Child Support Report - February 1997

Massachusetts Parents Use Internet to Apply for Child Support
Shalala Announces National Strategy to Prevent Teen Pregnancy
Most Wanted Posters
State Directors Sign Partnership Agreement
Guidelines Report Now Available
CSE Waivers and Welfare Reform
Twenty-four Hour Access in Texas
OCSE and Other Programs Collaborate
FYI: CSE Action Transmittals--Systems
"Motor Voter" Rule Issued
OCSE Consults with Advocates on Access/Visitation

Massachusetts Parents Use Internet to Apply for Child Support

Parents in Massachusetts who are applying forchild support enforcement services from the Department of Revenue (DOR) can now file the application directly over the Internet. Massachusetts becomes the first State in the nation with this interactive capability.

Placing the application on-line makes it easier for more parents to access DOR's services.

Placing the application on-line makes it easier for more parents to access DOR's services."The Internet has over the past two years been one of the fastest growing mediums for information, and DOR has remained on the cutting edge of the opportunities presented by this emerging technology," Revenue Commissioner Mitchell Adams said. "Our success with Telefile," he continued, "allowing people to file their taxes over the telephone, showed us the advantages of giving them more ways to contact the Department."

As part of the agency's continuing outreach effort to make information more available to families, DOR is expanding its Home Page on the World Wide Web to include the application, along with recent press releases and informative articles. It also includes "Wanted on the Web," DOR's enforcement efforts to locate 20 of its Most Wanted delinquent child support payors.

Those who do not have computers at home will still be able to benefit from the enhancements to DOR's child support Web site. For example, an individual may access the on-line application at community access centers and libraries, or through his or her attorney on the case. DOR's child support enforcement Web address is http://www.mst.oa.net

Shalala Announces National Strategy to Prevent Teen Pregnancy

Donna E. Shalala, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), has announced a comprehensive new plan to prevent teen pregnancies. The new strategy, which has clear implications for child support enforcement and such issues as paternity establishment, will strengthen the Department's ongoing efforts to assure that every community in the country is working to prevent out-of-wedlock teen pregnancies by:

Increasing opportunities through welfare reform;
Supporting promising approaches;
Building public-private partnerships;
Improving data collection, research, and evaluation; and
Disseminating information on innovative and effective practices.

In launching the strategy, the Secretary cited new data showing that the majority of states experienced a decline in teen birth rates from 1991 to 1994.

According to the latest state-by-state statistics on teen births, 37 states had a sustained decline in their teen birth rates between 1991 and 1994. Twenty-one of these states had declines of between 5 and 10 percent, and 10 states had declines of more than 10 percent over this period.

Overall, the birth rate for teens aged 15-19 declined for the fourth straight year, decreasing by 8 percent between 1991 and 1995. Each year about 200,000 teenagers aged 17 and younger have children. Their babies are often low-birth weight and have disproportionately high infant mortality rates. They are also far more likely to be poor.

"We are committed," the Secretary said, "to an effort to engage every community in America to work together to prevent teen pregnancy and send a strong message to our children that postponing sexual activity, staying in school, and preparing to work are the right things to do."

DHHS currently supports a variety of efforts to help communities develop comprehensive teen pregnancy prevention strategies that reflect five principles: parental and adult involvement; strong messages of abstinence and personal responsibility; clear strategies for young people's futures; involvement by all facets of communities; and a sustained commitment to young people.

Most Wanted Posters

On July 22, 1996, the President announced thatthe U.S. Postal Service would work with state IV-D agencies to display their Most Wanted posters in post offices of states having such posters. (See October '96 CSR.) CSR has learned that the following states have placed child support Most Wanted posters in U.S. Postal facilities:

California
Indiana
Kansas
Massachusetts
Oregon
South Dakota.

If you know of other states that are doing this, please pass the information along to your OCSE regional office.

State Directors Sign Partnership Agreement

State IV-D directors and federal officials met in late September, 1996, in a day-long session following OCSE's Sixth National Training Conference to reach consensus on a partnership agreement between the National Council of State Child Support Enforcement Administrators (NCSCSEA) and the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE).

OCSE Deputy Director David Gray Ross and NCSCSEA President Jim Hennessey signed the partnership agreement in January of this year.

