July 2023 NCSEA CSQ

Child Support CommuniQue
July 2023

Table of Contents
July 2023
President’s Message………………………………………………….. 3
Executive Director’s Message………………………………………...6
Community Corner: Virginia Launches SAVES Grant with
Website Safety...................................… ......................... …………. 8
Shaping the Future of Child Support with a Comprehensive
Proposal to Congress: Part II ………………………………….........11
Leveraging the Right Talent to Modernize Your System..………...23
Credit Bureau Reporting Changes in Minnesota …………….….…29
Empowering Change: Spotlight on Trailblazing Organizations
In Child Support…………………………….. …………………….…..33
Go with the Flow: Increase Capacity to Transform
Your Child Support Program.......…………………………………….40
Leadership Symposium 2023:
A Golden Opportunity Not to Be Missed................…………….......46

y James C. Fleming, NCSEA President
I have served on the NCSEA board of directors with
nine previous NCSEA presidents, and I think we all felt
the same in July as our term as president was reaching
the end: where did the time go?
I am very pleased to be the first president of the
National Child Support Engagement Association! The
name change makes an important statement about the
character of our organization. Our legislative package has yet to be brought
to Congress, but the proposals have prompted lots of ongoing conversation
on how to take our program to the next level. These were two big initiatives
that were planned. Two other big events this year were not so planned:
finding a new Executive Director and responding to the IRS decision to stop
holding contractor audit findings in abeyance. No wonder the year flew by.
The NCSEA president is really just the steward of the organization. The
Board and Executive Committee and Executive Director decide on
NCSEA’s direction. I am so grateful to our talented and responsive board of
directors. Despite having busy day jobs, there were many times I asked for
an electronic vote on something and nearly all of the board voted within 24
hours.
I also want to thank my fellow members of the NCSEA Executive
Committee. Lori Bengston could always be counted on for encouragement
and words of wisdom and led our long-overdue effort to update our
governing documents. Erin Frisch took up our DEI work and occasionally
helped me stay on track with a “hey, have you thought about this?” Ashley
Dexter made sure we captured all the details and wrote down what we did
in case we (I) forgot. Sharon Pizzuti has done so much in her two-year term
to update our investment policy and make sure our reserves are leveraged
in a responsible way to further the organization. They are a strong and
helpful group.
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Our team at MCI is also great to work with, despite being fairly new. Katie
Kenney, our “senior” staff member, brings enthusiasm to our membership
development efforts. Amalia Paul is helping us get better organized, and
poor Chris Wood continues to work like mad to learn the entire history of
our organization in a few short months while anticipating tasks that need to
be done for things he didn’t know we did!
The lion’s share of the work of NCSEA is done by our many committees,
and we had such strong committee chairs and members this year. One of
my earliest and toughest jobs was trying to find a home for all who
responded to the Call for Volunteers. Thank you to all the committee cochairs
and members for channeling your energy and talent to help
NCSEA’s events and initiatives.
I haven’t even mentioned yet the private sector members who continue to
provide program and financial support for NCSEA and the countless
speakers at NCSEA events, podcasts, and webinars. You are what makes
NCSEA a robust and ENGAGING organization.
Last, but definitely not least, I want to thank the team members at North
Dakota Child Support for supporting me and for understanding that
whatever strengthens the national child support program benefits our state
as well. I am so proud of their dedication and commitment to families.
On the IRS issue, we keep making progress. On
June 21 and 22, the “Fab 4” took to Capitol Hill
to share the importance of letting states and
tribes utilize federal tax information, in house or
through contractors, to establish and enforce
child support. With Tish Keahna Kruzan serving
as the band’s manager and scheduling the gigs,
Lisa Skenandore, Kate Cooper Richardson, Erin
Frisch, and I went from one Congressional office
to the next handing out the new joint NCCSD-
NTCSA-NCSEA resolution and talking about
how Congressional action is vital to America’s
children. Everywhere we went, we met with staff of Congressional offices
and committees who wanted to know how they could help. This bodes well
for when we are ready to share our legislative ideas.
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I would like to close my last President’s column where I started in my first
column, quoting Teddy Roosevelt: “Far and away the best prize that life
has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” Just like
working in child support, serving in organizations like NCSEA can be a lot
of work. But it sure is rewarding.
Thank you all for the opportunity to serve as NCSEA President—it has
been an honor and a privilege. I leave you in the extremely capable hands
of Erin Frisch, my friend and colleague, who will inspire us all as President
for the next year.
