3. Federal Program Support


Capacity Building Initiatives

183    AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION (ABA) CHILD SUPPORT PROJECT

OCSE's contract with the ABA Child Support Project continued in 1993 
to serve as a link to the legal community nationwide, including court 
personnel, through technical assistance, training, and articles and 
publications. The Project conducted 10 one-day interstate case 
processing courses for court personnel; provided six continuing legal 
education programs for the private bar; and sent speakers to seven 
national and State CSE conferences. Project personnel chaired OCSE's 
work group to revise the mandatory Federal interstate forms; the 
project co-sponsored with OCSE the Third National Child Support 
Enforcement Training Workshop; and through its clearinghouse, it 
provided technical assistance to public and private attorneys, judges, 
other child support personnel, parents, and legislative staff on child 
support legal issues.

In addition, the ABA Child Support Project published a quarterly 
newsletter, "The Child Support Prosecutors Bulletin", as well as a 
paper entitled "A Summary of the Differences between the Revised 
Uniform Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act and the Uniform 
Interstate Family Support Act".

183    MONITORING OF STATE INITIATIVES

Throughout the year, OCSE has been monitoring State legislative 
activity and implementation of W-4/employer reporting of new hires, a 
relatively recent innovation described in Chapter 2. W-4 reporting 
allows CSE agencies to quickly obtain information about changes in the 
obligor's income and employment and can minimize the likelihood of 
delays in child support payments when the noncustodial parent changes 
employers.

Thirteen States had enacted new hire reporting programs by the end of 
FY 1993.

As discussed earlier, many States are restricting or revoking the 
licenses of people with child support arrearages.

By the end of FY 1993, 15 States had enacted legislation to revoke or 
impose restriction on a wide range of licenses issued by States. Some 
of the licenses affected include driver's licenses (individual and/or 
commercial), vehicle registration, professional licenses (medical, 
legal, real estate, etc.), commercial business licenses, trade 
licenses (plumbers, electricians, beauticians, etc.) and sporting 
licenses (hunting, fishing, gun ownerships, etc.).

OCSE maintains a State-by-State matrix on the status of State 
revocation legislation, the license affected, the "trigger criteria", 
the match process and the interim penalty provisions. Status reports 
were mailed to all States and an article on the initiative appeared in 
the Child Support Report.

183    PROMOTION OF ELECTRONIC FUNDS TRANSFER (EFT) AND ELECTRONIC DATA
     INTERCHANGE (EDI)

Pilot projects sponsored by OCSE in Iowa and Nebraska tested the use 
of EFT/EDI technology for transmitting wage withholding payments. They 
showed that EFT/EDI can eliminate the preparation and transmission of 
checks by employers, eliminate manual posting and deposit of checks by 
the CSE agencies and, due to the speed of electronic transmission, 
reduce mail time to less than two days. 

As a result of these efforts, OCSE is actively promoting the use of 
EFT/EDI by employers and CSE agencies. OCSE established a work group 
comprised of employers, CSE agency personnel, and personnel from 
financial institutions and the payroll industry to develop a standard 
EFT/EDI format. Once approved by the National Automated Clearing House 
Association (NACHA) and the American Banker's Association EDI Council, 
the EFT/EDI format was sent to State CSE directors in early summer, 
1993. In addition, OCSE is developing a standard income withholding 
form which incorporates the EFT/EDI elements. OCSE is working with 
NACHA, payroll associations, and bankers' groups to obtain their 
cooperation in promoting this technology.

183    IN-HOSPITAL PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT WORK GROUP

As required by the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, States 
must establish hospital-based programs for the voluntary 
acknowledgment of paternity around the time of the child's birth. To 
assist States, OCSE planned and conducted a work group meeting of 
representatives from 5 States (West Virginia, Washington, Michigan, 
Virginia, and Ohio) to discuss and learn from their experience as 
pioneers in the implementation of in-hospital paternity establishment 
programs.

The meeting yielded an array of legislative, programmatic, and policy 
issues that should be considered by States when designing an 
in-hospital program. The information obtained from this meeting was 
documented and distributed to State CSE agencies to assist them in 
their implementation efforts.


