I had a very difficult case, interstate and the father and I were never married. By reading How to Collect Child Support, I learned exactly what to do to. It worked! I just collected $5,000 in back support payments!" -- Cheryl, MD
How to Collect Child Support explained the child support laws in a way I could really understand and apply them to my case. My kids now receive weekly child support payments from a payroll deduction order. I highly recommend the book!"- Jeanne, IL.
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What States Can Do To Improve Child
Support Enforcement and
Establishment by Geraldine Jensen
Section 1
Improving Management of State IV-D Agencies
Structure
Performance Standards and Audits of the Child Support Agency
staffing and Worker Certification
Customer Service
State Fair-Hearings
Section 2
Enhanced Enforcement Techniques
Collecting Back Support - $92.3 Billion due in Unpaid Child Support
Administrative processes
Cost of Living Adjustments
Liens
Attaching Gambling Winnings
Employer Non-Compliance with Income-Withholding Orders
Self-employed and Independent Contractors
Criminal Non-Support Felony Laws
Bench Warrants (Capias, Body Attachments) and Misdemeanor
Non-Support Warrants
Section 3
Need for Reform Concerning Undistributed Funds
States report holding $634 million in undistributed child support
Methods to locate parents and ensure prompt payment distribution
Section 4
Private Collectors Regulation
Limiting fees
Licensing and bonding
Section 5
Guaranteeing Families Child Support Payments
Child Support Trust Fund
Section 1
Improving IV-D Child
Support Management and Structure
A model child support system should be structured to assure that it is accountable and responsive
to the needs of the families it serves.
The best systems have structures which promote:
Direct line of accountability for all employees
Keep it Simple: avoid conflicting lines of authority
Some states have put the operational program under locally elected county officials with
oversight by the state welfare department. The problem with a structure like that is that the state
welfare agency is usually a cabinet office within the state government, which has no direct
authority over a locally elected official.
Model Structure
Governor Child Support Agency Director Regional Managers Local Managers.
The Governor would be ultimately responsible to the voters for the success or failure of the
system in the state. The Governor would then appoint a Child Support Agency Director to
develop sound policies to ensure that the state program complies with federal mandates and
maximize the potential for collection and distribution of child support throughout the state. This
Director might also be required to follow performance standards established by the legislature.
The Child Support Agency Director would then hire Regional Managers to implement the
policies at the direction of the Director. The Regional Managers would also assure that local
programs run in compliance with the state and federal laws, and would help to assure that all
policies dictated from the state level were implemented in a uniform fashion. Local Managers
would be responsible for the day to day operations of the local agency, and oversight and
supervision of line workers.
A comprehensive performance measures framework consistent with best practices as defined in
the private sector, the National Program Results Act, and the Government Accounting Standards
Board would be developed. As part of these best practices, the fewest number of measures
necessary to cover the areas of performance that are key to successfully achieving the program
mission would be used.
Performance Standards which include federally mandated categories and a Customer Service
performance standard need to be developed to ensure statewide uniform services and
enforcement. Lack of fairness and inequities caused by variances in performance, practices, and
standards is the leading source of consumer complaints.
Performance measures should be based on benefits to children.
Follow all 5 federal incentive measures, and add 9 state performance measures mandated:
Federal and State Measures
Measure 1 -- Percent of children for whom paternity has been established during
the fiscal year.
Measure 2 -- Percent of cases with a court order for support.
Measure 3 -- Percent of current dollars collected as a percent of current dollars owed.
Measure 4 -- Percent of cases with arrears for which arrears were collected.
Measure 5 -- Total child support dollars collected per $1 of total expenditure.
Measure 6 -- Percent of cases with a court order for current.
Measure 7 -- Percent of cases with orders for arrears.
Measure 8 -- Percent of cases that had a support order established during the period.
Measure 9 -- Measure performance on modification of orders.
Measure 10 -- Average amount collected per case with collections.
Measure 11 -- Measure satisfaction with Customer Service.
Measure 12 -- Measure performance in establishing health insurance orders.
Measure 13 û Measure performance in obtaining health insurance when
ordered.
