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Giving Hope and Support to America's ChildrenActing Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Olivia A. Golden provided the keynote address, calling the forum "an extraordinary first" in bringing together representatives from Child Care, Child Support Enforcement, Head Start, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). She identified partnership as the key to success in working with customers to implement welfare reform, noting that "collaboration matters now more than ever."
In the same way, she said, program goals, though once separate, must now be complementary. As she laid out five "next steps" that need to be taken to ensure that welfare reform is achieved as intended, the Assistant Secretary highlighted the importance of child support enforcement by noting that economic support must be a primary factor for linkages.
The five "next steps" for each of the four programs to embrace included:
The Forums are organized to address the major child support enforcement requirements of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, as well as their interaction with other important provisions of the law.
OCSE's Michelle Jefferson welcomed the participants and was followed by Anne Donovan, also of OCSE, who provided opening remarks. Ms. Donovan, taking note of the organizational diversity of her audience, reminded them that with the passage of welfare reform "the world we live in as professionals is different from what we have been accustomed to and that we must--as individuals and programs alike--find new ways to work together."
C. Robin Britt, Sr., Secretary of North Carolina's Department of Human Resources, picked up on this theme in remarks which were a highlight of the morning session (see "A Mosaic of Services").
Program specific, interactive workshops on distribution, paternity, interstate remedies, funding streams, enforcement, audits, performance based incentives and penalties, and other pertinent topics gave participants a chance to delve into the nuts and bolts of the legislation.
If you would like further information about this Forum, or those in Portland and Dallas, contact OCSE's Roy Nix at (202) 401-5685.
First, due in part to the passage of welfare reform, which contains the most sweeping child support enforcement measures in history, we are a much more visible program nationally. But our prominence as a program is also increased by our being at the center of a very healthy and ongoing national debate on parental responsibility.
Second, we have worked together to enrich the tone and substance of our relations with all levels of government. We have become better listeners and, in the process, together furthered our understanding and appreciation of each others needs and special interests.
Third, we have expanded our awareness of the needs of advocacy groups and reached out to welcome them into the national dialogue on child support. In particular, we have increased our sensitivity to both parents place in the lives of their children, whether living at home or away.
Fourth, within OCSE, we have established specialists for issues that you have suggested need attention, such as: tribal, military, international, interstate, and law enforcement matters and for issues important to Hispanic children and families.
All of these changes have helped us do a better job in serving children and families. Collections rose to $11.9 billion this year--a third more than the $8.9 billion collected three years ago. And we established 800,000 paternities this year, up 44 percent from the 554,000 established in 1993.
The really good news, though, is that millions of children and families across the country are better off because of the work being done by OCSE and its state/local partners. On behalf of those children and families at this special time of the year, may I say, deeply and appreciatively, Thank You!
Best wishes for a joyful holiday season and success--personal and professional--in the new year.
Britt used the device of an imaginary conversation with families who would be affected by the new welfare reform legislation. Through him, these families said to Forum participants:
The whole community, Britt said, must be mobilized to make the implementation of welfare reform a mission, so that a "mosaic of services--employment, health, and child care/support--all in place and functioning well together" becomes available to those who need them. Only then will the system make sense--to those who design it and to those for whom it is designed.
Children, also, are more likely to be abused in a household where domestic violence is occurring, and research has established that children suffer long-term effects from witnessing abuse or being abused themselves. It is possible that increased efforts at enforcing child support obligations may aggravate domestic tensions and could lead women to avoid cooperating with the establishment of paternity and the enforcement of support.
Welfare reform imposes a five year lifetime-limit on the benefits a family can receive under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Recipients of TANF must begin work efforts within two years of receiving benefits. States must meet specified percentages of recipients moving off welfare and into work to receive federal funding for their assistance programs without financial penalties. And states must meet a 90 percent paternity establishment standard.
Exceptions in the law will enable states to exclude some cases from being counted against them where domestic violence is a factor. But some researchers suggest that there may be too many domestic violence cases among welfare recipients for states to ignore the problem and still meet mandatory work and paternity establishment percentages.