The agreement is intended to strengthen the working relationships among state and federal IV-D partners.

While substantial progress has been made in establishing paternity and obtaining support for children and families, the participants acknowledge that more progress is needed. To this end, the partners to the agreement commit themselves to improved communication and collaboration, a trusting and respectful relationship, and a renewed commitment to actions in support of each other in accomplishing shared goals.

Further, recognizing their interdependence for success, the partners commit themselves to a relationship that emphasizes outcomes, technical assistance, service, and recognition.

The agreement is intended to strengthen the working relationships among state and federal IV-D partners in order to achieve the goals, through more effective collaboration and constructive change, of the National Child Support Enforcement Strategic Plan. The agreement incorporates the strategic plan by reference.

In their agreement, the partners pledge to:

Negotiate state-specific Performance Partnership Agreements between individual states and regional offices to accomplish the goals of the program and the National Child Support Enforcement Strategic Plan;
Be flexible in working toward shared goals;
Understand and respect the different roles, responsibilities, and perspectives of their partners and recognize their respective external influences and limitations;
Identify and work to remove barriers to achievement of shared goals; and
Determine processes by which issues will be identified, workgroups appointed, and recommendations reported.

If you would like further information, call OCSE's Myles Schlank at (202) 401-9329.

Guidelines Report Available

The Evaluation of Child Support Guidelines was conducted from October, 1994, to March, 1996, and focused on three issues: (1) how guidelines are applied; (2) how deviations come about; and (3) how special circumstances are dealt with in determining child support awards. The report is in two volumes: Volume 1, "Findings and Conclusions;" and Volume II, "Findings of State Guideline Reviews, State Guideline Studies, and Unstructured Interviews." For your copy call OCSE's National Resource Center at (202) 401-9383.

CSE Waivers and Welfare Reform

By Elizabeth Lower-Basch

The Aid to Families with Dependent Children(AFDC) program contained a number of provisions with child support implications. Recipients were required to assign child support collections to AFDC and to cooperate in establishing paternity and enforcing child support.

States were required to pass-through the first $50 of current month child support payments to the family and to disregard this amount in determining the family's AFDC eligibility or the benefit amount. The remainder of the child support collected was shared between the state and the federal government.

Waivers to 19 States increased the requirements for cooperation with child support enforcement.

In recent years, these requirements were often modified by waivers granted by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) under the authority provided in section 1115 of the Social Security Act (see February '96 CSR). Although the AFDC program has now been supplanted by the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, these waivers are still relevant to the policy discussion.

First, states with waivers approved prior topassage of the new law may continue these waivers. This may be critical in caseswhere TANF is more restrictive than the waivers;
Second, in order to receive federal approval forwaivers, states were required to conduct rigorous evaluations of their impact. These evaluations may provide important evidence on theeffect of the waivers; and
Third, many projects conducted under waivers are now allowable state options under theTANF block grant.

Employment and Training The most frequently granted waiver with child support implications was allowing noncustodial parents to participate in the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills (JOBS) Training program, so they could find employment and thus pay child support. Such waivers were received by 23 states. Sometimes participation was voluntary; in other cases, courts required parents who were delinquent in child support payments to participate. Under TANF, states are allowed to place noncustodial parents of recipient children in app roved work activities. Modified Pass-Through and Disregard

The next most common type of waiver, received by 20 states, affected the pass-through and disregard. Fourteen states received waivers allowing an increase in the pass-through and/or the disregard. Three states received waivers allowing elimination of the pass-through. These waivers enabled states to test the effectiveness of the pass-through in increasing child support collections. Five states received waivers from the Department of Agriculture allowing them to disregard the amount of the pass-through in ca lculating food stamps as well as AFDC benefits. A smaller number of states increased the pass-through or disregard only for those children who were affected by a "family cap" provision, which denies aid to children conceived while their parents were receiving AFDC.

Under TANF, the $50 pass-through has been eliminated. States may opt to disregard or pass-through some or all of the child support collected to the custodial family; however, they must then reimurse the federal government for its share of all of the collections made on behalf of TANF clients. Cooperation with Child Support Enforcement

DHHS granted waivers to 19 states that increased the requirements for cooperation with child support enforcement, and/or increased the sanction for failure to cooperate. Most increased the sanction for noncooperation to denial of benefits to the entire assistance unit, not just the noncooperating parents. A few moved responsibility for determination of cooperation away from AFDC to the child support office. In order to locate noncustodial parents more easily, some states received waivers allowing them to require parents to provide information such as the Social Security number and the last known address of noncustodial parents.

