MINNESOTA

CARLTON, CHIPPEWA, ISANTI, KITTSON & ST. LOUIS COUNTIES:

ENFORCING CURRENT SUPPORT ORDERS

Goal: To improve initial and ongoing compliance with child support orders and prevent cases from going to arrears, to ensure that children get the consistent financial support to which they are entitled.

Strategic Plan: Supports Strategies 1, 2, 8, 10 of the National Child Support Strategic Plan.

Description:

• Carlton County has approximately 2,100 child support cases and a staff of 12 people as of April 2004. They place a high priority on enforcing current support. Cases are monitored closely and when payments do not resume after a written request from a worker, they are referred for contempt. Support enforcement aides identify potential contempt actions via phone calls and work lists generated by PRISM, Minnesota's automated system for the establishment of child support and medical support. They prepare a contempt referral and refer the matter to a child support officer who handles all contempt actions for the unit.

  The county's goal is to refer cases for contempt within 90 days of non- payment. If there are court ordered medical support provisions that are not in compliance, those matters are combined into the contempt action. Ninety percent of the contempt actions settle prior to the court hearing. The typical settlement provisions are for current support payments to resume and an additional 20 percent to be paid on the arrears. Arrears are generally reduced to judgment in the agreement. Noncustodial parents are required to agree to the provision in writing. Contempt conditions expire after one year of compliance by the noncustodial parent.

• St. Louis County had approximately 10,600 child support cases and 45.5 FTE staff members across 3 offices as of February 2003. They place a high priority on ensuring that noncustodial parents comply with new orders for support soon after the orders are issued. These cases get special attention and monitoring from the date of entry of the order until regular payments are coming in. The county processes cases with new orders as follows:

  • The county transfers cases with new orders for support to a child support officer who monitors whether payments are being made.

  • If no payment has been received by the time the court order is 30 days old, the child support officer sends a letter to the noncustodial parent. If the noncustodial parent does not make a payment within 30 days of that letter, the County Attorney's Office sends a second letter. If that letter doesn't generate payment, the case is referred for contempt.

  • When payments are received for three consecutive months, the case transfers to the ongoing enforcement worker.

• Isanti County had approximately 2,000 child support cases and 9.8 FTE staff members as of January 2004. They proactively seek to establish and maintain orders that are consistent with noncustodial parents' ability to pay in the following ways:

  • Review dates are automatically set in orders when there is a known change of circumstances on the horizon for the noncustodial parent (e.g., temporary disability, contested paternity, military deployment, release from a penal institution, etc.). These review hearings are set to occur within sixty days of the anticipated change.

  • In addition to initiating modifications at the request of either party, the county initiates modifications when a change in circumstance occurs (e.g., incarceration of six months or more and not as a result of a criminal non-support action, opening of a public assistance case and the language makes the order unenforceable or inconsistent with guidelines, receipt of Retirement, Survivors, Disability Insurance (RSDI) for a disability).

  • Establishment cases are set up for hearing when the only source of income that the county has is unreliable or the information is incomplete.

  • Child support officers provide extensive education to noncustodial parents when new orders are set. They fully explain what will happen if payments are missed. Noncustodial parents are strongly encouraged to keep in touch with their child support officer and to report all changes. The county aggressively and promptly pursues enforcement when payments are missed, including initiating criminal non-support actions.

• Chippewa County had approximately 555 child support cases and 3.1 FTE staff members as of March 2004. They are in compliance with federal self-assessment requirements for processing cases needing orders. The following are some of the procedures they believe keep them in compliance:

  • Within 3-5 days of receiving a case in need of an order, the support enforcement aide will open the case; send out a pertinent verification request; complete Technical Quality Review; check MAXIS, a master computer system that determines public assistance under Minnesota's TANF program, medical assistance, food support, etc; check other resources for relevant information; and refer the case to the child support officer.

  • The child support officer reviews the case to determine what has to be done to obtain an order. Also at that time, an informal case plan is devised that takes into account what needs to be done on the case to meet Federal timelines.

  • Files on cases needing an order are kept in a separate location and reviewed weekly.

  • A chart is kept on cases so workers can tell at a glance the status of the case.

  • Turn-around times for requests for information are short but reasonable (usually about 7 working days).

  • Workers strive to work with clients to settle the cases that can be settled.

  • The county's goal is to get orders within 60 days of case opening.

• Kittson County had 140 child support cases and one child support officer as of January 2004. To ensure payment of current support, the child support officer is responsible for the following functions:

  • Reviews nonpayment work lists monthly and takes appropriate action on non-paying cases.

  • Sends a letter about cases that were previously current in their obligation noting the missed payment and requesting that the person resume payments.

  • Negotiates repayment arrangements on a case-by-case basis with noncustodial parents.

  • Initiates modifications when the reason for nonpayments is that the amount is no longer appropriate.

  • Refers matters in which the noncustodial parent is unresponsive to the county attorney for contempt; most are referred within a month of the first missed payment.

  • Encourages noncustodial parents to communicate with her and to report all changes.

Results:

• Carlton County -Improved compliance with enforcement of current support requirements, orders more in line with noncustodial parent's ability to pay, increased customer service, improved cooperation by noncustodial parent, increased collections, and decreased complaints by custodial parents.

  St. Louis County -Stresses the importance of complying with court orders early in the life of the support order; educates new payers about their responsibilities, consequences of nonpayment, and other resources available to assist noncustodial parents with their various issues; cases going forward for contempt have only short-term arrears, and therefore are more easily brought up-to-date; increases collections and increases consistency of payments.

• Isanti County -Improved results on the Federal performance measure for collections on current support, increased collections base, noncustodial parents feel more buy-in and are more likely to comply with their court order, all customers are treated consistently and fairly, and the scheduling of review hearings improves efficiency and reduces paperwork. There is improved compliance with enforcement of support as measured in self-assessment (94%).

• Chippewa County -Reduced conflict between the child support officer and the customers, improved customer service, faster money to families, manageable arrears for noncustodial parents with new obligations, about average number of cases with orders (89%), increased incentives, and increased cooperation by the customer for the life of the case.

• Kittson County -Cases are easier to manage because arrearage amounts are low. There are increased consistency of payments to families, and improved relationships between custodial parents and noncustodial parents.

Location:These programs are currently in place in their respective counties and some replication has occurred in other counties throughout Minnesota.

Funding:Regular Federal matching funds, in combination with state and county dollars, were the source of funding for staff time.

Replication Advice:

• Carlton County -Involve court administration, district court, magistrates and your county attorney when setting policies, develop and use a good referral form, and have all contempt actions specialized. It is beneficial if the assigned worker(s) can relate effectively to this case population.

• St. Louis County -The staff person assigned to this duty should have above-average customer service skills.

• Isanti County -Specialize the modification function, match staff to their area of interest, start small - pick one aspect and add more as time permits.

• Chippewa County -Work first to eliminate backlog, prioritize work to be done, use support enforcement aides whenever possible, set a goal for the number of new actions to start per week and stick to it, determine time needed to concentrate on establishment of orders and designate time to do so, be aware of court dates and work the cases so they are ready to go before the court date, strive to provide good customer service, determine magistrate's preferences about what materials to receive and be sure to include them, and develop a good working relationship with your county attorney.

Contact:

Cindy Steinberg

Self-Assessment Coordinator

Child Support Division

Phone: (320) 529-6511

Email: Cindy.Steinberg@state.mn.us