Attentive to this problem, President Clinton, declaring October to be National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, announced a proclamation urging the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice to work together to assist the states in implementing the family anti-violence language of the new welfare reform law (see "Domestic Violence Proclamation"). DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala wrote to the Nation's Governors and encouraged them to include the anti-violence language, also called the Wellstone/Murray provisions, in their TANF state plans.
Wellstone/Murray allows a state the option to certify whether it has established and is enforcing standards and procedures to screen and identify individuals who have a history of domestic violence and are receiving assistance under the TANF program. Confidentiality is maintained, and such persons may be referred to counseling and other supportive services.
Also, in certain cases states may waive, subject to a finding of good cause, other program requirements such as time limits, residency requirements, child support cooperation requirements, and family cap provisions. This must involve circumstances where compliance with such provisions would make it more difficult for individuals receiving assistance to escape domestic violence, or unfairly penalize persons who are or have been victimized by such violence, or who are at risk of further domestic violence.
For example, states may exempt a family from the five year lifetime limit for receiving TANF if the family includes an individual who has been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty. States must have procedures in place prohibiting IV-D agencies from releasing information on the whereabouts of a party to another party against whom a protective order has been entered, or where the state has reason to believe that the release of the information may result in physical or emotional harm.
States may also exclude recipients of IV-A services or title IX services from having to cooperate with paternity establishment and child support enforcement by allowing them to claim "good cause." While the new law allows States to define good cause, domestic violence is generally classified under that precept.
ACF has recently awarded two grants on domestic violence. The first, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, trains Department of Social Services staff (including many IV-D staff) on what domestic violence is and how often it is occurring among the population served. The second is a supplemental grant to a Colorado project, with the focus on domestic violence as it relates to cooperation and good cause.
More information on the link between domestic violence and welfare is needed to improve child support enforcement services and to ensure the full success of welfare reform. OCSE will be working with IV-D practitioners, as well as those in other fields, to gain a better understanding of this problem and how best to respond to it.
If you would like further information, contact Susan Notar at (202) 401-4606.
Susan Notar is an Attorney in OCSE's Division of State and Local Assistance.
The President also urged the Departments of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Justice (DOJ) to work together to develop guidance for States to assist them in implementing the new provisions. The President specified that in crafting this guidance, DHHS and DOJ should work with states, domestic violence experts, victims' services programs, medical professionals, law enforcement, and others involved in fighting domestic violence, and recommend standards and procedures that will help make transitional assistance programs fully responsive to the needs of battered women.
The proclamation directed DHHS Secretary Donna Shalala to provide States with technical assistance as they work to implement the family anti-violence provisions. Secretary Shalala and Attorney General Janet Reno are to report to the President on specific progress that has been made in fulfilling its directives.
In announcing the increase, DHHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala said that "We are now sending the strongest possible message that parental responsibility must be a way of life, not an option."
Under the income tax refund offset program, state child support enforcement agencies report names of parents who owe child support payments and the overdue amount to the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. These persons are notified in writing of the amount which will be withheld to cover their child support debt and that amount is then deducted from their income tax refund. The delinquency may also be reported to credit reporting agencies.
"Under the new welfare law, delinquent parents will no longer be able to leave their children for the taxpayers to support," said OCSE Deputy Director David Gray Ross. "Working with our state and local partners in putting these critical new child support enforcement measures into place," Ross continued, "gives millions of children who are still in need a new message of hope."
Parents whose children receive public assistance and whose unpaid child support totals $150 or more may find their federal income tax refunds withheld. For tax year 1995, refunds were withheld on behalf of over 850,000 families with children receiving public assistance. Parents of children who do not receive public assistance must owe at least $500 before their refunds are withheld. Over 350,000 nonpublic assistance families benefited from the program this year.
