback.

Findings revealed that no single tactic, technology, or mission statement is the key to effective customer service delivery. What is clear is that effective customer service delivery is organization-specific, since services are designed around the targeted customers' desires and the frontline employees delivering the services.

The components of the process for producing effective customer service delivery are summarized in five principles that guide private and public agencies in the delivery of excellent customer service.

They are:

• Embrace change and persistently strive to improve (be a learning organization);
• Continually ask the target customers what they want and then give it to them;
• Empower, support, and reward front-line personnel;
• Harness the power of information; and
• Establish an enabling infrastructure.

Both profit-seeking and public agencies that implement effective customer service strategies realize financial benefits, either through increased profits or through reduced costs associated with long-term, informed customers; customer referrals; employee retention; improved information exchange; and streamlined service delivery.

Child support enforcement, in these terms, is like any other business.

Good customer service can improve trust and information exchange, save money, and increase profits. In the private sector, profit and growth are outcomes, not goals. Profit and growth are generated by customer loyalty. Loyalty is generated by customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction therefore is the goal that companies should seek and focus on, because high customer satisfaction produces customer loyalty and subsequently profit and growth. At this point, with customer satisfaction as the goal, the public and private sectors converge.

The full study, "Delivering Effective Customer Service," is available on OCSE's Website at www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse.

For more information, contact Phil Sharman at (202) 401-4626.

TOT Course Updated

OCSE's National Training Center (NTC) Chief Yvette Hilderson Riddick re- cently delivered the newly revised Training of Child Support Enforcement Trainers (TOT) course in Maryland to 16 participants with various training responsibilities.

Participants said the training was "informative, engaging, and productive, and gave them the opportunity to practice what they learned in interactive case studies and through small group discussions."

The TOT course is an important foundation for every CSE trainer to have in meeting the training needs of evolving state programs.The revised format includes on-line resources through the National Electronic Child Support Resource System (NECSRS), linking state trainers to web based training and other CSE curricula.

A 4-day course designed to build the skills of state trainers, the course provides them with the competencies to use the 5-D Training Process preparing and delivering training to CSE staff in their home states. Participants learn to diagnose the performance problem, design, develop and deliver training and determine the difference (analyze the value of the training after it has been applied to the performance problem).

NTC offers the TOT course several times a year. Contact Bertha Hammett at (202) 401-5292 or bhammett@acf.dhhs.gov for more information.

State Plans Now on OCSE Web

A "read only" electronic version of states' child support state plans is now on the OCSE Website at www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse (click on policy link).

The electronic state plans project is a follow-up effort to the electronic "Interstate Referral Guide" and provides access to important child support public information.

As always, OCSE makes every effort to ensure that the policy documents we make available are accurate, complete, and represent current OCSE policy; however, before relying on any policy document, users are advised to confirm its accuracy by contacting the appropriate Federal Regional Office.

If you would like more information about the electronic state plans project, contact Joe Gloystein, OCSE's Web Master at (202) 401-6741 e-mail Jgloystein@acf.dhhs.gov; or Gail Griffin at (202) 401-4594 e-mail Ggriffin@acf.dhhs.gov.