Measure 14 -- Timeliness and accuracy of audits
Case Processing
Develop consistent case management practices and develop the tools that will guide and assist in
the statewide implementation of those practices.
Prepare a case processing priorities matrix.
Enforcement Uniformity
Develop consistent case management practices and develop the tools that will guide and assist in
the statewide implementation of those practices.
Draft a generic enforcement protocol that considers case type, cost, effectiveness, and
local factors.
Coordinate all recommendations for statewide computer projects.
Fair Hearings
Provide all child support customers with timely and easy access to consistent, accurate, current,
and complete information.
Prepare an issue paper on the implementation of a fair hearing process.
Management Practices
Provide all state and local child support agency managers with the training, tools, and resources
they need to monitor and manage agency performance, offer state-of-the-art human services
management, and maximize funding.
Inventory common management issues.
Conduct national research on management practices.
Develop a plan for a management training program for child support staff.
Develop a plan for statewide implementation of best management practices that
includes periodic management practice evaluations.
Recommend ways for State IV-D to provide early and optimum support to local
agencies.
Performance Measures
Develop clearly defined performance measures for all child support program participants that are
consistent with the program mission and contribute to program improvement. Establish
performance measure targets that include baselines and escalating scales for improvement, and
that recognize regional variations in caseloads, demographics, and other factors.
Purpose for establishing a performance measures framework
The Performance Measures Framework will enhance the capability of state child
support programs to achieve their mission. Performance measures provide guidance to staff
throughout the program by communicating focused goals in terms that everyone understands.
They are also crucial for:
Setting goals and objectives.
Planning program activities to accomplish those goals and objectives.
Allocating resources to programs.
Monitoring and evaluating results to determine if progress is being made toward
achieving the goals and objectives.
Modifying program plans to enhance performance.
Definition and characteristics of performance measures
Performance measures are quantitative statements that indicate progress in achieving results
significant to the mission of the child support program. Performance measures should possess the
following characteristics:
Relevance
Understandability
Comparability
Timeliness
Consistency
Reliability.
State IV-D agencies should observe the widely accepted principle of using as few measures as
possible, while still providing useful guidance to those operating the child support program as to
the key indicators of success in achieving the program mission. Researchers Robert Kaplan and
David Norton liken this principle to the design of the dials in a jet cockpit. The dials must give
pilots all the information they need to fly the jet safely to its destination; however, the cockpit
must not have so many dials that they distract the pilotÆs attention from what is critical to the
jetÆs safe operation. Finally, State IV-D agencies should establish a balanced set of measures.
Without balance, measures could influence child support organizations to sacrifice important
goals in pursuit of measured goals.
Federal and State Performance Measures
Measure 1 -- Paternities established
Formulas:
Federal regulations allow a state to choose from the following two methods for calculating the
percentage of paternities established:
Total number of children born out-of-wedlock for
whom paternity was acknowledged or established in the fiscal year
Total number of children in the state born out-of-wedlock
in the preceding fiscal year
OR
Total number of children in the IV-D caseload in the
fiscal year (or as of the end of the fiscal year)
for whom paternity was established or acknowledged/
Total number of children in the IV-D caseload as of the
end of the preceding fiscal year who were born out-of-wedlock
Measure 2 -- Percent of cases with a court order for support
Formula:
XX
Total number of IV-D cases with a support order at fiscal year end
Total number of IV-D cases
Measure 3 -- Percent of current dollars collected as a percent of current dollars owed
Formula:
Total amount of IV-D current support collected in the fiscal year
Total amount of IV-D current support owed in the fiscal year
Measure 4 -- Percent of cases with arrears for which arrears were collected
Formula:
Total number of IV-D cases with payments of past due child support received in the fiscal year
Total number of IV-D cases in which past due child support is owed
Measure 5 -- Total child support dollars collected per $1 of total expenditure
Formula:
Total amount of support collected by the IV-D agency in the fiscal year
Total amount expended by the IV-D agency in the fiscal year
Measure 6 -- Percent of cases with orders for current support
Formula:
Total number of IV-D cases with current support orders
Total number of IV-D cases needing orders for current support*
