DCL-07-04, Technical Assistance Guide on Undistributed Collections

DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER

DCL-07-04

ATTACHMENT: Undistributed Collections: Successful State Strategies and Continued Challenges

DATE: February 20, 2007

TO: ALL STATE AND TRIBAL IV-D DIRECTORS

RE: Technical Assistance Guide on Undistributed Collections

Dear Colleague:

The Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) contracted to provide technical assistance to selected jurisdictions on the reduction of accumulated undistributed collections (UDC) and prevention of accumulations, to the extent feasible, in the future. The selection criteria took into account the jurisdiction’s amount of UDC, UDC as a percentage of collections, and other factors that might affect the jurisdiction’s ability to participate in the project, including their expressed interest in receiving technical assistance.

The Task Order involved an analysis of UDC in Missouri, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Michigan and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, resulting in a Technical Assistance Plan and consultations with each of the jurisdictions regarding recommendations for UDC reduction strategies. The attached report includes the most significant findings and recommendations from the individual Technical Assistance Plans. Also contained in this report is information obtained from a UDC reduction Section 1115 demonstration grant conducted in Washington, DC, which had contracted separately with CSF.

Using the UDC data analyzed from all six jurisdictions, the report discusses the typical characteristics of UDC in each of the Schedule UDC categories and the challenges faced in sorting the jurisdictions’ UDC categories into the Schedule UDC categories. Following this discussion, the report compares and contrasts the incidence of UDC within the Schedule UDC categories across four of these jurisdictions and highlights strategies that other jurisdictions can implement to help to reduce UDC in some of the more problematic categories.

For additional information on this report, please contact Robert Clifford at (215) 861- 4047 or bob.clifford@acf.hhs.gov.

Sincerely,

Margot Bean
Commissioner
Office of Child Support Enforcement

cc: Regional Program Managers
ACF Regional Administrators
National Child Support Interstate & Systems Symposium Participants