PENNSYLVANIA

TRAINING SESSIONS DEDICATED TO LOCATE

Goal: Hold collaborative "locate" training sessions in order to increase the number of successful locations of noncustodial parents in Pennsylvania.

Description: The training sessions hosted by Jefferson and Lehigh Counties in July 2002 were sponsored by Federal Administration for Children and Families Region III office. A two-day meeting was held for county workers, featuring federal, state and local experts. Included were representatives from OCSE Federal Parent Locator Service and the Department of Defense, Pennsylvania State systems specialists, state policy specialists, a local county expert and a private vendor who works on the Pennsylvania automated system. These presenters provided information to county child support workers on the three different considerations required for a successful locate:

1. What is the locator's role in deciding whether or not new information is valid? Should the new locate information be posted to the case? Is the recently acquired information more reliable and current than the current information?
2. Guidance on the locator's role in judging new information: Often two different addresses are received for the same case. How does the locator judge which is more reliable and accurate?
3. Suggestions to help locators in their investigator roles. In cases where there is no information, what resources can be used to get locate information?

To encourage interaction and idea sharing, the format emphasized breakout sessions of 30 or fewer participants. The sessions explained effective utilization of locate information from the federal, state and local perspectives. Separate sessions discussed:

• Data quality
• Manual locate
• Mail alerts
• Use of the internet
• Locate 101
• Military locate

About 200 child support professionals attended. Pennsylvania has about 35% of child support cases in which the noncustodial parent and putative father information is missing one or more of the four crucial locate items (address, date of birth, social security number and/or employer).

Presentations were made by representatives from the federal, state and local governments which showed the "big picture" as it applies to a large automated statewide program.

Successful location is a key element in providing support to children. Location of a noncustodial parent also has a direct impact on 4 of the 5 federal performance measures. Locating a putative father/noncustodial parent helps a child support office establish both paternity and a support order. Location of the noncustodial parent is also an important factor in collecting current support and receiving payments on arrears cases. In many cases, the barrier to distribution of child support payments involves unsuccessful validation of residency for the custodial parent. A strong custodial parent location initiative can reduce undistributed collections and improve incentive payments because a state does not receive credit for a child support payment until it is disbursed.

Results: Pennsylvania measured the impact of the conference on the statewide caseload. The measure consisted of the number of noncustodial parents missing one or more of the four crucial locate items in late June 2002 with the number missing one or more items in January 2003. We believe this was a valid measure of the impact of the locate sessions since there were no system enhancements during this period.

In June 2002, almost 35% of all cases had one or more crucial locate items missing on noncustodial parents. After the training, this number was reduced to 20%. The reduction translates to the state having locate information on 6,826 defendants. Additionally, 90% of the respondents gave the meeting the highest rating on the evaluation scale.

Funding: The host counties helped to make the arrangements and process registration. Speakers were willing to donate their time. A registration fee of less than $50 was charged to each participant.

Replication Advice: It is critical to get the support of the state IV-D Director and the Director of Systems as well as the federal Parent Locator Service. This enabled conference organizers to develop seminars that provided valuable information to all participants. The hard work and hospitality of the local conference hosts was critical to the success of the seminars.

Contact:

Harry Werner

PACSES

Locate Sub-Systems Lead

Phone: (717) 705-5160

Email: HarryWerner@pacses.com

John Clark

ACF Region III

Phone: (215) 861-4067

Email: jclark@acf.hhs.gov