DCL-98-100, Federal Case Registry (FCR) Technical Assistance Guide (TAG)

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER DCL-98-100
DATE : September 23, 1998
TO : All IV-D Directors
RE : Federal Case Registry (FCR) Technical Assistance Guide (TAG)
Questions and Answers (Q&As), Release 1.0

Dear Colleague:

As you may know, we recently conducted multistate conference calls to discuss the Federal Case Registry (FCR) Technical Assistance Guide (TAG). In an effort to share with you the information being disseminated during these calls, we have attached the questions and answers (Q&As) that have been discussed to date during these calls, as well as questions that have been posed subsequent to TAG conference calls.

We plan to release subsequent Q&As as we compile answers to additional questions. We also plan to post the Q&As on the OCSE web site.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Christine Jennings at

(703) 352-3855 or by e-mail at christine.jennings@trw.com. You also may contact your State technical assistance (TA) liaison (Amy Ballenger, Angela Frazer, Kerry Newcombe, or Gary Worrell).

Thank you for your continuing efforts to implement your State Case Registry (SCR) and interface with the FCR. Your support is greatly appreciated as we work together to improve the lives of our nation's children.

Sincerely,

David Gray Ross
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

cc:Regional Program Managers
FCR Program Contacts
FCR Technical Contacts

Enclosure

FCR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GUIDE (TAG)

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS: Release 1.0

The questions have been grouped according to specific areas of interest, which are:

Loop Testing
Add Transactions
Change Transactions
Delete Transactions
Processing
Proactive Matching
Foster Care Cases
Locate Transactions
Query Transactions

The questions are numbered sequentially throughout the entire document so that if follow-up to a specific answer is needed, reference may be readily made to a numbered question. Please note that answers within this document have been refined, and in some situations the questions have been made more universally applicable, so there may be some difference between what was previously discussed between a State and the TA team and what is provided herein.

Loop Testing

Question 1: Will the FCR send back National Directory of New Hires (NDNH) and Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS) matches during the loop test?

Answer: No. During the loop test, we return to a State only the data that has been submitted by that State. The loop test serves to test the data set names and the transmission process; it is not a system test.

Question 2: Will more than one batch be returned with the loop test?

Answer: Yes, if more than one batch is submitted by a State for loop testing. If a State wants to submit more than one batch, they need to coordinate this with the FCR Data Transmission team. If a State sends only one batch, only one batch will be returned.

Add Transactions

Question 3: Does a State have the option to only send IV-D cases for which orders have been established and not send IV-D cases for which orders have not yet been established?

Answer: No. A State should send all IV-D cases, including those with orders as well as those for which orders have not yet been established. The FCR acts to facilitate the location of individuals for the purposes of resolving paternity and establishing orders, as well as to enforce orders.

Question 4: May a State only send non IV-D orders with income withholding and not "private" non IV-D orders?

Answer: No, a State must send to the FCR all non IV-D orders that are established or modified on or after October 1, 1998.

Question 5: If a State attempts to add a person to a case in the FCR and the FCR rejects the add transaction, what happens if the State subsequently sends a change transaction for that person? Will the FCR convert the change transaction to an add transaction and add the person to the FCR? Similarly, if a State sends a transaction to add a person to a case and that person is already associated with that case on the FCR, will the FCR convert the add transaction to a change transaction?

Answer: No in both circumstances. If a change person transaction is sent to the FCR and the person is not already on the FCR for the case, the record will be rejected with an error code indicating that the person cannot be found on the FCR. If a transaction to add a person to a case is sent to the FCR and that person is already associated with that case on the FCR, the transaction will be rejected with an error code indicating that the person already exists on the FCR for the case. The key in this instance is a match to an existing SSN in the same case.

Question 6: May a State add a case to the FCR with only children records associated with it? For example, if a State had a foster care case and an "Unknown" NCP, could the State send the case to the FCR with just the children?

Answer: No. There must be at least one custodial person (CP), non-custodial parent (NCP) or putative father (PF) record associated with a case in order for the case to be registered and maintained on the FCR. This question also points out that the FCR is not to receive CPs in Foster Care cases, i.e., where an agency or institution has custody in the case.

Question 7: Will the FCR accept a case without a child record?

Answer: PRWORA does not require that children's records be added to the FCR until October 1, 1999 so the FCR has been designed to accommodate cases that do not have a child's record associated with them. Moreover, there may always be cases where the child's record needs to be deleted or cases in which the child's record was rejected because it did not have an SSN and one could not be identified through the FCR enumeration verification system (EVS) processing.