For tax year 1995, the total amount collected was $1,000,831,413, up from $661,711,371 in tax year 1992. The average collection was $847 for nonpublic assistance families and $827 for public assistance families. The cost of processing these cases was $5.71 per case. Collections for tax year 1995 were made after tax returns for that year were filed in 1996 and refunds requested. Collections for 1996 will begin as income tax returns are filed in 1997.
The partnership between states and the federal government has resulted in unprecedented financial support for children. From 1992 to 1996, child support collections have grown by nearly 50 percent and paternity establishments have increased by 55 percent.
In 1996, the federal-state child support enforcement system collected a record $11.8 billion from noncustodial parents, up from $8 billion in FY 1992. Preliminary data show that an estimated 800,000 paternities were established in FY 1996, up from 515,857 in FY 1992.
For your copy of the Compendium of State Best Practices, write or call OCSE's National Resource Center, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, SW, 4thFloor, Washington, DC 20447 (202) 401-9383. Also available on the Internet at:
http://www.acf.dhhs.gov/programs/cse/rpt/bp96.htm
Most of the 24 jurisdictions in Maryland were invited to compete for the honor of becoming the model office. The Washington County office (an average sized office with a caseload of 6,000) located in Hagerstown, was chosen to be the demonstration site. The bill provided the model office with flexibility in hiring legal representation and discretion in selecting personnel. And, after full implementation, its "best practices" would be replicated throughout the State.
Maryland requested federal assistance in designing an analysis of current work flow and making recommendations for improvements. The State's request to OCSE (to include the Regional Office in Philadelphia) specified technical assistance in the development of a product that would at once be practical and useful.
OCSE central and regional staff had performed a similar analysis of the operational flow for the city of Philadelphia--the Philadelphia Performance Enhancement Project. This project had resulted in increased efficiency in the CSE program in Philadelphia's Family Court.
David Engel, the Director of Social Services in Washington County, firmly supported the project, believing that development of a flow chart which carefully explained every aspect of the current CSE process would be an essential beginning to the development of a model office in Hagerstown. "You cannot," he said, "plan improvements until you fully understand the current system."
OCSE's team of specialists was made up of Nancy Bienia and Linda Deimeke from central office and John Clark and Bob Clifford from the regional office. They met with every Hagerstown CSE employee and, over a period of weeks documented the child support enforcement process for all parts of the program--from intake and establishment to enforcement and review and modification.
Once completed, the analysis formed the basis for a staff-developed corrective action plan, currently being implemented, to remedy deficiencies and provide a basis for restructuring the office to enhance efficiency.
In participating in this project, many of the Hagerstown employees acquired a new appreciation for the complexity of the full child support enforcement process. This came about gradually through team work, as initial staff reservations were overcome and trust gained. Only then could work proceed as a genuine partnership between state and federal personnel.
The Hagerstown project provides a good example of the benefits of federal/state partnerships. Based on the experience in Washington County, Maryland's Child Support Enforcement Administration, again with assistance from OCSE, developed a work flow analysis for St. Mary's County. Washington County's managers are happy with their outcome and recommendations, and staff are energized by having taken part in a process which allowed for their ideas and input.
But the real winners are the children and families of Washington County, Maryland. They become the beneficiaries of an improved child support enforcement process--one which can help them receive the financial support they need and deserve.
John Clark is a Program Specialist in OCSE's Philadelphia Regional Office. Nancy Bienia is Special Assistant to the Director, OCSE Division of Program Operations. Linda Deimeke is a Program Specialist in OCSE's Division of Program Operations.
Former Colorado River Indian Tribal Presiding Judge Tom Bartlett and current Presiding Judge Neil T. Flores have been instrumental in the development and maintenance of this understanding. The agreements are significantly reducing welfare fraud, according to department spokespersons. For more information, contact Arizona's Greg McPhillips at (520) 669-6118.
From the DR Quarterly, Vol. I, No. 5, Spring 1996. The Quarterly is a publication of the Arizona Supreme Court's Domestic Relations Division.
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