James C. Fleming is the director of the Child Support Section of the North Dakota
Department of Health and Human Services, President of the National Child Support
Enforcement Association (NCSEA), member of the Board of Directors for the Western
Intergovernmental Child Support Engagement Council (WICSEC), and former President
of the National Council of Child Support Directors (NCCSD). Jim is a member and
former co-chair of NCSEA’s Policy and Government Relations Committee and
NCCSD’s Policy and Practice Committee, and a member of the editorial committee for
the NCSEA Child Support CommuniQue. Jim also co-chairs NCCSD’s Employer
Collaboration Committee.
Jim was named the 2022 recipient of the American Payroll Association’s Government
Partner Award. He has also received the 2009 Family Support Council Program
Awareness Award and the 2004 Freedom Award from the North Dakota Newspaper
Association.
A second-generation attorney, Jim earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the
University of North Dakota and his Juris Doctorate from Notre Dame Law School. He
has been an assistant attorney general for North Dakota for 28 years, following a
clerkship with the North Dakota Supreme Court. Jim and his wife Terri are the proud
parents of four daughters and were recently blessed with a perfect granddaughter.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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Hello, NCSEA members!
I am thrilled to take this opportunity to introduce myself
and become an active part of our NCSEA community. My
name is Chris Wood, and I am delighted to be joining the
NCSEA team as Executive Director. Thank you all for the
very warm welcome. I’ve been greeted with genuine
enthusiasm, making me feel instantly like a valued
member of the NCSEA team. The Board of Directors,
staff team, and many volunteers have eagerly introduced
themselves offering guidance and support, and the
positive energy is contagious!
In terms of my background, I’ve spent the last twenty-five years in
association management at one level or another. Prior to relocating to
North Carolina in 2020, I served as the American Association for Geriatric
Psychiatry’s (AAGP) Executive Director for seven years, leading AAGP
through a difficult management transition and dramatic financial
turnaround. Before leading AAGP, I held several different leadership roles
with the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE). And before
that, I was the director of the Greater Washington Society of Association
Executives (GWSAE) and later ASAE’s Nation’s Capital Distinguished
Speakers Series which took place at the John F. Kennedy Center for the
Performing Arts in Washington, DC. For 13 seasons, the series hosted
presidents, prime ministers, Nobel Laureates, media personalities,
entertainers, and other celebrities at the top of their fields speaking on
current events and their leadership roles.
Throughout my professional journey, I have developed a keen interest in
doing meaningful work with an eye toward social responsibility and
sustainability, both of which have been a driving force behind my personal
and professional pursuits. I strongly believe in the power of collaboration
and community. I am eager to contribute to NCSEA by sharing insights and
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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est practices, participating in discussions, and supporting you all, our
members, who do such important work.
Beyond my credentials, and on a more personal note, I grew up in the Blue
Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia and then spent thirty years or so
in the Washington, DC area going to college and then working. I am a
music lover, and I am passionate about mountains and beaches, travel,
family, my dog, fishing, reading, and cooking. My partner Kelly and I go to
the beach as often as we can. We walk our puppy, Arthur Guinness—a
black and tan German Shepherd mix—all around Wilmington, North
Carolina, where we live now. All three of us enjoy trying new recipes,
spending time with family and friends, and exploring the Carolina coast.
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or ideas. I am here
to learn, grow, and build meaningful connections with each one of you. I’m
looking forward to getting to know you all better and making a difference
together. See you at the Leadership Symposium in Anaheim!
Christopher Wood
Executive Director
National Child Support Engagement Association
(703) 506-2885
christopher.wood@ncsea.org
Christopher Wood is the Executive Director of the National Child Support Engagement
Association. Chris and his partner Kelly live in Wilmington, NC, with their puppy, Arthur
Guinness, a black and tan German Shepherd mix who loves naps. All three enjoy trying
new recipes, spending time with friends and family, and exploring the Carolina coast.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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Virginia Launches SAVES Grant with Website
Safety
by Vicki Barnard, Grant & Initiatives Consultant Sr., and Taylor
Ashe, Policy Program Consultant, Program Initiatives,
Virginia Division of Child Support Enforcement
Virginia’s Division of Child Support Enforcement (DCSE) always strives to
be at the forefront of innovative, family-centered, and technologically
advanced approaches to child support services. As DCSE’s Program
Initiatives team, we’re continuously on the lookout for grants that can help
us advance these ideas, with the intention of permanently implementing
successful solutions. When we saw the Safe Access for Victims’ Economic
Security (SAVES) federal demonstration grant opportunity from the federal
Office of Child Support Services (OCSS), our team quickly mobilized to put
together a project proposal. During this process we realized that although
Virginia was ahead of the curve in some areas, addressing safety concerns
related to the intersection of domestic violence (DV) and child support was
a topic where we had some catching up to do.
