Child Support Report XXV, No. 1, 20030101

Recently, Deanna Carlson, Associate Director, Health and Human Services Center for Faith-based and Community Initiatives, responded to questions submitted by CSR.

CSR: Would you share with our readers a brief history of President George W. Bush's Faith-based and Community Initiatives?

DC: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (CFBCI) began as a Presidential Initiative on March 15, 2001, after the establishment of the White House Office for Faith-based and Community Initiatives on January 29, 2001. Under Secretary Thompson's leadership, CFBCI was created to establish a "level playing field" for all faith-based and community organizations applying for federal grants within HHS. CFBCI is led by Mr. Bobby Polito and employs over ten people, four of which serve as key liaisons to critical HHS Operating Divisions, including the Administration for Children and Families.

Pursuant to the President's Executive Order (EO), the HHS CFBCI is directed to look at laws, rules, regulations, internal guidance, policies, and procedures that are, or may be, barriers to the participation of faith-based and community groups desiring to access Federal funds to provide social services. The EO gives HHS the additional responsibility of guiding state and local government partners to comply with the "Charitable Choice" provision of the 1996 welfare reform legislation, and also to evaluate and perform outreach and technical assistance.

CFBCI issues a yearly review on HHS' involvement, barriers, and successes with faith-based and community-based providers. The first report, released July 2001, was compiled into a White House Report titled, "The Unlevel Playing Field: Barriers to Participation by Faith-based and Community Organizations in Federal Social Service Programs" (see http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/unlevelfield.html). The second report is scheduled for release by the HHS CFBCI in early 2003.

DC: One of our biggest accomplishments to date is HHS' Compassion Capital Fund, which provides $30 million in funding for the President's Faith-Based and Community Initiative. The Office of Community Services at the Administration for Children and Families in HHS awarded more than $24 million to 21 intermediary organizations in September 2002. These large intermediary organizations have a history of providing services to small faith-based and community-based organizations. They also seek to build the capacity of small faith-based and grassroots organizations. They will offer technical assistance, free grant training, sub-awards, and access to new resources. The Compassion Capital Fund was also used to create a National Resource Center that will provide technical assistance to the 21 intermediaries and launch a national website and clearinghouse on "best practices" and key resources for faith-based and grassroots organizations. For a list of the Compassion Capital Fund grantees, see http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/20021003a.html.

In December 2002, HHS also published, "Proposed Charitable Choice Regulations," clarifying the rights and responsibilities of religious organizations as HHS grantees, specific to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Community Service Block Grants (CSBG), and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grants. Additionally, the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives issued a 16-page "Guidance to Faith-based and Community Organizations in Partnering with the Federal Government" document, December 2002 (see http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/fbci/guidance_document.pdf)

CSR: What are some of the specific advantages of working with faith-based organizations in carrying out the mission of HHS?

DC: These neighborhood-based groups are often lesser funded, yet bring valuable experience and skills as well as personal dedication to their service of others. They provide cultural knowledge and the competency needed to address some seemingly intractable problems that infect communities and keep individuals from being as productive and self-sufficient as they can be. These groups are motivated by a keen sense of mission, which results in a unique approach to service delivery that often translates into a 24/7 availability. They rely heavily on volunteers and are able to access deep relational resources for isolated groups. Many of these groups provide services in under-served, under-resourced areas and their location affords HHS a needed conduit to deliver critical services to vulnerable populations.

CSR: The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) has been working in the area of faith-based outreach for a few years now. Do you see OCSE having any role to play in HHS' outreach to the faith-based community?

DC: The Office of Child Support Enforcement is a natural fit with the President's Initiative in addressing issues of marriage, paternity establishment, abstinence and parental education, mentoring, connecting non-custodial parents with their children, and employment counseling for unemployed fathers and mothers. There are many examples of churches, mosques, synagogues and other places of worship operating these types of programs outside of government funding.

One excellent opportunity for OCSE is collaboration - partnering with local groups in support of children. Ideas for engagement include sponsoring conferences - hosted by a local entity - focused on addressing critical child support needs in a town, a city or a county. Another collaborative effort would be to invite faith-based and grassroots organizations with best practices to present at state and local government sponsored meetings and then distribute these presentations to key partners. OCSE can also gather "success stories" of faith-based and grassroots collaborations and make these available through the new Faith and Community Based Clearinghouse in 2003.

OCSE and its partners can raise critical questions when new programs are being considered. These include:

Deanna Carlson, MSW, Associate Director/ACF Liaison, HHS Center for Faith-based and Community Initiatives. Deanna can be reached at Deanna.carlson@hhs.gov and 202-401-4844.