183    PRO SE PROJECT IN SOUTH CAROLINA
     
OCSE and the State Justice Institute (SJI) jointly funded a "Pro Se 
Modification of Child Support Awards Through the Courts" demonstration 
project in South Carolina. The purpose of the project, which is 
directed by the American Bar Association, is to determine how well pro 
se (self-representation in court) works for the review and adjustment 
of child support orders.

The South Carolina project is developing simplified forms and 
procedures for parents not represented by counsel to update their 
support orders without creating undue burdens on the courts. The 
project will also look at the impact of pro se procedures on the 
courts and litigants' satisfaction with the procedures as a fair, 
effective and cost-efficient way of updating their orders. All of the 
materials developed and information learned from this project will be 
shared with other States to assist them in implementing pro se 
procedures.

183    PHILADELPHIA PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM (PPEP)

OCSE staff conducted a program improvement project in the Domestic 
Relations Branch (DRB) of the Philadelphia Family Court to identify 
ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the CSE program in 
Philadelphia. The cornerstone of this program review project was to 
involve a number of core DRB staff and train them in management 
analysis techniques through both formal instruction and demonstration. 
The intention was to provide local office personnel with the skills to 
continue the process of self-analysis and improvement. 

The team examined organizational structure, staffing, work flow, case 
processing and management procedures to determine their impact on the 
office. The team went on to identify opportunities for improvement and 
formulate recommendations. As a result of this project, the DRB has 
initiated a long-term quality improvement effort to enhance the 
delivery of CSE services in Philadelphia. Based on improvements 
recommended in the report, the locate unit has experienced a 34 
percent increase in the number of noncustodial parents located.


Federal Collection Programs

183    FEDERAL INCOME TAX REFUND OFFSET

OCSE acts as an intermediary between the States and the Internal 
Revenue Service (IRS) in the operation of the Federal income tax 
refund offset program for the collection of past-due child support. 
Federal income tax refund offset is the second most effective 
collection method resulting in nationwide collections of over $609 
million in 1993. $442 million was offset on behalf of families 
receiving public assistance and $167 million was offset on behalf of 
non-AFDC families. Actual distributed collections from this technique 
are lower, reflecting delays in distribution and refunds IRS makes to 
certain parents or their spouses under post-offset procedures.

Total collections for 1993 from Federal income tax refund offsets 
decreased 3.8 percent from $632 million collected in 1992. The 
decrease is attributable to the decrease in withholdings at the 
beginning of the tax year, which reduced the amount of money available 
for offset. The IRS charged a fee of $5.19 per offset for 1993 to 
administer the program.

Since the beginning of the offset program in 1982, total collections 
amount to $4.5 billion, representing nearly 8.9 million offsets. These 
figures demonstrate the magnitude of the success of this program.

183    IRS FULL COLLECTION PROCESS

When States' attempts to recover delinquent child support have failed, 
the law provides State CSE agencies with a collection mechanism 
referred to as the full collection process. This mechanism is used 
only when there is a good chance that the IRS can make a collection 
and only for cases in which a child support obligation is delinquent 
and the amount certified is at least $750.

Historically, the IRS full collection process has been used sparingly. 
OCSE and IRS are now conducting a full collection pilot project to 
assess how to improve this process. In September 1993, OCSE submitted 
698 full collection cases to the IRS representing over $14 million in 
arrearages. Twelve States are participating in the pilot project: 
Arkansas, California, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New 
York, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Washington. Collections 
will be monitored and recommendations for improvement of the current 
process will be developed during FY 1994.

The current full collection process is operating simultaneously with 
the pilot project. In FY 1992, 30 new full collections cases were 
certified and 409 collections were made totaling $293,420. In FY 1993, 
20 new cases were certified and 327 collections were made totaling 
$160,000.

