| Print Version | HHS
Fatherhood Initiative |
| Office
of Child Support Enforcement |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Friday, July 7, 2000
Contact: Michael Kharfen, (202) 401-9215
HHS AWARDS NEW GRANTS FOR INNOVATIVE
CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT PROJECTS
HHS Secretary Donna
E. Shalala today announced the award of more than $600,000 in new grants
to states, non-profit organizations, and a district court to further strengthen
the nation's child support enforcement program.
"While we have
come very far in making improvements to the nation's child support program
over the past seven years, we need to continue to foster innovation,"
said Secretary Shalala. "These grants will test fresh and effective
means to improve the overall well-being of children and families."
The grants provide
opportunities to test new methods to improve child support enforcement
services and form new partnerships to promote responsible parenthood.
Wayne County (Detroit) will use new technology to reduce undistributed
collections. West Virginia will create a new secure web site to allow
other states access to critical information to improve timely disbursement
of child support collections. Texas will build a new communications network
to connect with Mexico to facilitate faster processing of cases, including
hearings over video and audio conferences. New Jersey's medical support
project will establish cooperative agreements and better collaborations
with state health agencies to increase health insurance coverage for children.
The three grants
to non-profit organizations are designed to help parents provide reliable
and regular child support. The Eighth Judicial District Court in Las Vegas
will implement a drug court program where non-custodial parents will be
referred to substance abuse screening and treatment. Ecumenical Child
Care Network's "Resources for Families" project will forge new
collaborations among houses of worship, welfare agencies, early childhood
and other community programs to share information on child support requirements
in four cities: Chicago, Seattle, Winston-Salem, N.C. and Richmond, Va.
The Women's Law Center will bring together providers and advocates to
develop model program ideas to help low-income young fathers and mothers
as well as recommendations on updating and modifying child support orders.
"National efforts
to improve child support services often begin with creative state and
local projects," said Olivia A. Golden, HHS assistant secretary for
children and families. "The Clinton administration is committed to
supporting innovative projects and ideas that will help children receive
the support they need and deserve."
Since taking office,
the Clinton-Gore administration has made child support enforcement a priority.
In 1999 almost $16 billion was collected for children by the child support
enforcement program, an increase of 10 percent from 1998, and double the
amount collected in 1992; the federal government collected a record $1.3
billion in overdue child support from federal tax refunds alone.
A new program to match delinquent parents with financial records found
nearly 900,000 accounts since August 1999 with a total value of about
$3 billion. The Passport Denial Program has collected more than $4 million
in lump sum child support payments, and is currently denying 30 to 40
passports to delinquent parents per day in an effort to collect financial
support for their children. Nearly 1.5 million men acknowledged paternity
in 1998, an increase of 12 percent in one year alone and three times as
many as in 1992. The administration has also approved waiver demonstrations
and granted funds to states supporting and promoting responsible fatherhood
programs.
In this year's budget
proposal, the President requested $255 million for the first year of a
new "Fathers Work/Families Win" initiative, which would help
at least 40,000 low-income fathers and 40,000 low-income working families
work and support their children. The President's budget would also allow
states to simplify child support distribution rules, reward states that
pass through more child support payments directly to families, and extend
Welfare-to-Work grants to help more non-custodial parents and long-term
welfare recipients move into lasting unsubsidized jobs.
"Today we have
the strongest enforcement tools ever available to the child support program,
and we're now able to move the program in new directions to help parents
become better providers for their children," said David Gray Ross,
commissioner of the Office of Child Support Enforcement. "These grants
are further opportunities to ensure that child support innovations will
bring additional resources to America's children."
The grant recipients
by project area are:
Improved management
of undistributed collections
Wayne County, Michigan
$187,550
Foster Improved
Interstate Case Processing
Texas $196,600
West Virginia $25,597
Review and Adjustment
New Jersey $50,000
Parental Responsibility
and Services
Ecumenical Child
Care Network $50,000
Eighth Judicial District Court (NV) $50,000
Women's Law Center $50,000
Total $609,747
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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are
available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
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