*Excludes medical-only cases
Measure 7 -- Percent of cases with orders for arrears
Formula:
Total number of IV-D cases with orders for arrears
Total number IV-D cases needing orders for arrears
Measure 8 -- Percent of cases with a support order established during the period
Formula:
Number of IV-D cases with a support order established in the fiscal year
Number IV-D cases needing a support order in the fiscal year
Measure 9 -- Percent of requests for modifications and number of cases modifcations
completed with in 90 days
Formula:
Modificatins requests
Modifications completed within 90 days
Measure 10 -- Average amount collected per case with collections
Formula:
Total amount of IV-D collections for the fiscal year
Total number of IV-D cases with collections for the fiscal year
Measure 11 -- Measure Statisfaction with Customer Service
Formula:
Average of all:
Number of requests for state fair hearings
Number of finding against CSEA
Number of phone calls
Number of calls answered in person
Number of emails, corresponsdence
Number answered within 5 days
Annual Survey of customers
Satisfaction with services
Measure 12 -- Measure performance in establishing orders for health insurance
Formula:
Cases with health insurance orders established
Cases needing health insurance orders established
Measure 13 -- Performance in obtaining health insurance when
ordered
Formula:
Number of cases in which health insurance is obtained
Number of cases that have an order for health insurance
Measure 14 --Timely completions of case audits
Formula:
Number of audits requested
Number of audits completed with in 14 days
Staffing
State law should mandate staffing levels for IV-D agencies
Incentives and commissions should be used to increase worker productivity
commissions/bonuses.
Statewide training and certification of workers should be established
Vendors
Federal law mandates a statewide order registry, computer tracking system, and centralized
statewide collection and disbursement unit that processes payments for all child support cases in
the state using uniform practices and procedures.
Contracts (Cooperative Agreements) should specifically outline local entities responsibilities,
time frames and monetary penalties for failure to comply with state IV-D laws ands regulations
All contacts with other government agencies and private vendors should clearly identify
quantifiable outcomes required.
Funding
Victims of non-support, children and custodial parents, should not be required to pay fees or costs for receiving child support services. If fees are charges they should be paid by non-
custodial parents who fail to meet child support obligations.
Fees require states to invest in additional administrative expenses and reduces the amount of federal funding received by the state because fees must be listed as program income.
Child support services reduce the amount of state funds spent on almost every family social service program including Medicaid, housing, foster care, juvenile delinquency, etc.
Customer Service
Quality control systems should be in place to ensure excellent customer service, including meeting federal timeframes and:
Telephone supervision for training and accuracy.
Training for dealing with irate, difficult, and upset parents.
Mandated response times such as 48 hours for returning phone calls, e-mails, and one week for correspondence.
Agency web site should provide for downloading application and other forms needed for cases, web access to check balances on cases, payments received and posted (pin numbers should be used to ensure privacy).
An ombudsman should be available and empowered to assist parents. Ombudsman authority should include the ability to resolve problems.
Grievance Process û State Fair Hearings
Federal law mandates that State IV-D programs have a grievance process to resolve payment distribution problems. This process should be expanded to include action or inaction, except complaints regarding court orders, custody or visitation.. The IV-D agency should assign someone other than the current caseworker to investigate and attempt to solve the problem. The IV-D agency should provide the parent >with a written statement of about what they are going to do to solve a problem within 30 days of receiving a complaint. The written statement should include a notice informing parents of their rights to a State Hearing if they are not satisfied with the resolution.
State Fair Hearing
State Hearings are an administrative process where the person complaining has the opportunity to have >his or her child support case reviewed fairly by an Administrative Law judge or state agency hearing officer:
The IV-D agency responded within 30 days but does not resolve the problem to the parents satisfaction.
The IV-D agency did not responded within 30 days or receiving the complaint.
The following types of complaints should be addressed through the State Hearing Process:
No action or lack of timely action on a case
Application for child support services has been denied or has not been acted upon within the required timeframe.
Case has been acted upon in violation of state or federal laws or regulations.
Child support collections have either not been distributed or have been distributed >incorrectly. Or, the amount of child support arrears has been calculated incorrectly.