The FPLS and Other Federal Systems

183    FEDERAL PARENT LOCATOR SERVICE (FPLS)

The FPLS is a computerized national location network operated by OCSE 
to provide social security numbers, address information, and employer 
and wage information to State and local CSE agencies which assists 
them in locating noncustodial parents to establish or enforce a child 
support order. The Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act of 1980 
broadened the use of the FPLS to include providing information in 
parental kidnapping and child custody cases.

The FPLS receives information from the Social Security Administration, 
Internal Revenue Service, National Personnel Records Center, 
Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs, Selective 
Service System, and State Employment Security Agencies. The 
information the FPLS receives is the most current information 
available from these agencies. During FY 1992 and 1993, the FPLS 
processed nearly four million requests for information from State and 
local CSE agencies.

183    FPLS/STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY AGENCIES (SESA) CROSSMATCHES

The FPLS obtains employer addresses, wage and unemployment 
compensation data from the SESAs. This information is extremely useful 
in assisting CSE agencies to process interstate cases where the 
custodial parent and children reside in one State and the noncustodial 
parent lives or works in another State. The data from the SESAs are 
the most current data available; the employment data are updated 
quarterly, and the unemployment data are updated continually.

The FPLS began quarterly crossmatches with the SESAs in 1990. However, 
the number of cases processed was limited to 200,000 a quarter, a 
fraction of the approximately 4 million cases that could benefit from 
this crossmatch. Since the SESA information is the most current data 
available and proved to be valuable in helping CSE agencies locate 
noncustodial parents, OCSE negotiated with the SESAs to expand the 
frequency of the crossmatches and eliminate the restriction on the 
number of cases submitted. Beginning in FY 1993, the frequency of the 
SESA crossmatches was expanded from quarterly to monthly; and the case 
limit was eliminated to accommodate processing all of the cases 
submitted by the CSE agencies. In FY 1993, approximately 2.2 million 
cases were processed with the SESAs.

183    PROJECT 1099

In October 1984, OCSE began participating in Project 1099 which 
provided all earned and unearned income information reported to IRS by 
employers and financial institutions. In 1988, the project was 
expanded to include wage and employer information. Project 1099 
information can facilitate States' efforts to locate income and asset 
sources of self-employed and nonwage earning obligors, as well as to 
locate additional nonwage income and assets of regular wage earning 
obligors. Such information is useful in determining the noncustodial 
parent's ability to pay; reviewing and modifying child support orders; 
and/or levying financial accounts, real or personal property to pay 
delinquent child support.

In FY 1992, over 4.2 million cases were submitted to Project 1099; 
nearly 3.2 million were matched resulting in a 75 percent match rate. 
For FY 1993, the match rate was equally successful with nearly 4.3 
million cases submitted to Project 1099 and over 3.2 million cases 
matched, a rate of 76 percent. States have begun using this 
information on a large scale to verify employment and wages and 
identify other assets. For example, New York plans to use a one-step 
process to attach accounts from various sources which will allow them 
to verify the account and levy and freeze it. States are encouraged to 
utilize the Project 1099 information to the maximum extent possible.

183    ENUMERATION VERIFICATION SYSTEM (EVS)

The EVS is a multi-purpose social security number (SSN) verification 
system. While States may use the FPLS to identify SSNs for 
noncustodial parents, the EVS verifies and corrects SSNs and 
identifies multiple SSNs.

The EVS is comprised of two systems. The first system provides a State 
with multiple SSNs for an individual who has been legally issued more 
than one SSN. The second system provides a corrected SSN in cases 
where the State has made a transposition or slight error in the SSN 
that they already have for an individual. Submittal of these cases to 
EVS can help ensure the accuracy of SSNs for use in location, 
enforcement, and collection of child support. States may continuously 
submit cases for the EVS to verify and/or correct SSNs. In FY 1993, 
3.3 million SSNs were submitted to EVS; nearly 186,000 SSNs were 
corrected and over 13,700 multiple SSNs were identified. These 
verified and corrected SSNs represent a significant potential increase 
in collections.