In reviewing other states’ child support websites and DV-related resources,
we frequently encountered a “quick exit” button, which was typically
accompanied by a popup that informed the website user that clicking the
button would immediately route them to a common website (Google
search, Weather.com, etc.). The quick exit helps ensure that the user
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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would not be seen researching information about child support or DV
resources, thereby potentially preventing a trigger for violence. Our team
collaborated with internal communications and public awareness
colleagues to add a pop-up and button to our public website, modeled on
buttons used by our Division of Social Services’ Office of Family Violence
and the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance.
In the immediate weeks following our rollout of the “quick exit” button, our
team learned some important lessons related not only to change
management, but also to the broad intersectionality of domestic violence.
The first lesson came on a Friday afternoon when our team was notified of
a security alert regarding the website that had been elevated to our
executive leadership. A staff member who was unaware of its
implementation had reported the “quick exit” button as a cyber security
threat, and it was now being treated by the IT security team as malware.
“Ensuring that the real-life experiences of those we aim
to serve is centered in all programmatic changes is
essential to providing optimum human services.”
Through a flurry of chats, emails, and phone calls, our team was quickly
able to diffuse the situation with unwavering support from our IV-D Director,
Barbara Lacina. In our enthusiasm to roll out this new feature as soon as
possible, we were still in the process of drafting staff-wide communication
about the button, its purpose, and its functionality when the alert was
raised. In the following days, we were able to diagnose where the
communication line had broken down and have since established monthly
touchpoints with our IT security team to ensure that all grant-related IT
projects remain on their radar.
The second lesson came weeks later when a staff member emailed us with
a suggestion in response to the announcement about the button. When
designing the functionality of the button in collaboration with our website
development team, we decided that the button would redirect the user to a
Google Search for “best quiche recipe.” Our thought was that this would be
a realistic search that wouldn’t raise suspicion from an abuser. The staff
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member pointed out that this line of thinking assumed a lot about the
situation. What cultures make and enjoy quiche? Who does the cooking in
the relationship? How much do eggs cost right now? We had inadvertently
created a tool that was relevant for only one type of relationship dynamic in
a DV situation, when our explicit goal was not only to help as many as
possible, but to focus specifically on addressing equity for those who had
been systemically oppressed, marginalized, or outright excluded. After
many conversations with leadership and further research on best practices
seen on DV service-provider websites, we settled on a redirect to a blank
Google Search page, allowing users to decide what search would be best
for them.
It's important to note that, while deeply committed to improving safety for
customers, our team is still learning. In addition to the improvements to our
website, we’ve gone through many iterations to maximize functionality on
mobile devices and made further language revisions to be as informative
as possible. Although the “quick exit” button is just one piece of the overall
scope and mission of the SAVES grant, it’s not insignificant, and it serves
as a microcosm for our team’s engagement with the broader DV work as a
whole. Ensuring that the real-life experiences of those we aim to serve is
centered in all programmatic changes is essential to providing optimum
human services.
Vicki Barnard is the Grant & Initiatives Consultant Sr. with the Virginia Division of Child
Support Enforcement. She began her role as the project director for the Safe Access for
Victims' Economic Security (SAVES) federal demonstration grant in early April 2023.
Vicki brings with her over 17 years of experience in front line victim/survivor service and
program leadership. She served as Director for the Victim Witness Program in
Harrisonburg/Rockingham County for a number of years, followed by serving as the
Executive Director for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of the Eastern
Panhandle in West Virginia. Assisting families in need, especially those experiencing
intimate partner violence, has always been at the forefront of her professional journey.