Case closed.
Enhanced Enforcement
Techniques
State law should require an administrative process system for establishing paternity and child support orders (including default orders) and enforcing those orders.
State laws or rules should require the IV-D agency to seek IRS Full Collection services on cases with arrears of more than $750.
State law should require attachment of gambling winnings to collect back child support. Racing and casino gambling should be included.
State laws should require publication in the newspaper of the names on non-payors who are $1,000 or more in arrears.
Employer non-compliance with income withholding orders: some employers repeatedly fail to send in child support they collect via income-withholding, or fail to include case number and/or employee information with payments sent, thus adding to the problem of unidentified and undistributed child support.
State law should require employers who fail to immediately send in child support payments collected by income-withholding as required under current State law
State lien laws should require that a lien be imposed no later than 30 days after a payor fails to make a child support payment.
Hearing officers in the administrative process system should have the power to order payors to >post a bond to insure payment.
State child support guidelines should require that all orders be automatically updated every 2 years to take into account changes in the Cost of Living (COLA adjustment). In addition, adjustments should be available on a case-by case basis when the partyÆs financial circumstances change enough to yield a change in the base amount under the stateÆs child support guidelines.
State law should require the IV-D agency to pursue seek-work orders for all unemployed non payors.
The state should operate a new hire reporting system covering every employer and every labor organization doing business in the state and require that new hire reports be filed on the date of hire. Stiff fines should be imposed on employers and labor organizations that do not meet their reporting obligations. Note: the federal legislation limits fines to $25 or $500 if the employer conspired with the employee and provided false/no information.
Include bench warrants, capias, body attachment, misdemeanor and felony warrant in State law enforcement computer tracking system.
Include independent contractors in State New Hire Registry process.
Criminal Non-Support Felony laws
Results of a study showed that about 20% of the non-custodial parents are low-income and could not afford to significantly contribute to the support of their children. The majority of these parents are minorities struggling to sustain themselves in inner city areas. it is important that low-income parents provide support to their children, even if it is not financially significant, and that encouraging interaction with the children through time spent with the child >and even small financial contributions provide children with much needed parental support.
According to the Census Data, due to the 50% divorce rate and the fact that 25% of all births are to parents who were never-married, 60% of the children born this year will spend part of their lives in a single-parent household.
In its impact on children, the child support collection system is now second only to the public school system.
States report holding over $634 million in undistributed child support Cause for undistributed child support payments is a complicated TANF distribution system, mismanagement, and unidentified funds.
The following changes to the TANF payment distribution should be made to reduce >undistributed funds:
If the states cash grant to a family receiving public assistance is lower than the federal poverty level for that family, the state should give the family all child support collected on their behalf. The state should disregard the child support in calculation eligibility and grant amount until the familyÆs income reaches the poverty line.
Child Support cooperation requirements for TANF participants should be reasonable. States should define cooperation to be ôproviding information actually available or arresting to a lack of informationö. The penalty for non-cooperation should be no more than a 23% grant reduction. (This is the minimum required by federal law so he state canÆt opt to do less).
Definition of Undistributed Child Support needed in the law: ôUndistributed collectionö means any payment received by the department that has not been distributed to the final intended recipient regardless of the length of time from receipt of payment until the present, and shall include payments that have been processed as undistributable or unidentifiable collections.
Lack of adequate and/or accurate information gathered at time order is established: Lack of uniformity of gathering this data.
Uniform Child Support abstract for each administrative and judicial order to be completed at time ordered is entered so that data entry is uniform and accurate. Please see Child Support
See Abstract at end of this section.
State IV-D shall have quality control systems sufficient to ensure that at the time a support payment account is opened or information entered into the state case registry.
At the time of taking administrative action to enforce an out-of-state support order that may result in receipt of a support payment by the state disbursement unit, the department shall ensure that any account necessary for disbursement of payment by the state disbursement unit has been opened.
State IV-D agency should employ sufficient research staff and promptly identify the intended final recipients of support payments for whom an intended final recipient is not identified by automated procedures.
