Child Support Report XXVI, No. 5, 20040501

As part of an HHS-wide initiative, OCSE will provide $3.7 million in funding for demon-stration projects for four states' efforts to improve their child support enforcement programs through the promotion of healthy marriage. Projects in Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Minnesota will "continue our efforts to enhance the overall goals and effectiveness of the child support enforcement program by testing and evaluating creative approaches to integrating the promotion of healthy marriage into existing child support services," says Dr. Wade F. Horn, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families. These projects add to three begun last year in Idaho, Michigan and Virginia.

The projects are intended to have a significant effect on objectives of Title IV-D, such as the establishment of paternity and establishment or enforcement of child support obligations. For example, couples will be informed about the advantages of paternity establishment and child support for children should a marriage not be formed or a couple separate, thereby encouraging more voluntary child support compliance. Fathers in a marriage who separate are more likely than other fathers to receive formal visiting rights and custody to their children. Studies have shown that securing visitation rights and custody is related to greater child support compliance.

As part of the projects, couples who are considering marriage and ask to find out more about it will be referred to marriage educators in their community.

OCSE Commissioner Sherri Z. Heller sees two major roles child support personnel can play in the healthy marriage initiative: "Sharing our knowledge about the financial and emotional costs of single parenting with community marriage/out of wedlock pregnancy prevention efforts, and reconciling the need for paternity establishment without discouraging a couple who have been thinking they might be interested in marriage or marriage education at the 'golden moment.' "

Research has shown that children raised in stable, healthy marriages are less at risk for a host of negative developmental outcomes compared to children raised by unmarried parents or in unhealthy and dysfunctional married households.

In addition, adds Dr. Horn, "...it is not just children who benefit from healthy marriages," as research also indicates adults in healthy marriages are happier, healthier and accumulate more wealth compared to those who are not.

The grants are awarded to states for experimental, pilot or demonstration projects under the authority of Section 1115 of the Social Security Act. HHS will be conducting a comprehensive, high quality evaluation to assess just how these programs are implemented and their effects on families and children, and on the operation of the Child Support Program.

No Federal funds will be diverted from the child support enforcement program to fund these projects. The Federal funds for the projects will add to the total amount of Federal funds being spent on the IV-D program.

Meetings. They fill conference rooms everywhere, every day, for every reason. Ask child support and TANF staff in Allegheny County, PA., if meetings can serve an important purpose and they'll likely say "yes."

When John Clark of the Region III Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) convened meetings with Allegheny County's IV-A and IV-D managers and supervisors, the quality of data exchanged "greatly" improved, according to Pat Quinn of the county's child support office.

"Once we were put in a room together and could meet face to face, personnel in both agencies started understanding each other's needs and the importance of collecting accurate data."

Quinn notes that the child support office's automatic referral interface showed cases as "incomplete," so custodial parents had to come in to provide additional information. After the IV-A and IV-D meetings, workers "also understood how the information they compiled was being used."

More examples of IV-A/IV-D coordination came up during a "reunion call" in January when Allegheny joined 10 other jurisdictions-Alameda, CA; Cook, ILL; Dallas, TX; Essex, NJ; Fulton, GA; Hennepin, MN; Milwaukee, WI; Orange, FL; St. Louis, MO; and Suffolk, MA-as well as participants from OCSE and its Regions II, III, IV, V, VII and IX.

The conference call was one in a series designed to improve performance in child support agencies in large urban areas by engaging participants of Chicago and Washington, D.C., Urban Academies in useful discussions.

OCSE shared findings by the State Information Technology Consortium (SITC) who had interviewed IV-D representatives in 10 states- four that have integrated computerized systems; six that have separate systems with an automated IV-A/IV-D interface.

First piloted in Philadelphia and Arapahoe County, CO., the seminar will be offered in seven additional locations and through an OCSE train-the-trainer session.

Child Support Report last month highlighted an earlier reunion call on the topics of early intervention and case management. For further information about the Urban Academies and their reunion calls, contact Bob Clifford at 215-861-4047.

Elaine Blackman is a writer in the Division of Consumer Services

Faith-based and community groups share a common mission in providing children and families the support they need to be healthy and strong. Recognizing that one common mission of the child support agency and faith-based organizations, the Fairfield County Child Support Enforcement Agency in Ohio hosts an annual summit, "The Power of One", to inspire collaboration in the community.