The EVS system has also been expanded to verify SSNs for the Federal 
Income Tax Refund Offset Program. Each year a significant number of 
no-match cases fall out of the offset program because of invalid SSNs; 
these SSNs were processed through EVS. In FY 1993, over 330,000 tax 
refund offset cases were submitted through the EVS system and over 
70,000 cases were returned with corrected SSNs. Based on the tax 
refund offset rate of 28 percent of submitted cases with an average 
offset of $658, if these corrected cases are resubmitted for a tax 
refund offset the next processing year, there is a potential for 
collecting almost $13 million in additional offsets.


National Training Center

In FY 1993, OCSE's National Training Center continued to operate an 
information services and publications component, a training resources 
library, and a speakers bureau. The Center also sponsored and 
participated in training workshops and conferences and provided 
oversight for contractual and in-house program initiatives.

183    INFORMATION SERVICES

The information services and publications component of the National 
Training Center continued to respond to inquiries and requests for 
technical and Child Support Enforcement program information. This 
component routinely distributed publications, Action Transmittals, and 
Information Memoranda to 5,000 State and county CSE agencies, and upon 
request, to Federal personnel, members of Congress, State and county 
governments, and the general public.

OCSE issued an updated list of the Center's publications which 
resulted in over 4,400 requests for such materials. Since many 
requests were for multiple copies of several publications, nearly 
200,000 copies of publications were distributed during the year.

The National Training Center continued to promote its services and 
publications through articles in the Child Support Report, and, as a 
result, was frequently responsible for providing assistance in the 
selection of materials for requestors' own constituents and conference 
agendas.

183    TRAINING AND CONFERENCES

Third National Child Support Enforcement Training Workshop - OCSE 
co-sponsored with the American Bar Association the Third National 
Child Support Enforcement Training Workshop. Approximately 180 State 
and local CSE trainers from 40 States attended the workshop which 
focused on interstate case processing, review and modification, and 
Federal CSE initiatives. A primary objective was to give participants 
an introduction to and understanding of the new Uniform Interstate 
Family Support Act (UIFSA).

Training of Trainers Workshop - OCSE conducted a Training of Trainers 
(TOT) Workshop for 22 State CSE trainers from 5 States, which provided 
training in curriculum design, delivery, and evaluation. The TOT 
courses achieve a significant multiplier effect, since those trained 
return to their home jurisdictions with the specific task of educating 
other program staff.

Association Conferences - Training Center staff made presentations at 
the annual conferences of the American Payroll Association (concerning 
electronic funds transfer of State child support collections and 
mandatory income withholding), the National Child Support Enforcement 
Association, the Eastern Regional Interstate Child Support Association 
as well as numerous State training conferences.


Public Awareness

In FY 1993 OCSE continued to extend its outreach efforts to parents 
who need child support services, with special emphasis on Federal 
government employees.

With the cooperation of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), OCSE 
conducted outreach seminars at several Federal departments and 
agencies in the Washington metropolitan area: the Departments of 
Justice, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, and Veterans 
Affairs; the National Labor Relations Board; and the Social Security 
Administration. Employees in attendance were given an overview of the 
child support program and helpful printed material.

In addition, during the fiscal year, OCSE made a training video aimed 
at Federal workers outside of the Washington metropolitan area. The 
video was distributed to OPM Employee Assistance Program 
representatives across the nation for showing to Federal employees in 
their areas.

OCSE also initiated a mentor program, offering assistance to 
individual employees in its parent Administration for Children and 
Families who needed help with their own child support enforcement 
cases.

Public inquiries to OCSE increased substantially in the last year. 
OCSE received 4,500 written inquiries in FY 1993, three times the 
number received in FY 1992.

In addition OCSE:

183    Worked with the news media on stories dealing with child support
     program performance and program improvements.

183    Prepared a handbook on State best public awareness practices.

183    Reprinted our popular Handbook on Child Support Enforcement, a
     "how to" guide for custodial parents. The number of copies in 
     circulation exceeds a million.

183    Reprinted the publication, Wage Withholding for Child Support: An
     Employer's Guide, another commonly requested publication.


Publications

The following is a list of publications written and/or widely 
distributed by OCSE in FY 1993.

