dcl9317.htm

1992 Preliminary Data Report

DC-93-17

April 13, 1993

Dear Colleague:

Enclosed you will find a copy of our FY 1992 Preliminary Data Report which provides financial and statistical information on the Child Support Enforcement program as reported by the States for fiscal year 1992. This report was developed in response to requests from Regions and States to receive information on the status of the Child Support Enforcement program prior to publication of the Annual Report to Congress.

Please note that this report includes all statistics reported to the Office of Child Support Enforcement as of February 23, 1993. Some numbers may have been revised in the interim.

We would appreciate your opinions on the report's format and on the information provided. Please write or call with your comments and suggestions. In addition, if you have any questions concerning the report please call Joyce Pitts at (202) 401-5374 .

Sincerely,

Robert Harris

Associate Deputy Director

Office of Child Support

Enforcement

Enclosure

A Summary of Program Results for FY 1992

The Child Support Enforcement Program continued its trend of increasing collections, caseloads, locates, and orders established in fiscal year 1992. Recent tabulations show that the program has collected over $53 billion, made almost 20 million locations of non-custodial parents or their addresses, employers, sources of income or assets, and established more than 10 million support orders since its inception in 1975.

Preliminary data for FY 1992, show a 13% increase, nationally, in the IV-D caseload. This is largely due to the 20% increase in the number of non-AFDC cases (see Table 1).

Total child support collections were $8.0 billion for FY 1992. This is an increase of about 16% over the amount collected in FY 1991 (see Table 3). AFDC collections were $2.3 billion in FY 1992, a 14% increase over the previous year; while non-AFDC collections were $5.7 billion, a 16% increase over FY 1991.

The costs of running the Child Support Enforcement program also increased in FY 1992--total administrative expenditures increased 10.6% to $2.0 billion for the year. However, this represents a slowdown in the rise of total expenditures, which increased at a rate of 12.3% between 1990 and 1991.

There was a large jump in the number of locations made in FY 1992. Preliminary data show an increase of 44% in locates to 3.7 million for the year (see Table 2). Increases were also noted for total cases in which a collection was made (up 10%), paternitiesestablished (up 9%), and the number of support orders established (also up 9%).

While States are continually setting records in such areas as dollars collected, paternities established, and other areas, the percentage of paying cases has been essentially static for several years--and the percent of AFDC payments recovered through child support collections is growing slowly. In other words, while program successes are growing, more can be done.Analysis of FY 1992 Regional Box Scores

Financial Data. Preliminary data for FY 1992 show that total distributed collections reached an all time high--$8.0 billion. Collections increased 15.5% over the FY 1991 total of $6.9 billion. States in Region V collected 28.0% of the overall total, followed by Regions III, IV and II at 15%, 12.4% and 11.9% respectively. Comparing collections to last years totals, Region VI achieved a 26.5% increase (from $350 to $443 million) and Region VIII a 23.4% increase ($138 to $171 million).

Total administrative expenditures were $2.0 billion in FY 1992, an increase of 10.6% over the 1991 total of $1.8 billion. Region V accounted for 19.5% of the total expenditures for 1992, followed by Regions IV and IX at 15.2% each. Regions I and II showed no increase in expenditures from the previous year ($109.5 to $109.4 million) and ($253.6 to $253.4 million) respectively.

The ratio of total child support collections to total administrative expenditures (CE ratio) increased to 3.99. Regions III and V reported CE ratios of 5.80 and 5.74. Statistical Data. Total IV-D caseload increased by 12.9% (1.74 million cases) in FY 1992. Region V accounted for over 25% of the 15.2 million cases in 1992. Region IX's caseload increased by 22.7%, an increase of 339,871 more cases than their previous year's total of 1.5 million.

The number of paternities established in FY 1992 was 516,557, with Region IV reporting 21% of the total. Region VIII reported 14,102 paternities established, an increase of over 75% over their 1991 total of 8,040.

Support orders established in FY 1992 totaled 892,852, an increase of 8.8% over 1991. Region X had the largest increase in the number of support orders established over the previous year at 34.4% (32,850 to 44,153) and Region I was next with an increase of 33.9% over 1991 (36,668 to 49,109).

The number of non-custodial parents or their addresses, employers, sources of income, or assets that were located in 1992 increased by almost 44%. Region IX had the greatest increase over the previous year at 145% (121,997 to 299,022), followed by Region X at 127% (193,745 to 439,029) and Region I at 103% (60,595 to 123,228).

The number of FTE's (full-time equivalent staff) increased 5.7% in FY 1992. Region V accounted for the largest portion of the 1992 total at 20.8% and Region VIII accounted for the smallest portion at 2.9%. Region VI had a 21.1% increase in the number of FTE's (from 3,032 to 3,673), while Regions II and III both had reductions in its FTE's, from 5,394 to 5,333 and 4,349 to 4,203 respectively.

The average number of caseload per FTE was 368 in FY 1992. Region V reported the highest caseload per FTE at 446, while Region VII the lowest at 279.

Charts and Graphs Summary

The following series of charts and graphs visually present the OCSE program financial and statistical data for FY 1992 and, in some cases, for previous years also. Please note that data for fiscal year 1992 are preliminary.

Total Collections. Total IV-D distributed collections for FY 1992 were $8.0 billion. Almost 70% were non-AFDC collections, 28% AFDC collections, and 2% were foster care collections (Figure 1). Total collections have increased steadily over recent years, up 73% over the past five years (Figure 2).

AFDC Collections. Collections made on behalf of families receiving AFDC amounted to $2.3 billion in FY 1992. These collections are distributed as follows--about $786 million or 35% represent the States' share; $737 million, 33%, represent the Federal share, $430 million or 19% were payments to AFDC families, and 13% or $299 million were incentive payments to the States (Figure 3).

Collections per Case. The amount of child support collected per case per fiscal year has shown steady increases over the past ten years (Figures 4 and 5). In FY 1982, an average of $142 was collected for each AFDC case and $665 for each non-AFDC case. By FY 1992, $259 per AFDC case and $883 per non-AFDC case wascollected. Nationally, about 19% of the IV-D caseload were paying cases in FY 1992. Collections per paying case were $2,074 for AFDC and $3,259 for non-AFDC.

Total Expenditures. Total administrative expenditures amounted to $2.0 billion in FY 1992. The largest share of expenditures, 67%, was paid by the Federal government. While total expenditures have increased each year over the past five years, the rise between 1991 and 1992 (10.5%) was lower than the rate of increase for the past five years which ranged from 17.8% to 12.3% (Figure 6).

Cost-Effectiveness. Cost-effectiveness is the amount of child support collected per dollar of total administrative expenditures. In FY 1992 the cost-effectiveness ratio reached its highest point ever, 3.99. This increase was largely due to the rise in the non-AFDC ratio (Figure 7).

Total Caseload. The child support enforcement caseload reached an all-time high in FY 1992 of more than 15 million cases. The largest share of the caseload, 44%, was AFDC/FC; more than 42% of cases were non-AFDC, and 13% of cases were AFDC/FC arrears cases (Figure 8). The total caseload has grown almost 37% since 1988 (Figure 9). The number of cases per FTE showed an increase to 368 in FY 1992 after dropping slightly in FY 1991 (Figure 10).

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The charts and graphs mentioned in this document are not in the format compatible to this system so they could not be included here. See the OCSE Training Center and request the enclosure to DC-93-17.