The third annual summit was held May 2004. More than 40 faith-based groups and 28 community and governmental groups have come together over time to work on common goals. The partnership determines collaborative initiatives to work upon over a six month period and meets again to review and celebrate the progress. The initiatives chosen for 2004 were:

The Awareness initiative is particularly important to the world of child support. Through the partnership, the child support agency has been able to promote the development of a Pro Bono Legal Clinic to handle issues of custody and visitation. Such issues are often barriers to the payment of child support, and the Clinic has been an important partner for child support.

The Fairfield County CSEA has also had success in distributing child support literature to faith-based and community groups. Child support topics, including support establishment, modification, emancipation, guidelines, enforcement tools, and a pilot program on electronic disbursements, have been shared with various groups. When the communication about child support services is accurate in the community, the agency has a better opportunity for success. The expectations of the public become closer to the reality of the permissible services.

Literature about special open house events have been placed in church bulletins. Outreach and education efforts for child support have benefited from the partnership. Community leaders know more about the program and are aware of the general procedures of the agency.

The purposes of "The Power of One" summit were to recognize the common mission of faith-based organizations and community groups, to learn about the services that exist for children and families, to create collaborative work groups, and to celebrate the work that has been accomplished thus far. The summit participants indicated that the summit met 100 percent of its objectives and they all stated the partnership should continue.

Panel discussion and conference sessions about outreach to the faith-based community have been accomplished with the Ohio CSEA Directors' Association and the Ohio JFS Directors' Association. Fairfield County is willing to share information about how to develop a summit and how to build faith-based partnerships.

For more information, contact Carri Brown, Fairfield County CSEA Director, at brownc10@odjfs.state.oh.us.

The Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) is currently running a pilot project to accept cash child support payments in retail stores such as grocery or convenience stores. The OAG obtained a section 1115 grant to fund this project. The project targets non-custodial parents (NCPs) who pay with money orders because they often fail to include sufficient information to accurately post then disburse the payments to the families.

To implement this project, OAG developed standards for receiving cash child support payments electronically in a standard EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) file following banking industry standards. Any vendor meeting those standards can send the OAG cash child support payments. The vendors charge a fee for this service; paid for by the NCP or person paying on behalf of the NCP. There is no direct cost to the state to implement this service although some funds are needed for staffing and outreach.

OAG included in its standards the identifiers needed to accurately post payments. Vendors are required to send in the EFT file, the case number and the cause number, the identification number found on the court case which establishes the child support order. Vendors do not ask for nor transmit the NCP social security number in the file, nor do they store the social security number on any paper documents. Payers are asked to fill out a payment coupon which includes their name, address, case, and cause number. That information is made available to the OAG upon request if it's needed to assist in posting.

Currently, Western Union is the only vendor sending cash payments to the OAG. Western Union is using a service called Convenience Pay to send these cash payments. We implemented the pilot September 19, 2003, with approximately 30 locations in two counties. On January 27, 2004, we expanded the pilot to include approximately 200 statewide grocery store locations, and on February 9, 2004, another 300 statewide locations were added. Today, we have over 530 locations statewide and are working with Western Union to acquire locations in areas of the state where we are lacking service availability.

Western Union provided posters and brochures in all agent locations. OAG has carried out extensive outreach including:

The pilot has been successful thus far. As of March 31, 2004, OAG had received 1,695 Convenience Pay payments totaling $551,087.98. Approximately 34 percent of the payments are from NCPs who have previously paid by money order.

OAG is also excited to see repeat payers. Approximately 290 NCPs have used this service more than once, and approximately 33 percent of the payments are by repeat payers. We are finding that NCPs use this service to pay their monthly obligations, to pay arrears, or to make one-time payments are by repeat payers. We are finding that NCPs use this service to pay their monthly obligations, to pay arrears, or to make one-time payments before income-withholding begins. Also, almost 10 percent of these collections are from first-time payers.

OAG also implemented another Western Union service called Quick Collect. Quick Collect allows an NCP to pay child support obligations at a retail agent location, over the Internet, or by phone. Payments can be made by phone or on the Internet using a debit or credit card and only by cash at an agent location. Payments cannot be made by check using Quick Collect.

This payment method differs from Convenience Pay payments in that a Quick Collect payment is sent to the OAG at the time of payment while a Convenience Pay payment is transferred electronically through the banking system and posted at the TxCSDU within two-three business days.