If you have had an opportunity to visit the OCSE web site recently, you will have noticed that the National Electronic Child Support Resource System (NECSRS), has a new look. See CSR April 1999 for a description of NECSRS. The change is a result of an effort to better employ the child support database and improve its performance. For example, we have added subcategories to further refine the search process. Working with our State, Tribal and local partners, we have enhanced the search categories to better reflect the needs of the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) community. This means that users can find information quicker and easier.

You may already know that contributions from Federal, State, Tribal, and local CSE organizations are the basis of NECSRS. The material is organized by specific CSE subject area and resource type, such as:

If you haven't had a chance to visit the OCSE web site recently, and the NECSRS section specifically, just log onto http://ocse.acf.dhhs.gov/necsrspub/ and see how much easier it is to move around.

As always, if you need any help in navigating NECSRS, you can call your Regional Training Liaisons (see below) or Lourdes Henry at 202-401-4965. She will be more than happy to walk you through it.

The Lummin Indian Business Council was recently awarded a Tribal Child Support Enforcement grant in the amount of $264,102. There are now eight tribal child support programs funded for FY 2003.

Phil Sharman has retired. We would like to wish him well in his new journey in life. Thank you Phil for the years you contributed to the Office of Child Support Enforcement and especially the outstanding performance in producing the Child Support Report.

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) is working with the Department of Defense (DOD) and state Child Support Enforcement (CSE) agencies to remind reservists who are called to active duty to let their CSE agency know of the call-up and make sure that several issues regarding their child support cases are addressed, if possible before they deploy.

For instance, with changing income levels, support orders of reservists may be eligible for review and adjustment. Scheduled administrative or court hearings may need to be rescheduled. Those applying for passports, who have arrearages in excess of $5,000, will need to pay the debt or make other arrangements for payment. Wage withholding for child support orders will need to be transferred from the reservist's current employer to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). Reservists will need to be reminded that their children are eligible for military health care coverage.

In early January OCSE sent a message reminding all state child support directors to give review and adjustment requests the highest priority. At the same time OCSE convened two conferences - involving the regions, state and tribal child support agencies, the DOD - to discuss the issues involved in the call up of reservists. States provided information on what initiatives they were undertaking to respond to activated reservists' child support needs. For example, Missouri placed an American flag icon and note to reservists and National Guard on its homepage http://www.dss.state.mo.us/cse/cse.htm. Maine includes information on its web page under the heading of "Announcements:" http://www.state.me.us/dhs/bfi/dser/Announcements.htm. Virginia produced a "Best Practices" legal paper on the "Soldiers and Sailors' Civil Relief Act which is serving as a practical guide in all of their child support offices.

Check the OCSE web site for a short paragraph written for reservists, with links to state agency contacts, more information and DoD. States are encouraged to develop a link on their web sites to this page /programs/cse/new/reserve_activation.html and make sure the contact information on their sites is up-to-date.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson recently announced the awarding of over $2.2 million in grants to twelve states and faith-based, non-profit and tribal organizations to further advance the performance of the nation's child support system.

Secretary Thompson said that the Special Improvement Grants "are designed to examine new ways to augment child support enforcement services to increase collections, promote fatherhood and healthy marriage, and help struggling families take care of their children."

Several grants are designed to help low-income fathers meet their child support and family responsibilities. Dr. Wade F. Horn, Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families, said, "It is extremely important for us to reach out to those who need help in acquiring the skills necessary to build relationships and be effective parents."

The three grants in this area are: $200,000 to the Maryland Child Support Enforcement Program, in collaboration with the Mayor of Baltimore's office, the State Department of Corrections, and community-based groups to test a model approach to increase employment and incentives for paying current support for fathers who are ex-offenders/parolees. $199,772 to the Muskegon, Michigan Family Court Services of the 14th Judicial Circuit, in collaboration with the County Departments of Employment and Training, Corrections, and Child Support, as well as various faith-based and community organizations, to assist unemployed fathers by combining employment programs with family counseling and management of their child support debt. $141,858 to the Imperial Valley Regional Occupational Program's "Project Dads", in El Centro, California, in collaboration with other agencies, to help fathers obtain employment, assist with their support order modifications, and steer them toward parenting skills training.

Three grants were awarded to emphasize the importance of healthy marriage to a child's well-being. A total of $199,994 was awarded to the Marriage Coalition, a faith-based organization in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, to test a curriculum to provide poor, unmarried parents with knowledge on the importance of establishing paternity and paying child support and the advantages of a healthy marriage. A total of $177,374 was granted to the Community Services for Children in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in collaboration with local faith-based organizations, marriage education, employment, and other services to unwed couples involved with Early Head Start or Head Start. The Alabama Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board received $200,000 to provide services to help low-income ethnically diverse, unmarried parents learn practical skills to promote healthy marriage, improve employment, and increase paternity establishment rates and child support payments.