Regarding support orders for which the state disbursement unit is responsible for collection and disbursement activity, the statewide computer system should record all information about the support order required by that system, within three days after entry or modification of the support order by, or registration of an out of-state support order, in a court of this state.
Required efforts to prevent accumulation of undistributed, undistributable, and >unidentifiable collections
State IV-D agencies should enact uniform procedures governing reporting to, and processing by, State/County IV-Ds for changes of address by custodial and non-custodial parents and caretaker relatives party to any child support orders. As part of such procedures:
1. State/County IV-Ds shall be required to accept and process all verbal change of address reports and shall impose no requirement of writing or notarization in order to report a change of address.
2. State IV-D agencies shall develop procedures for verification of changes of address reported verbally in order to protect the security and accuracy of address information in the child support enforcement and distribution system.
3. Upon receiving change of address reports that do not conform to verification
requirements imposed, SDU and State/County IV-Ds shall be required to make specified
efforts to verify the address information.
4. State IV-D agencies shall maintain all address information they possess regarding the custodial and non-custodial parents in databases shared with, and searchable by State/County IV-Ds, as part of their child support distribution functions. In such databases, address information that has not been verified shall be so identified.
5. All correspondence and notices sent by child support distribution agencies to custodial and non-custodial parents shall include forms by which changes of address may be reported.
6. State IV-D agencies shall enact procedures under which the state disbursement unit, at some time during each business day, shall attempt to electronically match every support payment for which it has not determined the final intended recipient to a support payment account opened after the previous electronic matching attempt.
7. Immediately upon learning in a IV-D case that a child support distribution agency is >unable to distribute a child support payment to the final intended recipient because location information in its possession regarding the final intended recipient is not accurate >or current, the department shall attempt to locate the final intended recipient using:
a. All location resources available including the federal parent locator service, interstate location networks, administrators of public assistance, medical
assistance, food stamps, and social services programs, relatives and friends of the
custodial family, current or past employers, the local telephone company, the U.S.
Postal Service, financial references, unions, fraternal organizations, police, parole, probation records, public assistance records, employment, unemployment
insurance, motor vehicle, and criminal records, and credit bureau records.
b. Manual searches by State IV-D agency and State/County IV-D 's of its paper files >on the final intended recipient.
c. Searches by the department of its electronic case narrative on the final intended recipient.
8. Immediately upon learning in a non-IV-D case that it is unable to distribute a child support payment to the final intended recipient because location information in its possession regarding the final intended recipient is not accurate or current, a child support
distribution agency shall attempt to locate the final intended recipient using all location sources available to it, including the sources listed above to which resort is not prohibited by federal law.
9. State IV-D agencies shall provide a monthly notice to the custodial parent or, if applicable, the caretaker relative of the amount of support payments collected in IV-D cases for each month, unless no collection is made in the month, an assignment of support to the department is no longer in effect, and there are no longer any assigned arrearages. The monthly notice must list separately payments collected from each non-custodial parent when more than one non-custodial parent owes support to the family and must indicate the amount of current support collected, the amount of arrearages collected and the amount of support collected which was paid to the family.
10. Refunds to non-custodial parents shall be accompanied by notice of the reason for refund and of the continued existence of the child support obligation and debt.
Holding payment when families leave welfare due to caseworkers failing to calculate
arrears owed to state. At the expiration of deadlines imposed by 42 USC. 654b and its implementing regulations for distribution and disbursement of support payments collected in title IV-D cases, the State IV-D agency should distribute and disburse to the obligee all payments the department has failed to distribute and disburse because it has failed to determine the portion of the payments to which the state is entitled to distribution.
Inability to locate either parent: Unidentified and Undistributable payments:
Model Procedure for claiming undistributed collections.
(a) The State Disbursement Unit shall create and maintain a database containing all known information regarding each child support payment constituting an undistributed collection. Information in said database that is not confidential under federal law shall be publicly available and publicly searchable. All notices to parents and checks provided to parents and caretaker relatives shall contain language informing them of the State Disbursement UnitÆs undistributed collections database and the process for assessing it.