Question 8: If a State attempts to add an adult type person record, and the SSN/name combination cannot be verified, what will happen? Will the record be rejected outright? What about adding a child record?

Answer: If the SSN/name combination of an adult or child cannot be verified, the person records would be added to the FCR suspense file with the SSN indicated as unverified. The State would receive a response from the FCR that the person record was accepted, but with a warning message that the SSN was unverified. The FCR does not perform an matching to the NDNH, the FCR, or external FPLS sources on SSNs stored in suspense as unverified. There are a few exceptions to this rule, such as an SSN containing all 0's, 6's or 9's, which would result in FCR outright rejecting the person record.

Change Transactions

Question 9: How does a State update a person record with an unverified SSN - should a new add person transaction or a change person transaction be made?

Answer: A change person transaction should be sent. An add person transaction could be sent as an alternative, with the new SSN/name combination, but the preferable handling would be to send a change transaction. By the State sending the change person transaction, the FCR may be updated without unnecessary duplicates being maintained. The FCR will not perform proactive matching within the FCR or with the NDNH, nor conduct locates, for any person records without a verified SSN/name combination.

Question 10: How does a State account for a closed IV-D case that continues to have an active court order?

Answer: A State should send a case change transaction changing the case type from IV-D to non IV-D. If a State cannot readily send a case change transaction, then the State should send a case delete transaction deleting the IV-D case and then send a case add transaction adding the non IV-D order. Keep in mind that a State may send their IV-D transactions to the FCR in one batch and their non IV-D orders in another batch, but these batches must be sent from the same CONNECT:Direct (C:D) location in the State that transmits data to the FCR. The State has the option to send the batches separately, on different days; or, in a single transmission. Note that only one transmission may be sent on any one day and that a unique batch number must be associated with each batch in every transmission. If a batch number is used more than once, the batch will be rejected.

Delete Transactions

Question 11: Will all person records associated with a case be deleted automatically when a case is deleted, or does a State need to send delete person transactions with a delete case transaction?

Answer: When a case is deleted all associated participants also are deleted.

Question 12: Should a State notify the FCR when non IV-D orders terminate?

Answer: Yes, however it is up to the individual State to determine when each non IV-D order terminates (e.g., when the youngest child emancipates).

Question 13: If the NCP dies, can we delete the IV-D case from the FCR?

Answer: State law/policy and Federal regulations dictate when a IV-D case should be closed. Reference should be made to 45 CFR 303.11. Factors to be considered include whether locate efforts are still underway to find assets of the deceased NCP to satisfy arrears owed to the CP or to the State. If a State wants to continue to use FPLS locate sources, then the State may want to keep the IV-D case open and active on the FCR. It is also possible that a IV-D case may have more than one NCP; for such situations, the State would delete the person and not the IV-D case.

Question 14: If the child is adopted, can we delete the IV-D case from the FCR?

Answer: State law/policy and Federal regulations dictate when a IV-D case should be closed. Reference should be made to 45 CFR 303.11.

Question 15: If a PF is excluded from a paternity case, can we close the case on the FCR?

Answer: The answer depends on how the case is set up within the State. If multiple PFs have been identified and the State has added a separate case for every possible PF, then the case with an excluded PF may be deleted. If multiple PFs are linked to the same case and that one case has been added to the FCR, then a delete person transaction for the excluded PF should be sent rather than a delete case transaction. Similarly, if only one PF has been identified for a child and that PF subsequentlyis excluded as a result of a paternity determination, then the State should delete the PF and not the case, provided that there is a CP (and possibly a child) still associated with the case.

Processing

Question 16: In what order will processing take place?

Answer: Case transactions are processed first, then person transactions. Deletes are processed before changes and adds. Other than that, transactions are processed in the same order in which they are received.

Proactive Matching

Question 17: If a State registers an NCP in a IV-D case on the FCR and that NCP is on a case in another State, will the State get a match back from the FCR for that NCP?

Answer: Yes, provided that the NCP does not have a Family Violence (FV) indicator attached to the person record. In fact, both States will get a match back from the FCR if the same person is associated with IV-D cases in the two States. However, if one of the States has the person associated only with a non IV-D order, only the State that submitted a IV-D case will receive the match. Note that if either of the States has placed an FV indicator on the person record associated with either a IV-D case or a non IV-D order, then neither State will receive information.