The child support enforcement provisions have been strengthened under TANF. Under AFDC, the sanction for failure to cooperate without good cause, or for refusal to assign payments, was denial of the custodial parent's share of the AFDC grant; under TANF, the minimum sanction is a 25 percent reduction in the family's monthly grant, and states have the option to end assistance altogether. Other Waivers

Finally, some states received waivers that range from one-time bonus payments for establishing paternity, to pilot projects testing child support assurance, to projects providing counseling and other assistance to non-custodial parents. Many of these kinds of projects will be allowable under TANF, without the need for waivers.

For a copy of a matrix that shows which states have received waivers related to child support, contact OCSE's National Resource Center at (202) 401-9383. Elizabeth Lower-Basch is a Presidential Management Intern in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, DHHS.

Twenty-four Hour Access in Texas

Texas Attorney General Dan Morales recently announced that around-the-clock access to child support case information is now available to parents. Custodial parents can call the child support enforcement program's 24 hour Voice Information Response System (VIRS) to obtain a broad range of information about their cases and the child support enforcement program.

Parents can call 1-800-252-8014 to receive such automated information as payment and case status, dates and times for scheduled hearings, recent legal actions taken, and phone numbers for child support field offices. They also can request an application for services and information on paternity testing, license suspension, and welfare reform."The 24 hour system increases parents' access to case information important to them, and it allows case workers the time to actively work cases rather than answer questions that can easily be handled by VIRS," Morales said. Currently, Texas child support enforcement caseworkers and attorneys handle nearly 860,000 cases each year-nearly 1,127 cases for each caseworker and 5,058 for each attorney.

"Staff have managed a delicate balance between spending time reassuring parents about case progress and actually having the time to ensure that child support is paid for their children," Morales said. "We believe the extended hours will benefit working parents by enabling them to obtain case information quickly at any hour of the day. At the same time, VIRS will allow us to serve more Texas children and their families."

If you would like to know more about the VIRS system, call Albert Cortez at (512) 460-6000 X 2560

OCSE and Other ACF Programs Collaborate

By John Doyle

Staff from OCSE and other ACF programs are combining efforts to bring awareness of child support enforcement (CSE) services to eligible single-parent families participating in other ACF programs, such as Child Care and Head Start.

In engaging other ACF programs to promote awareness of child support, OCSE encourages their clients to consider the benefits of CSE services for their families. In this manner, ACF programs can function in a complementary role to each other and provide more help to families.

Child Care

For some time now, OCSE and Child Care staff have been speaking at each other's state program staff meetings and in coordination workshops. Presenters have emphasized how, since welfare reform, child care and child support payments are critical for families transitioning from welfare to self-sufficiency; how CSE services can help children financially and emotionally; and how state child care and child support staff need to cooperate in assuring that child support payment orders adequately provide for child care costs.

Community Services

Last November, OCSE entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Office of Community Services (OCS) to foster working partnerships in the states and local communities among CSE agencies, OCS grantees, and Community Action Agencies (CAAs). The purpose of these partnerships is to develop and implement innovative strategies to assist low-income parents to fulfill their parental responsibilities.

Part of the focus of these partnerships is to help low-income noncustodial parents of children receiving benefits under the new Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF) to achieve self-sufficiency, so they can provide financial support for their families without reliance on TANF.

Through this effort, state and local CSE agencies, OCS grantees, and CAAs will be encouraged to engage in community dialogues on positive roles for fathers in families; nurturing parenting skills; and individual rights and responsibilities under the CSE program.

Family Assistance

OCSE also is working with the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) in an effort to promote closer collaboration with the new TANF program. OCSE staff are analyzing TANF state plans to identify provisions which touch on CSE concerns, such as teenage pregnancy prevention and domestic violence, as well as provisions for integrating the TANF/CSE programs in the states. The findings, recorded on a state-by-state matrix, provide a useful tool for staff working with welfare reform. The matrix contains information on 35 states and continues to be updated as additional states submit their TANF plans to DHHS. OCSE and OFA are also working to promote linkages between TANF and CSE staffs at state and local levels to increase the capacity of low-income, noncustodial parents to make child support payments.