In October 2003, OAG sent information to all field staff regarding Quick Collect, and Western Union sent outreach materials to all field offices and court houses. For Quick Collect payments, a fee of $9.95 for cash payments and a variable fee starting at $16.00 for debit or credit card payments is charged to the NCP. Cash payments can be made at any Western Union location nationwide and select locations worldwide.

Quick Collect is an alternative for NCPs who need a credit or debit card option, who need the payment to be posted immediately (e.g., to avoid enforcement action), or who live in an area without a Convenience Pay location.

Carolyn Nesbitt is a Program Specialist in the Texas Office of The Attorney General

OCSE has been conducting a comprehensive information and technical assistance pro- gram since the new final rule was published on March 30, 2004, to implement direct child support enforcement program funding to Federally recognized Indian tribes and tribal organizations. (For more information, please see the March issue of Child Support Report.)

Information and technical assistance is available from OCSE and our Regional Offices. Briefing and training activities have included numerous conference calls as well as on-site briefings:

OCSE has contracted with Native American Management Service, Inc. (NAMS) for assistance in hosting these workshops; please see website at: www.namsinc.org/ocse or call 1-866-313-2955.

Please note that the Washington, D.C., dates are scheduled to coincide with the September 21 grand opening of the new National Museum of the American Indian near the U.S. Capitol (See www.nmai.si.edu/).

For additional information: please contact the Division of Special Staffs at (202) 260-1527 or your respective Regional Office, Administration for Children & Families (ACF).

North Carolina Child Support Enforcement has taken OCSE's requirement to monitor program compliance and submit an annual Self-Assessment report several steps further. North Carolina's CSE Program has developed a process to utilize Self-Assessment reporting as a tool to monitor and improve program compliance. The CSE System User Support staff worked with the Client Services Data Warehouse staff to identify and load ACTS Automated Collections and Tracking System) data into the data warehouse and to develop data warehouse programs. Many months were devoted to data warehouse development in order to perform the annual Self-Assessment reviews via the data warehouse. Using the data warehouse to identify the case populations and to perform the case reviews allows CSE to review each case in the case population instead of just a sample. The total case review process gives CSE the opportunity to identify every case throughout the state that is in or out of compliance and to identify the reason for the non-compliance. Last year, Self- Assessment reviews in six of the eight program areas were accomplished via the Data Warehouse. This year the remaining two program areas, Medical Enforcement and Interstate, were also accomplished using the data warehouse. Utilizing the data warehouse to perform Self-Assessment reviews allows N.C. CSE to report more complete statewide results to OCSE annually.

The data warehouse reviews also provide a wealth of valuable information to CSE management. Several reports are provided for each program category reviewed. These reports are available via the data warehouse to Central Office management, Area Supervisors, and local office management. Compliance scores in each category are provided for the entire state, for each local office and for each responsible worker. A report is available for each program category that lists each IV-D case reviewed, whether the case passed or failed and, if the case failed, the reason it failed. These Self-Assessment reports are also available for each local office and for each responsible worker. In addition to the Federally mandated annual reviews, CSE performs Self-Assessment reviews every quarter and publishes the resulting reports. Central and local office management can compare the quarterly report results to determine whether progress is being made. Local offices can identify cases that are out of compliance in order to take corrective action.

Local Office and Area Supervisors use the quarterly Self-Assessment reports (1) to ensure that cases are being processed according to Federal requirements and CSE policy (2) to ensure that correct ACTS system procedures are being followed (3) to provide a tool in identifying training needs (4) to provide feedback regarding effective case management and (5) to identify practices utilized by the most productive workers. The results of the Self-Assessment reviews are monitored by the Area Supervisors and utilized to formulate each office's corrective action plan. The Area Supervisor works with management in the local office to develop and implement the corrective action plan. Report results are also used by the Area Trainers and by the Central Office Policy and Training staff to identify training needs in specific offices and statewide. This information enables training staff to tailor training initiatives specifically for a county office. It also allows trainers to determine which program areas require the most training emphasis and to identify specific training needs for each of the performance areas.

Beth Amos is Assistant Chief, Local Operations, NC. CSE

Dick Jones has been announced as the permanent Director of the Division of Audit in OCSE. He has earned the respect of the state IV-D Directors, his colleagues in OCSE, and the region. He has served as Acting Director by managing his unit well in response to various challenges, contributed to the advancement of the IV-D program as a whole, and incorporated the views of others into complex work products while maintaining documentation standards. We ask that you offer Dick your congratulations and support as he takes over the reins and prepares for new challenges.