(b) State IV-D agencies shall establish by rule a process for persons asserting entitlement to undistributed collections to claim such funds. The process so established shall include the following features:
1. Claims for undistributed collections may be filed regardless of the period that has elapsed since the time of collection and regardless of whether the undistributed collection has been processed as undistributable or unidentifiable.
2. Except as otherwise specified in this section, and insofar as it is practicable, the process so established shall resemble State law for recovering unclaimed property.
Unidentifiable collections
(a) State IV-D agencies shall establish by rule the method for determining a collection to be unidentifiable. Said rule shall include:
1. Criteria for the State Disbursement Unit to identify to reasonable certainty the obligee for whom incoming support payments have been made.
2. For cases in which the State Disbursement Unit receives a support payment for whom the intended obligee is not identified with reasonable certainty but for whom
information accompanying the payment partially matches information regarding one or more custodial families in state disbursement unit databases, a procedure shall be
set in place under which said families shall be notified in writing of the partial match and provided an opportunity to establish entitlement to the support payment.
Disbursement to children receiving no child support
Legislative Change: State IV-D agencies shall establish by rule a program for disbursement of the state share of child support deemed undistributable or unidentifiable to State children for whom child support has been ordered but no child support has been collected. Pursuant to the departmentÆs rule, no disbursement of child support pursuant to said program shall be considered income to the child or custodial family for purposes of determining eligibility for any benefit >administered by an agency of the state. State IV-D agencies may, in designating the children who shall receive disbursement of child support under said program, allocate priority to children who are receiving, or within the five most previous years have received, temporary cash assistance enefits.
Accountability for undistributed collections
a. State IV-D agencies shall submit an annual report regarding the amount of undistributed collections and the reasons therefor to the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the minority leader of each house of the legislature, and the governor no later than January 31st of each year. Said report shall include in the total amount of undistributed collections all undistributed payments received by the department regardless of the period of time from receipt of the payment to the time of the report, and shall specify the amounts of undistributed collections which were:
1. Received by State IV-D agency fewer than fourteen days before the date on which the report was prepared;
2. Received by State IV-D agency on a date between fourteen days and six months
before the date on which the report was prepared;
3. Received by State IV-D agency on a date between six months and one year before the date on which the report was prepared;
4. Received by State IV-D agency on a date over one year before the date on which the report was prepared;
5. Processed as undistributable collections;
6. Processed as unidentifiable collections.
The State Auditor shall conduct an annual audit of all child support payment distribution including undistributed collections to determine if, and ensure that, general accounting standards have been met for distributing payments and the extent of, and reasons for, undistributed collections and actions State IV-D agencies could take to reduce the amount of collections that are not distributed.
CHILD SUPPORT ORDER ABSTRACT
CASE IN WHICH CHILD SUPPORT ORDER WAS RENDERED:
Name of Petitioner/Plaintiff: ____________________________
Name of Respondent/Defendant: ___________________________
State in which order issued: ______________________
Court/administrative case number :________________
Date of order or modified order: ___________________
Type of case: ___________________________
Filing date of case: _______________________
Is a restraining order, protective order, or non-disclosure order due to domestic violence in effect
against any party to this case? _____
PARTY RECEIVING ORDERED CHILD SUPPORT (custodial parent or obligee):
Name of client: ____________________________________________________
Date form was completed: ________________________
Regulating Private
Collection Agencies
Need for Private Collectors Regulation
Currently, Private Child Support Collection Agencies are not regulated by the government or any other entity. Therefore, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to hold them accountable for their practices. No one has the responsibility to audit these collectors and to ensure fair business practices.
Parents report unfair business practices and unethical collection methods. Collection agencies have been the subject of numerous investigative news reports:
Parents report paying between 30 and 50% of any child support collected, even when the ollector did no work to collect the money. For example, they collected even when the custodial parent had taken direct action, the non-custodial parent had paid voluntarily, or the government had enforced the order by attaching wages, income tax refunds, or other assets.
Within the collectorÆs contracts, support is defined as current and back support. This ensures that the collectorÆs fee is applicable to ALL monies that collected. Again, after the family signed a contract with the private collector, even support collected by the government is subject to a 30-50% collector fee.