Four grant awards will focus on expanding use of automation and state best practices to enhance enforcement tools, improve customer service and increase collections. South Carolina received $414,574, on behalf of the Electronic Parent Locator Network/Financial Institution Data Match Consortium of 14 states, to develop an on-line means to initiate and respond to state requests for automated enforcement of interstate cases. One hundred thousand dollars went to Colorado to utilize website technology to increase customer service by providing parents, employers and caseworkers the ability to access case data and input data on-line. Iowa was awarded $99,090 to enhance its website, providing customers self-access services to improve the process of qualifying and applying for order modifications. North Carolina was awarded $200,000 to develop an automatic "call-back" phone system to remind customers of scheduled appointments and hearings. It will also remind those who have missed payments that they are delinquent.

Two grant awards were made that focused on assistance to tribal child support programs and enforcement of medical support orders. The National American Indian Court Judges Association, Inc. received $199,887 to conduct a needs assessment and provide technical assistance to help tribal courts and agencies implement successful and effective child support programs. Montana was awarded $149,464 to initiate enforcement of the custodial parent's health insurance coverage and increase the number of cases in which premium costs are shared in a balanced manner between parents.

The Netherlands, Norway and the Canadian Provinces of Alberta, Newfoundland and Ontario have each been declared a "foreign reciprocating country" for child support enforcement purposes by the United States. These five join Australia, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic and the Canadian Provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia.

Officials from the Administration for Child Support Enforcement of Puerto Rico (Administraciíºí°°ara el Sustento de Menores or ASUME) met for two days with representatives from the Division of Management Services of Idaho's Health and Welfare Department to exchange information about electronic benefit transfer (EBT) for Child Support payments.

The reason for the meeting was simple: Idaho is the only state to disburse child support payments through an EBT card, named Quest Card, and Puerto Rico plans to do the same.

As early as November 2002, ASUME will have its EBT card operative. The card, known as UNICA, will also serve as tool for receiving benefits, reimbursements and payments from other governmental agencies. Initially, it will carry child support payments and TANF benefits. It is later contemplated to also carry unemployment benefits, tax reimbursements and car accident compensation.

For both jurisdictions, the EBT card represents a better system to disburse payments because it is faster and more convenient for custodial parents. At the same time, it reduces operational costs related to issuing checks. Both Quest and UNICA cards can be used to make payments in stores or to withdraw money at automated teller machines.

Described as an "enlightening experience," the meeting was an opportunity to compare notes on the implementation and communication process. Puerto Rico's officials were able to have a "run through" of Idaho's system, clarifying doubts regarding incorrect ATM withdrawals and implications of Regulation E. Communication and education at all levels were emphasized as vital components of a successful process. Initially, ASUME plans to issue approximately 45,000 UNICA cards.

Rebeca Dorna Pesquera is Special Assistant for Public Relations, Puerto Rico Administration for Child Support. 787-767-1500 x 2883 rdorna@asume.gobierno.pr.

In recent months, a California man paid two child support obligations totaling $67,000.

A referral was received through the Michigan Child Support Enforcement Office showing a support debt of about $36,000 owed to one minor child living in Michigan. During the course of the investigation, the case agent received information that the same non-resident parent owed $31,000 to two minor children living in another part of Michigan.

The agent also discovered that the father had a pending substantial monetary settlement stemming from a lawsuit against a private company. A mutual agreement was reached between the attorneys involved and both Friend of the Court Offices that the father's outstanding arrearages would be paid off with this settlement.

3-5 - National Child Support Enforcement Association (NCSEA) 2003 Midyear Policy Forum & Training Conference, Washington, DC, Jacqueline Williams, (202) 624-8180.

5-7 - 4th Annual South Western Fatherhood Conference, Phoenix, AZ James Rodriguez, (480) 461-6135.

20 - National Child Support Enforcement Association (NCSEA) Child Support Tele-Talk (Broadcast) Topic: Medical Support Policy Qualifications NCSEA, (202) 624-8180

12-14 - Louisiana Child Support Enforcement Association (LCSEA) Annual Conference, Shreveport, LA, Kenneth Martinez, (337) 363-6638, ext. 112.

25-26 - Customer Service Web Development Training, Seattle, WA, Mike Rifkin, (202) 401-6501.

20 - National Child Support Enforcement Association (NCSEA) Child Support Tele-Talk (Broadcast), Topic: Paternity Disestablishment Washington, DC, NCSEA, (202) 624-8180.

7-9 - National Child Support Enforcement Association (NCSEA) Spring Sidebar (for CSE Attorneys), Atlanta, GA, Jacqueline Williams, (202) 624-8180.

27- May 1 - Eastern Regional Interstate Child Support Association (ERICSA) 40th Annual Training Conference and Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA, Christine Brogdon, (517) 141-0468.