Taylor Ashe is a Policy Program Consultant for Program Initiatives with the Virginia
Division of Child Support Enforcement. He started with Virginia's Division of Child
Support Enforcement in February 2021. As a member of the Program Initiatives team,
Taylor's interests in research design, data analysis, and innovation keep him busy
reading about, designing, and implementing human services that reflect the needs of
the citizens he serves.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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Shaping the Future of Child
Support with a Comprehensive
Proposal to Congress: Part II
by Diane Potts, Director, CGI
One of the April CSQ articles discussed the work of the Policy and
Government Relations Committee over the past year in developing a
comprehensive child support legislative proposal, which was
approved by NCSEA’s Board of Directors in February. The April
article was Part I of a two-part series and featured NCSEA’s
proposed changes for two program areas: assistance recovery and
intergovernmental case processing.
This related article (Part II) captures NCSEA’s proposed changes
around expanded services for parents, additional enforcement tools,
and updated performance measures that better capture and
showcase the work of the program. i NCSEA believes that these
strategic changes, each and collectively, will strengthen and shape
the future of the child support program.
I. New Services to Help Parents Support their Children
There are two areas where the child support program can provide
needed services to help parents that will result often in greater
financial and emotional benefits to their children. First NCSEA
proposes broadened use of program funds to assist unemployed and
underemployed parents to increase their earnings capacity and pay
child support. And to further bolster employment potential of parents
who pay support, NCSEA recommends that such parents be
designated as a priority category in the Work Innovation Opportunity
Act (WIOA) workforce program, and that WIOA provide for
strengthened relationships with the Title IV-D program.
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Second, child support programs need resources to assist parents in
reaching safe parenting time agreements in order to foster
involvement of both parents that contributes to their children’s
emotional support. In addition, NCSEA proposes updated funding for
Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Programs (Healthy
Marriage grants) and the access and visitation grants that would
adjust for erosion of their funding levels from inflation.
A. Expanded Employment Services for Parents Struggling
to Pay Child Support
The goal of the Title IV-D child support program is that every child
can rely on steady financial and emotional support from both of their
parents throughout childhood. The child support program is effective
in its financial support goal when parents have steady incomes from
regular employment; however, it has been less effective for parents
with limited earnings or employment.
Parents with low or no reported earnings owe over 70 percent of the
unpaid child support debt nationally, contributing to the probability
that they and their children are living in poverty. Several
demonstration projects have shown positive results on child support
payments when those unemployed and underemployed parents are
provided employment services. Further, since the child support
program is involved with these parents for years while the financial
obligation is pending, it would be more effective and efficient for the
Title IV-D program to have employment service resources that
parents could access easily that would increase the likelihood of
regular support payments.
To accomplish the goal of getting financial support to children,
NCSEA first proposes federal financial participation (FFP) being
available to child support programs for employment and related
services. By enabling child support agencies to establish funded
partnerships with employment services (both government and
community-based) providers, parents will benefit from access to
activities such as case management, job readiness, placement and
retention, employment training, subsidized employment,
transportation, and other employment support costs.
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These employment-readiness activities will serve to increase the selfsufficiency
of both parents by the payment of regular, employmentbased
support. This ultimately will make the Title IV-D program more
effective in helping to raise families out of poverty.
NCSEA also recommends two policy changes to improve parents’
access to WIOA workforce programs: 1) require WIOA agencies to
recognize unemployed and underemployed parents who owe support
as a priority population; 2) include child support agency
representatives as permissible members of Workforce Boards. This
would help strengthen the relationship between the workforce and
child support programs and improve services to all parents.
B. Expanded Resources for Parenting Time Orders and
Updated Support for Fatherhood Programs
The Title IV-D program often suffers
from the perception that its only goal is
financial, i.e., to establish, collect, and
enforce child support obligations. While
that was the main reason for the
program’s creation in 1975, the child
support program has evolved over the
last 48 years to realize that emotional
support from both parents is also important to a child’s wellbeing.
Studies show that involved fathers serve a critical role in their child’s
development, academic performance, positive self-image, riskavoidance,
pro-social behavior, and lifelong achievement.
In addition, research shows a strong correlation between parents’
time with their children and consistent child support payments.
Parents who are involved with their children are more likely to pay
child support, and parents who pay child support are more likely to
stay involved in their children’s lives. Clearly children are better off
when both of their parents are positively involved in their lives and
providing for them emotionally and financially.
Further, in almost all states, the standard guideline for calculating a
child support amount includes a parenting time adjustment for the
number of days or overnights the child spends with each parent.
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While parenting time is a component of child support calculations,
there is currently no Title IV-D mechanism to establish parenting time
arrangements for most families receiving child support services.