Collection agencies generally require the custodial parent to re-register their personal information with the government child support office. The parent must change their address to that of the private collection agency. This ensures that all monies collected by the government will be re-routed to the collector for the 30-50% fee.
Private collection agencies often utilize what attorneys call adhesion contracts. Such contracts are often misleading, granting powers of attorney that are unbreakable. Even if families can prove that they were misled or deceived, these contracts are most difficult to break.
Private collection agencies have literally stolen money from children. They have collected payments from the non-custodial parent and never forwarded the payments to the family.
Private collection agencies often require up to $200 for an application fee. Upon receipt of the fee, such agencies have gone out of business and completely disappeared.
Families owed child support often have to pay additional court costs and attorney=s fees beyond the 30-50% fee taken from the child support collected.
Legislative Change: For the equity and protection of our families:
ALL fees, application and other, should be charged to the nonpayor. The victims should not be subject to pay any fees.
Fees for private collection agencies should be capped at 10%.
All private collectors should be required to be licensed and bonded.
Private child support collectors should be required to be in compliance with the Fair Debt Practices Act.
Fatherhood Initiatives
The 1990 Census found that 23% of fathers owing support met the food stamp income standard and did not pay support. Labor market trends show declining earnings among low-income, never-married minority males with limited education and work experience. To meet their child support obligations, these men need employment-related services.
Overall, the majority of the fathers of children on TANF are able-bodied employed men. Fathers report that some welfare polices are "unfair" and act as barriers to being able to >care for their children
Federal law requirements to pay back the government for TANF, fees for DNA testing, birthing costs take away money needed to care for children after they leave TANF. Also, if support is diverted to the government when families are on TANF, fathers feel they are being taxed rather than supporting their children.
Most states establish retroactive support obligations when setting new orders that go back several years (or to the childÆs date of birth) and establish a retroactive obligation. This
obligation may include payment for the childÆs health care coverage (including Medicaid-covered birthing costs) in addition to a lump sum representing cash support that should have een paid. If the order is not established close to the time of the childÆs birth and/or when birthing costs or welfare debt are included, these arrears can be substantial. States report >much difficulty keeping track of which parent owes which amount to the state and which amount to the family. Complicated distribution rules of who to pay first when also cause much confusion. The current House Welfare Reform bill and last years Senate Welfare Reform bills are attempts to reduce the amount that parent have to pay back to the government for TANF.
States include significant fees or costs in the initial support order. States seek to recover the cost of genetic testing when such tests have been requested. Some states pursue a variety of fees and costs (e.g., attorneys fees, court filing fees), which can add thousands of dollars in arrears onto the initial order. Fees should be based on a sliding scale or not charged since they are a dis-incentive to fatherhood.
States set initial orders for current support based on Child Support Guidelines or automatic formulas. Most states use a combined income guideline which cause low-income non-custodial parents to pay a higher percentage of their income in support than upper-income non-custodial parents. States now use income-based child support guidelines to set support rders.
Guidelines vary dramatically from state to state, e.g., a father earning $40,000 in new Jersey will pay 20% less than a father earning $40,000 in Indiana. Some stateÆs guidelines take into account the non-custodial parentÆs need to have at least a minimal amount of money (a ôself->support reserveö) to live on. A national child support guideline committee is needed to review and establish fair guidelines based on most recent economic data.
States rely on default orders if the parents do not appear and provide information. Default orders are set based on imputed income. In imputing income, most states assume that the non-custodial parent is working full-time. The amount of earnings imputed may be based on the minimum wage, the average state wage, or the average wage in the industry where the non-custodial parent has a recent work history. If the amount imputed is substantially more than the fatherÆs actual income, the order will be well beyond his ability to pay. Performance audits of states which include monitoring them for use of federal and state parent locator and
private vendor location services would help ensure default orders are fair.