183    "Directory for Genetic Testing: Third Edition"--a reference guide
     to assist States in identifying laboratories that perform legally 
     and medically acceptable genetic tests to determine parentage.

183    "Genetic Testing for Paternity Establishment"--a monograph and
     training tool to provide front line CSE caseworkers and other 
     interested persons a short, nontechnical introduction to the 
     science of genetic testing as it applies to establishing 
     paternity in child support cases.

183    "State Advancements in Paternity Establishment: Legislative,
     Gubernatorial, and Program Initiatives"--a monograph for sharing 
     information, ideas, and approaches currently being implemented 
     and/or tested by States in establishing paternity.

183    "Essentials for Attorneys in Child Support Enforcement: Second
     Edition"--a legal reference manual for program attorneys to help 
     them understand the various legal concepts in child support 
     enforcement and to aid them in their legal research.

183    "Child Support Report (CSR)"--a newsletter with a distribution of
     15,000 nationally that highlights best practices and other child 
     support enforcement topics for the support enforcement community 
     across the country.

183    "Compendium of State Best Practices in Child Support"--a
     compendium of best practices in support order establishment and 
     enforcement to facilitate the sharing of ideas on successful 
     program practices which States view as exceptionally effective or 
     innovative.

183    "Information Materials on In-Hospital Paternity Establishment"--a
     compendium of informational materials to assist States in 
     developing in-hospital programs as required by the Omnibus Budget 
     Reconciliation Act of 1993.

183    "For Your Child's Sake...Establish Paternity"--a brochure on
     paternity which complements the outreach efforts of State and 
     local CSE agencies and encourages dissemination of information on 
     paternity establishment and CSE services via the medical 
     profession.


Federal Financing of the Program

183    FEDERAL MATCHING FUNDS

Except as noted below, the Federal Government matches 66 percent of 
costs incurred by States in the administration of the program. It 
matches 90 percent of the laboratory costs of establishing paternity 
and, through September 30, 1995, 90 percent of the costs of developing 
comprehensive Statewide automated management information systems.

183    STATE PERFORMANCE INCENTIVES

To encourage States to operate effective programs, the Federal 
Government pays States an incentive amount ranging from 6 to 10 
percent of AFDC and non-AFDC collections. These incentive payments 
must be shared with political subdivisions that contribute to the 
costs of operating the program, taking into account their efficiency 
and effectiveness.

183    NET FEDERAL COST

Overall, for every one dollar spent on the Child Support Enforcement 
program, four dollars of support was collected in FY 1993. However, 
because of the statutory configuration for financing the program and 
distributing collections as well as other factors, Federal 
expenditures are not offset by the Federal portion of collections, and 
there is a net program cost to the Federal Government. Without 
accounting for cost avoidance, Federal expenditures exceeded revenues 
by $740 million in FY 1993.

183    DISTRIBUTED COLLECTIONS

Collections are distributed among the Federal and State governments 
and families in AFDC cases, and to families in non-AFDC cases. AFDC 
families receive up to the first $50 of current support collected on 
their behalf each month. States retain up to 50 percent of 
AFDC-related support monies collected to offset the State costs of 
AFDC. The actual rate retained is based on the State's Federal 
matching rate for AFDC assistance payments. The Federal portion of 
collections in AFDC cases is used to pay States incentives and to 
offset Federal AFDC costs. In FY 1993, 12 percent of AFDC assistance 
payments were recouped through child support collections.

183    COST AVOIDANCE

The Child Support Enforcement program produces indirect taxpayer 
benefits through cost avoidance.

Cost avoidance refers to savings in public assistance programs (i.e., 
AFDC, Food Stamps or Medicaid), in which benefits are either reduced 
or not paid as a result of the receipt of child support. For example, 
services are provided to non-AFDC families who, without income from 
child support, might be forced to turn to public assistance. 
Similarly, sufficient support is collected on behalf of some AFDC 
families to eliminate their dependence on welfare and related 
assistance programs. We do not have current estimates of cost 
avoidance savings as it is difficult to determine for a variety of 
reasons how much might have been spent on various assistance programs 
had it not been for child support income.