Question 18: What kind of proactive matching is done with children records?

Answer: Proactive matching for children records is only made within the FCR for those with verified SSN/name combinations and no FV indicator. No NDNH proactive matching is done for children.

Foster Care Cases

Question 19: The child on a particular State's Foster Care cases will be added to the FCR with an 'FV' in the Family Violence indicator field. The CP on the Foster Care cases is the State Foster Care agency. The CP consequently could be a direct pointer to the location of the child. If a child locate or query is requested, will the CP information be returned to the requestor even though the child's Family Violence indicator is 'FV'? If yes, should we send the 'FV' indicator on the State agency in the CP records, too?

Answer: No. The State should not send a CP record for Foster Care cases (if the CP is an agency, rather than a person). The requirements for a case to be accepted by the FCR are that the case record passes the mandatory edit checks and that at least one CP, NCP or PF with a verified SSN is associated with the case. State Foster Care agencies should not be sent to the FCR. If they are sent, the person records will be rejected (no valid SSN/name combination).

Question 20: In some Foster Care situations the child leaves a home where Mother and Father are together. When the child is removed from the Foster Care household and returned to the Mother and Father, must the SCR keep the Foster Care order information as a non IV-D order record?

Answer: The State rules and Federal Regulations for case closure should apply. If the parents owe arrears to the State during the time period that the child was in foster care, then the State may want to keep the IV-D case open. If the parents were current on their child support payments, then the State could close the IV-D case following case closure criteria and vacate the order following State law.

Question 21: Foster Care orders are generally temporary by nature. Must Foster Care cases be submitted to the FCR?

Answer: Yes, Foster Care cases should be submitted to the FCR; it is possible that the NCP or NCPs have a case or non IV-D order in another State that the FCR would be of value in providing information. The FCR to NDNH matches (or matches to an external FPLS source) could also be of value in providing locate information, if needed (perhaps not at the present time, but in the future, if an NCP disappears).

Locate Transactions

Question 22: Can a locate request be part of a transaction to change a person record? Chart G-7 of the Interface Guidance Document (IGD) indicates that this is permissible; however, Section 6.7.1.3, Initiating a Locate after Adding a Person, does not indicate that a locate may be part of a transaction to change a person record.

Answer: Yes, please note that Section 6.7.1.3 in the IGD, first paragraph, last sentence: "The request for locate processing can be submitted independent of any changes to the person on the FCR or along with a transaction changing information on a person on the FCR." There are two ways that a locate request may be sent, if the Locate Request Type is 'CS', which is the standard IV-D locate request type and which is only available for a person in a IV-D case:

At any time independent of an add or a change; or
Using the same transaction that is used to add a person or change a person.

All other Locate Request Types must be sent in a separate transaction.

Question 23: How do locate requests terminate on the FCR? Does a transaction to terminate the locate request need to be sent?

Answer: No, a termination record can be sent (see section 6.8 in the IGD) but does not need to be sent. All locate requests are terminated once the FCR has checked all sources. An FCR locate request follows this flow:

the locate is issued;
either hits are found or no hits are found,
if hits are found the FCR sends this information to the State, or if no hits are found, the FCR sends a message informing the State that "no hits made;"
the FCR terminates the request.

Query Transactions

Question 24: Why must a State have a IV-D case to send a query that returns all IV-D and non IV-D information on a person from other States?

Answer: The FCR does not perform full queries for persons on non IV-D orders. A State may only request the FCR to perform a query to locate additional IV-D and non IV-D information on persons associated with IV-D cases. Services are not provided for non IV-D orders.

Question 25: Why is only a State's own non IV-D information returned when a non IV-D query is sent? Isn't the point of this FCR to find information about IV-D cases and non IV-D orders in other States (reference Section 6.9.3 of the IGD)?

Answer: The FCR is designed to support the working of IV-D cases. It contains information concerning non IV-D orders to facilitate locates that help further paternity, establishment and enforcement activities in IV-D cases. Additionally, the FCR may help States in their determination of which order is the controlling order and which State has continuing and exclusive jurisdiction (CEJ), when multiple orders are identified.

Question 26: Are there requirements of State Disbursement Units that might cause us to do a query on a person with a non IV-D order?

Answer: Please refer to the Interface Guidance Document, Chart 1-2, which delineates who may access the FCR, for what purposes, and how; and Chart 6-14, which delineates what types of locate requests may be made by whom and the kinds of information returned based on the requests.