States fail to publicize that services to modify (lower) a support order are available for free or low cost. A father might lose his job altogether or face a reduction in hours or salary. A few states have policies that encourage obligors to quickly modify their orders if they experience >a substantial decline in income. Others make it very difficult for obligors to seek or obtain a change even when the original order is clearly beyond the payment capacity of the non-custodial parent. Sending non-custodial parents a notice about modification services available at state child support agency as part of payment reminders would solve this problem
Access/Visitation services are not provided by States like child support enforcement service because federal funding to do so is not available. Custody and access orders could be easily established at the same time child support orders are set if both parent agreed. Providing the same type of funding as provided for child support to states and enacting a requirement to establish custody and access order if both parents agree would solve this problem.
Marriage dis-incentives include: continuing to collect child support after the mother and father marry to pay back the government for TANF benefits, and counting step-parents income to determine TANF eligibility. Few low-income men have the ability to support a "ready- made" family---instead, they live with the women. This often leads to more children being born outside of marriage. Pre-1984, only the motherÆs income was considered when etermining if the child was entitled to a TANF benefit if there was a step-parent.
Reinstatement of a step-parent income being considered only in part or not at all could reduce the number of children born to never-married parents and increase family formation.
Policies that are beneficial to father-child relationship and family formation
Children who receive child support are more likely to have:
contact with their fathers and have fewer behavior problems - Argys and Peters,
ôContributions of Absent Fathers to Child Well-being: The Impact of Child Support dollars and Father-Child Contactsö, University of Colorado, 1994
better grade point averages and significantly better test scores, remain in school
longer- Graham, Belle and Hernandez, (1994) ôThe Relationship between Child
Support Payments and offspring Educational Attainmentö.
Child support enforcement: Reduces the divorce rate
sources: Nixon, Lucia, The Journal of Human Resources, XXXII-1, Winter 1997,Vol. 32, No. 1, and Barnow, Burt S., et al, ôThe Potential of the Child Support Enforcement Program to Avoid Costs to Public Programs: A Review and Synthesis of the Literatureö, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HHS 100-97-007 (2000); Reduces the number of births to never married parents: Case, Anne, Fathers Under ire, Chapter 7, ôThe Effects of Stronger Child Support Enforcement on Non-Marital Fertilityö and Plotnick, Robert D., et al, ôThe Impact of Child Support Enforcement Policy on Non-Marital Childbearing,ö University of Washington (2000)
Child Support Enforcment reduces teenage pre-marital childbearing:
source:Plotnick, Robert D., et al, ôBetter Child Support Enforcement: Can It Reduce Teenage Premarital Childbearing?ö University of Washington (1998)
What more can be done?
Willing but unable to support children
GED assistance
Post high school education: technical school, community college
Job training programs
Programs to supplement child support payments if participant in programs
Offers and compromise programs on arrears owed to state to pay off back support due to repay TANF if they make regular payments based on current income.
Unwilling but able
Strong child support enforcement programs
Seek work programs
Unwilling and unable
Court ordered treatment or jail options
U.S. Department Of Health And Human Services Programs To Promote
Guaranteeing Child Support Payments
States can play a leadership role in developing a replicable, scaleable solution to a significant public policy concern by establishing Child suppot Trust Funds. Benefits to Children are receipt of timely child support payments. Benefits to Government include a financially responsible solution to an important long-standing public policy concern . Future welfare payments are reduced . State governments continue to receive federal funding for child support operations and collections. Recent trends in Child Support Collections especially collections via income >withholding are key to the solution for guaranteeing child support payments for families.
A Child Support Trust Funds are modeled after financially successful financing instruments (e.g., Sallie Mae, Freddie Mac) It facilitates public-private partnerships and is designed to be replicable and scaleable
An investor purchases a 10-year bond instrument for 50% of the investment and places the remaining 50% of the investment in escrow, through the Child Support Trust Fund . The bond guarantees repayment of principal to the investor. Escrowed funds along with collected payments are used for guaranteed monthly payments to Obligee, interest payments, operating costs, and fees.
Since 2001, states must improve their overall collection rates annually by 5% in order to be >eligible for federal incentive payments. The overall five-year trend has been for about annual 10% improvement.
Child Support Trust funds are an opportunity for socially responsible investors, foundations, sponsors to make an impact. It is an opportunity to receive interest on loans and income from investments and potential trading opportunities in bonds.
