Dear Colleague(DCL9526)

ACF/Office of Child Support Enforcement




April 5, 1995



                                             DC-95-26

Joyce F. McGhee, Director
Child Support Enforcement Program
P.O. Box 8030
Tallahassee, Florida  32314

Dear Ms. McGhee:

I am soliciting your support for a major project which has
implications for the child support program.  The Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG)
in cooperation with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has
initiated a joint review in eight States to assess individual
income tax benefits and credits being claimed by taxpayers who
are delinquent in child support.  Specifically, the review will
assess the cost and numbers of delinquent noncustodial parents
claiming income tax exemptions, earned income tax credits, and
child care credits on their 1993 individual tax returns.  The
information from this review is being used for statistical and
tax policy purposes and will not be used in any way by Office of
Child Support Enforcement staff in assessing your program's
compliance with HHS mandated requirements.

From your State, the HHS OIG staff have selected a projectible
sample of approximately 300 instances in which the noncustodial
parent was reported to be delinquent in child support during
1993.  The staff will be gathering from your files case data such
as parents' and childrens' names, addresses, Social Security
numbers, childrens' dates of birth, date of the child support
order(s), and payment history.  To minimize the burden on your
staff, for each of the sample items selected, the OIG staff have
already begun collecting some of the basic case information from
data available here in Washington.  They will need access to your
data base and/or files to collect the remaining data for each
sample item.  This data will be used to identify and review the
individuals' Federal income tax returns.  From the tax returns,
the staff will analyze which parents claimed what tax benefits
related to the children.  The results will be projected
nationwide and could, if warranted, lead IRS to initiate
regulatory changes or propose legislation.

The enclosure to this letter contains a printout of approximately
300 case numbers in your State for which the OIG staff want to
gather case file information such 
Page 2 - Joyce F. McGhee

as the parents' and childrens' names, addresses, Social Security
numbers, childrens' dates of birth, date of the child support
order(s), and payment history.  If you would have your staff make
the case file information available for those case numbers, it
would facilitate significantly the OIG's data collection effort. 
The goal of the OIG is to finish gathering the case file data by
June 1, 1995.  

After the case data from the eight States and information from
the individuals' tax returns have been collected and analyzed,
the OIG will provide you with the results of their review.  If
you have any questions, you may contact Peter J. Koenig,
Director, Administrations for Children, Family, and Aging Audits,
OIG at (202) 619-3191.  The OIG staff member in charge of the
work in your State is John Drake who may be reached at (404) 331-
2446.  He will be contacting your office in the near future to
make arrangements for this project.

                         Sincerely yours,




                         David G. Ross
                         Deputy Director
                         Child Support Enforcement


cc:
Mr. Larry Fuchs
Executive Director
Department of Revenue
5050 West Tennessee Street
Carolton Building, Room 104
Tallahassee, Florida  32399-0100

Mr. Tony Kirk
Assistant Director
Department of Revenue
Child Support Enforcement
1170 Capitol Circle NE
Tallahassee, Florida  32301

Suanne Brooks Regional Administrator, Region IV








The same letter as above was mailed by the OIG's office to the
following names with the appropriate cc's listed below the
persons name:

Jerry Townsend, Director
Child Support Enforcement
2 Peachtree Street, N.W. Suite 15-107
P.O. Box 38450
Atlanta, Georgia  30334-0450

cc:  
Mr. Tommy Olmstead
Commissioner
Department of Human Resources
47 Trinity Avenue, S.W.
Suite 520-H
Atlanta, Georgia  30334                                

Mr. Robert Swain
Deputy Director
Child Support Enforcement
2 Peachtree Street
Suite 15-100
Atlanta, Georgia  30303

Suanne Brooks, Regional Administrator, Region IV






Jim Hennessey, Director
Bureau of Collection
Department of Human Services
Hoover Building - 5th Floor
Des Moines, Iowa  50319

cc:
Mr. Charles M. Palmer
Director
Department of Human Services
Hoover State Office Building
Des Moines, Iowa  50319  

Ms. Rose Mary Johnson
Bureau of Program, Budget and Accounting
Iowa Department of Human Services
Hoover Building, 1st Floor
1305 E. Walnut
Des Moines, Iowa  50319-0114

Linda J. Carson, Regional Administrator, Region VII

                  

Wallace Dutkowski, Director
Office of Child Support
Department of Social Services
P.O. Box 30037
Lansing, Michigan  48909
        
cc:
Mr. Gerald Miller
Director
Department of Social Services
235 South Cesar Chavez Avenue
Suite 1514
P.O. Box 300037
Lansing, Michigan  48909    

Mr. William Addison
Department of Social Services
Office of Internal Audit
235 South Grand Avenue - Suite 1112
Lansing, Michigan  48909

Marion Steffy, Regional Administrator, Region V


Joan Keenan, Director
Office of Child Support Enforcement
Department of Social Services
P.O. Box 14
Albany, New York  12260

cc:
Mr. Michael Dowling
Commissioner
Department of Social Services
40 North Pearl Street
Albany, New York  12243

John Daniels, Director External Audit
New York State Department of Social Services
488 Broadway, Room 202
Albany, New York  12207

Mary Ann Higgins, Regional Administrator, region II


            



Michael Adams, Chief
Child Support Enforcement Section
Division of Social Services
Department of Human Resources
100 East Six Forks Road
Raleigh, North Carolina  27609-7750

cc:
The Honorable C. Robin Britt
Secretary
Department of Human Resources
101 Blair Drive
Raleigh, North Carolina  27626-0526                     

Mr. Barry Burger
Section Chief
Program Operations
100 East Six Forks Road
Raleigh, North Carolina  27609

Suanne Brooks, Regional Administrator, Region IV
    
John F. Stuff, Director
Bureau of Child Support Enforcement
Department of Public Welfare
P.O. Box 8018
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania  17105-8018

cc:
The Honorable Feather O. Houstoun
Secretary
Department of Public Welfare
Health and Welfare Building
Room 333
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania  17120

Mr. Brent Haywood
Audit Specialist
Audit Resolution Section
Department of Public Welfare
Bertolino Building, 3rd Floor
1401 North 7th Street
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania  17105

Ralph Douglas, Regional Administrator,  Region III

Cecelia Burke, Director
Child Support Division
Office of the Attorney General
P.O. Box 12548
Austin, Texas  78711-2017

cc:
The Honorable Dan Morales
Attorney General
State of Texas
210 Barton Spring Road
Austin, Texas  78704

Deepak Chawla, Director
Internal Audit Division
P.O. Box 12548
Austin, Texas  78711-2548

Leon McCowan, Regional Administrator, Region VI