Parents who were never married to each
other make up the majority of parents in the
child support caseload yet, unlike divorcing
parents, unmarried parents do not have
access to a readily available or affordable
process for establishing parenting time
agreements. Rather, they must navigate
complex and costly legal proceedings to
obtain a formal arrangement to ensure they
can spend dedicated time with their
children.
“NCSEA proposes
FFP being available
to establish parenting
time orders ancillary
to the financial child
support obligation.”
To accomplish the goal of getting emotional support to children,
NCSEA proposes FFP being available to establish parenting time
orders ancillary to the financial child support obligation. Allowable
activities eligible for FFP could include case management, mediation
services, and assistance in developing agreed orders—but not
enforcement of those orders. These activities would be accompanied
by suitable safeguards to prevent domestic violence, including
training, screening, and assessment.
NCSEA also recommends that funding for existing fatherhood grant
programs be updated to adjust for inflation in recognition of their
effectiveness, namely the Healthy Marriage grant established in
2005, and OCSS Access and Visitation grants originally funded in
1996. Funding for Access and Visitation grants has never been
increased.
II.
Improved Enforcement Tools to Collect More Child Support
for Families
NCSEA is committed to increasing child support collections owed to
families and children. New and innovative collection tools are
necessary to successfully collect support in cases where traditional
enforcement mechanisms are ineffective. NCSEA proposes improved
enforcement tools to strengthen new hire reporting and income
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withholding, add new data matches, and strategically increase federal
and state requirements.
A. New Hire Reporting and Income Withholding Requirements
Today millions of workers earn income as
“independent contractors,” either in addition
to or in substitution for income earned as
“employees.” ii The majority of child support
has historically been collected through new
hire reporting and income withholding but
currently, the new hire reporting
requirements in Title IV-D do not apply to independent contractors.
This means that independent contractors often escape child support
enforcement that has proven effective for employees—to the
detriment of their families and children.
NCSEA’s proposal is to require companies and organizations to
report independent contractors to the directory of new hires on the
same basis as is required for new employees. This would give child
support programs the necessary information to send an income
withholding order to the entity paying the parent. To ensure that
independent contractors are treated the same as employees, NCSEA
also recommends legislation to ensure that the income withholding
limits set by the Consumer Credit Protection Act apply to both
employees and independent contractors.
Another area of improvement needed with income withholding is for
inmates incarcerated in federal prisons. Currently the federal Bureau
of Prisons will not honor an income withholding order for child support
without the consent of the inmate. Because many federal inmates
earn some income from prison employment that could be withheld for
payment of child support, NCSEA proposes that consent not be
necessary and that federal Bureau of Prisons be required to honor an
income withholding order.
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B. New Data Sources to Improve Child Support Effectiveness
The ability of the Title IV-D program
to establish, enforce, and modify
child support obligations often relies
on incoming data from a variety of
resources. There are data resources
currently not tied to the program that
allow parents to receive funds eligible as “income” for child support
purposes without paying child support. There are other data
resources that could benefit parents when a change of circumstances
occurs for modification purposes.
For these reasons, NCSEA proposes the following resources be
mandated by state law that will provide the child support agency with
a database of parents who are either 1) participating in a probate
case and eligible to receive inheritance funds; or 2) incarcerated in
state prison and eligible for a modification of their child support order.
In addition, NCSEA proposes that cell phone providers, cable
companies, and utilities provide data to the child support program.
The intent is to use this information to locate parents not found under
traditional locate methods.
C. Additional Federal Mandates
There is a need for new federal mandates addressing tribal child
support programs, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and new
enforcement tools that would strength the breadth and work of Title
IV-D. First NCSEA proposes legislation that would:
• Allow tribal child support agencies to access the federal tax
refund offset program to collect past-due child support from
parents’ federal income tax refunds;
• Authorize the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security
Administration to disclose certain tax return information to tribal
child support enforcement agencies that will help to establish
and collect support; and
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• Permit the Department of Health and Human Services to
reimburse tribal agencies for certain reporting costs related to
the Federal Parent Locator Service.
Second, current IRS policies are detrimental
to the efficiency of the budget and operations
of the child support program. NCSEA
advocates to change the current practice of
child support agencies being liable for tax
refund intercept collections that later are
deemed by the IRS to be fraudulent.
In addition, legislation is necessary to codify that limited IRS tax
return information (i.e., amount of the return and location of the
taxpayer) is allowed to be disclosed by child support agencies to
certain entities as a necessary part of child support enforcement.