Head Start

Some 2,000 Head Start programs throughout the nation have been invited to engage in an initiative to promote CSE services for Head Start single-parent families. OCSE Deputy Director David Gray Ross and Head Start Bureau Associate Commissioner Helen Taylor jointly signed the letter launching this major initiative.

The letter asks each local Head Start program director to inform every family in the program about CSE services; establish a procedure for referring potentially eligible parents to the local child support enforcement office for services; and make referral arrangements with them. A companion letter, sent to state child support enforcement directors, asks them to facilitate linkages between the Head Start program and local child support enforcement offices.

The measure of the success of these various collaborative activities with other ACF programs will be in the numbers of new paternities established and new child support payment orders established and enforced. Through collaborating with its sister programs in ACF, OCSE continues to give hope and support to America's children. John Doyle is a Program Specialist in OCSE's Division of Program Operations.

FYI: CSE Action Transmittals--Systems

Two recent OCSE action transmittals (ATs) contain important information on systems. OCSEAT-96-09, a final regulation, dated December 23, 1996, implemented the President's Regulatory Reinvention Initiative and Public Law 104-35. It extends to October 1, 1997, the deadline for states to have in place a certified operational computerized support enforcement system meeting all requirements of federal law enacted on or before the date of enactment of the Family Support Act of 1988.In addition, the regulation removes obsolete, out-of-date and nonmandated provisions regarding: maintenance of records, nonAFDC applicants, cooperative agreements, interstate services, distribution, notice of collection of assigned support, case assessment and prioritization, use of the Courts of the United States to enforce court orders, State Commissions on child support, and optional cooperative agreements for medical support enforcement.

OCSE-AT-96-10, also dated December 23, 1996, informs states of the availability and limitations of receiving federal funding at the 90 percent and 80 percent federal financial participation (FFP) rates for costs incurred in developing and implementing an automated child support enforcement (ADP) system.

The Family Support Act of 1988 provided federal funding at the 90 percent FFP rate for ADP development and implementation costs through September 30, 1995. Public Law 104-35, which extended the deadline for implementing a certified, operational ADP system (as noted above) did not extend the availability of FFP at the 90 percent rate.

Public Law 104-193, the welfare reform legislation, however, reinstates FFP at the 90 percent rate, with limits, retroactive to October 1, 1995, and through September 30, 1997, to enable states to complete the development and implementation of a system that meets the requirements of the Family Support Act.

In addition, under the welfare reform bill, a limited amount of federal funds will be allocated to each state and will be available at an 80 percent FFP rate to assist in meeting these additional requirements.

For information regarding AT-96-09, call Marilyn R. Cohen at (202) 401-5366; for AT-96-10 call Mike Bratt at (202) 401-4629. If you would like copies of these ATs, call OCSE's National Resource Center at (202) 401-9383.

"Motor Voter" Rule Issued

By Marilyn R. Cohen

The Administration for Children and Families and the Health Care Financing Administration jointly issued a final rule in November, 1996, implementing provisions of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. Dubbed "the Motor Voter Rule" when it took effect on November 13, the rule makes it easier for individuals to register and vote in federal elections. It contains three provisions:

The simultaneous application for or renewal of drivers licenses and voter registration;
The adoption and use of a mail application form for voter registration; and
The designation of state voter registration agencies, including all offices in a state that provide public assistance, as well as state-funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to disabled persons.
Public assistance agencies include Food Stamp, Medicaid, WIC (women, infants, and children) and TANF.

OCSE Consults with Advocates on Access/Visitation

As part of its outreach on welfare reform regulations development, OCSE recently conducted a two-hour consultation with advocates on the access and visitation provisions of the new law.

The meeting, a nationwide video/audio conference held simultaneously in the central office and the regions, and via phone lines, drew more than 100 participants.

Those who took part represented a broad array of child support advocacy organizations, as well as organizations focusing on domestic violence and judicial/legal matters related to child support.

A lively exchange of views characterized this effort by the agency to involve advocates in the regulations development process.