These entities include: parents (including attorneys and other third
parties authorized by the parent); courts; attorneys; public assistance
agencies; and vendors providing services to a government child
support agency.
NCSEA also proposes passport revocation to supplement the current
passport denial process, lump-sum payment reporting by employers
to OCSS, full faith and credit for out-of-state lien and levy notices
coming from OCSS as the central point of contact, and new federal
agencies being tasked with assisting in locating and apprehending
delinquent child support obligors.
D. Additional State Law Mandates
New state law requirements often drive improvements in collecting
child support. NCSEA proposes new state reporting mandates that
include the identities and social security numbers of parents owing
support. These include: insurance companies for pending claims;
gambling proceeds if above the set threshold; professional licenses;
motor vehicle registrations; and lien registries for real property,
vehicles and other property.
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III.
Updated Performance Measures
The set of five performance measures that currently evaluate
performance for the child support program have been in place since
1998 with the enactment of the Child Support Performance and
Incentives Act (CSPIA). They are:
• Paternity establishment percentage
(PEP): the proportion of children
born to unmarried parents with
paternity established relative to the
total number of children born to
unmarried parents in the prior year
• Support order establishment: the proportion of cases with child
support orders
• Collections on current support: the proportion of child support
owed for a given month that is collected within that month
• Collections on child support arrearages: the proportion of cases
with arrears that have a collection during a fiscal year
• Cost-effectiveness: the ratio of total collections to
administrative cost
States receive financial incentives based on their performance on
these measures from a dedicated pool of federal funding
($678,795,663 in FFY 2023). In most states with county-administered
programs, these state performance incentives are shared with their
local counterparts.
NCSEA supports substantive changes to two performance
measures—PEP and arrears collection—as necessary. Further
because the program has dramatically improved since 1998, the
current thresholds are now too low to incentivize new program
improvements; therefore, NCSEA recommends increasing the
measures as its commitment to program improvement.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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A. Changes to the PEP
There are several changes to this important measure.
NCSEA believes the current version has inherent
flaws that contribute to inconsistent and nonintuitive
results.
First, the PEP has two different formulas, enabling
states to choose either the “IV-D option” (proportion
of IV-D cases with paternity established for non-marital children) or
the “statewide option” (proportion of all non-marital children with
paternity established). States are evenly split on which option they
choose so the measure is not consistent and does not compare
“oranges to oranges.”
Second, the PEP is based on the prior year’s number of nonmarital
children either in the caseload (IV-D option) or in that year (statewide
option). Third, states can choose to count cases with paternity
established during the performance year even if those cases close
during the year; therefore, those cases are added to the numerator
but not the denominator. These two factors result in some states (13
in FFY 2021) reporting a PEP of greater than 100 percent, which is
incongruous and causes doubt on its accuracy and effectiveness as a
measure of performance.
Fourth, there is a conflict between the PEP incentive measure and a
separate statutory penalty if a state’s PEP is less than 90 percent.
The penalty for failing to meet the 90 percent penalty threshold is
substantial: loss of 1-5 percent of the Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families (TANF) block grant. In contrast, the top of the
incentive range for PEP is 80 percent. This means that a state
exceeding 80 percent but achieving less than 90 percent receives the
maximum amount of performance incentives but then also is subject
to the penalty—an unexplainable result.
NCSEA proposes to restructure the PEP measure by: 1) requiring all
states to use the IV-D option; 2) making the current year the base
year for the calculation; 3) counting both paternity actions and cases
for cases closed within the year, thus adding intra-year activity into
both the numerator and denominator of the percentage; and 4)
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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eliminating the penalty for failure to achieve a 90 percent score on the
performance measure.
The first three changes will allow comparability across all
jurisdictions. They will also eliminate anomalies such as scores that
exceed 100 percent that undermine the credibility of the measure.
The fourth change is to eliminate the inconsistent 90 percent penalty
threshold.
B. Changes to Collections on Arrears
The current performance measure for arrears collection has been
problematic from the beginning. It measures the proportion of cases
with arrears that have a collection of any size, even as low as one
cent. The limitation of this metric is obvious: it does not measure the
amount of arrears that is collected.
As a result, NCSEA proposes replacing the measure with a new
model. States would be scored on the amount of current child support
and arrears collected during the year relative to the total amount of
current support that accrued during the year. This new measure will
reward states for reducing their backlog of arrears and will be based
on the amount of arrears collected (in combination with current
support) rather than the number of cases with a collection of any
amount.
C. Increased Performance for All Measures
NCSEA believes that the performance thresholds tied to the incentive
pool no longer incentivize program improvements. By being willing to
raise the performance bar, the program demonstrates its commitment
to constant improvement that justifies the requested increased
funding to support new services like employment and parenting time
order assistance.
For the PEP measure, the range of scores fails to match the
dramatically increased performance that states have achieved since
enactment of the measure. NCSEA proposes to raise the bar for this
metric by increasing the minimum threshold for incentives from the
current 50 percent to a new level of 80 percent, and the maximum
threshold from the current 80 percent to a new level of 95 percent.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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For support order establishment, NCSEA proposes increasing the
minimum threshold for incentives from 50 percent to 75 percent.
Similarly, the level for earning maximum incentives would be
increased from 80 percent to 95 percent.
Again, to incentivize improvements in the program, NCSEA proposes
raising the minimum threshold for collections on current support from
40 to 50 percent. The maximum level for earning incentives would
remain at 80 percent.
For arrears collections, NCSEA proposes a minimum threshold of 60
percent and a maximum level of 100 percent. Finally, for cost
effectiveness, NCSEA proposes that the minimum threshold be
increased from $2.00 to $3.00 and that the maximum level be
increased from $5.00 to $6.00.
D. Proposed Timing of Changes
NCSEA understands that all these proposed changes will require
significant system changes that require state time and resources. And
the change to the PEP measure will require additional extensive effort
for states making the mandatory shift from the statewide reporting
option to the IV-D option.
The system and PEP changes may take several years to complete.
As a result, NCSEA recommends that states be allowed five years to
implement the proposed changes to the performance measures.
IV.
Next Steps
The legislative proposal was shared on May 3, 2023, with the
National Council on Child Support Directors for review and comment.
The feedback of program directors is important as NCSEA continues
to consider how and when to advocate beneficial legislative changes
in the IV-D program.
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V. Conclusion
The child support program today looks much
different than at its inception in 1975 or when the
performance measures were enacted in 1998.
The goal of all children having the financial and
emotional support of their parents cannot be
attained by the child support program without the
additional resources to provide employment
services, assisting in safe parenting time agreements, and new
enforcement tools. Further improved performance measures will drive
innovations and reward states in more appropriate ways and levels to
the benefit of families. As outlined in Part I and II of these articles,
NCSEA stands by its commitment to help shape the future of child
support with this comprehensive legislation package.
i
NCSEA members can find documents describing the proposal in greater detail
on the NCSEA Members Page here: Member Resource Page (ncsea.org)
ii
Some news reports indicate that 40 percent of America’s workforce were
freelancers (“contingent workers”) in 2020, more than 60 million people; that
number was 30 percent in 2006 when last counted by the federal government.
See https://qz.com/65279/40-of-americas-workforce-will-be-freelancers-by-2020/.
Diane Potts is the Child Support Lead Director on the National Strategy Team at
CGI Technologies and Solutions Inc. Diane serves on the NCSEA Board of
Directors and is co-chair of NCSEA’s Policy and Government Relations
Committee as well as an NCSEA Past-President, past Secretary, and an
Honorary Lifetime Member. Diane also is on the Board of Directors for the
Eastern Regional Interstate Child Support Association (ERICSA) and currently
serves as Vice President of Policy and Legislation. In May 2023 she was
awarded ERICSA’s Intergovernmental Award.
For six years, Diane was the Illinois Deputy Attorney General for Child Support.
She was appointed as the official observer to the Uniform Law Commission’s
amendment of the Uniform Parentage Act (UPA) on NCSEA’s behalf, and
currently sits on the UPA’s Enactment Committee. In 2015, she received the
Illinois Child Support Lifetime Achievement Award. Diane received her law
degree from Washington University Law School and her undergraduate degree
from University of Illinois.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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Leveraging the Right Talent to
Modernize Your System
by Heather Noble, Assistant Director/IV-D Director,
Arizona Division of Child Support Services, with
contributions provided by members of the NCCSD
System Modernization Committee
Legacy system modernization is a major endeavor for state child support
agencies, or any organization for that matter. With many state systems
reaching a point of maturity, states are embarking on a journey with a
vision of updating and optimizing business processes and workflows with
the hope of better operational efficiencies, addressing years of
technological constraints, and enhancing experience and service delivery
to meet customer and employee expectations by leveraging newer
technology platforms. One of the single greatest decisions on any major
project is selecting the right vendors to provide the software or service. By
this stage of modernization, a significant amount of planning has been
done, and decisions have been made. Navigating this next stage often
comes with its own stress and pressure, but appropriately so: the decisions
made in terms of how key project roles are filled can have long-lasting
impacts on the modernization journey.
It takes a village. Leveraging the right talent for a project of this magnitude
is important. Project partners’ expertise, experience, and the relationships
established early on between private sector and state staff can lay the
foundation for a solid team to navigate modernization successfully and
collaboratively. Multiple talented individuals are needed within the state, as
well as contractors and vendors to perform all the necessary work.
Gathering the right team of individuals with the right experience, insight,
and industry knowledge is a must to help states navigate complex
modernization efforts.
The first role, team, or vendor that states typically identify or acquire in the
planning phase of the project is that of the project management office.
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The Project Management Office (PMO) is often contracted through
a vendor or procured through contracted resources to carry out
specific roles in the project. Tasked with overseeing the current state,
transition state, and future state, they wear a variety of important
hats. Project governance is a critical component of how the project is
run. Having a team or individuals dedicated to overseeing the day-today
operations and management of the project supports the state
agency in carrying out the vision of the project. As a central point of
contact, the project manager works collaboratively with all
stakeholders, vendors and state personnel included, to help manage
contracts, budget, scope, and schedule, as well as to support
communications and organizational change management activities. A
strong PMO ensures standard and clear processes are in place when
initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, and closing out the project.
This is also typically one of the first roles brought into the project, as
the PMO can play a significant part even in early project planning
activities.
System modernization project management roles are often assigned
to an external vendor, but not always. States at the beginning stages
of their modernization journey should discuss project management
options with their federal Office of Child Support Services (OCSS)
analyst. They should consider key questions such as whether the
state has internal expertise and capacity to support this role.
Especially if the state is choosing a platform outside its current
technology stack or a development approach that is novel to the
state’s development and internal project management staff. Some
states continue to use their existing internal PMO on their legacy
system with an expectation that they will incrementally learn about
the modernized system in order to be prepared for a state-run postwarranty
maintenance and operations phase.
Next, a project’s success is no longer just measured by being “on time and
on budget” but by what the project accomplishes, how it is managed, and
whether it meets stakeholder, end-user, or customer expectations. Having
the right teams in place assists in gathering objective, independent, and
helpful input to a project. Having cohesive project assurance can go a long
way in building and maintaining stakeholder buy-in and identifying areas for
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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improvement in time for that feedback to make a meaningful difference to
the project’s health. This can be accomplished through quality
management, quality control, and risk assessment. There are a few
vendors and roles in a system project that provide this support to the
modernization effort:
Quality Assurance (QA) teams carry out roles that are a critical part
of supporting the state team in the project. They support the state by
sharing observations, risks, and issues, and help validate the quality
of the project. This objective feedback provides invaluable insight to
the project manager or state leaders. By identifying risks and being
able to synthesize information, QA can increase project and state
leaders’ visibility to important issues, help prioritize critical project
activities, make recommendations, and support decision-making in an
objective, fact-based way.
Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) serves as the eyes
and ears of the project and is an indispensable partner for both the
state and federal child support offices. Through observation of project
activities and meetings, they identify risks and issues with processes
and make collaborative recommendations with the state’s
governance body, project vendors, and OCSS. Federal regulations
require that the IV&V vendor be outside of the reporting structure of
the state’s child support office and its umbrella agency so that they
truly are an objective and independent voice in the project. OCSS
makes the decision whether an IV&V vendor contract should be for
full-time or periodic (typically every six months or quarterly) work,
usually dependent on the complexity of the modernization project.
(Note: OCSS typically requires management of the IV&V contract
itself to be conducted independently to create an additional layer of
independence for the IV&V vendor. Some states have chosen to
partner with a state university through an interagency agreement to
provide independent contract management services for their IV&V
contract. Others maintain their IV&V contract through their state’s IT
umbrella agency, as long as OCSS finds it is sufficiently
independent.)
Finally, states rely heavily on industry experts skilled in the latest
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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technological advances to obtain meaningful solutions. Leveraging skilled
functional and technical analysts, developers, architects, and many more
specialists, can help bring the state's vision to life.
Design, Development, and Implementation (DDI) vendors are
tasked with and responsible for an incredible array of activities to
bring a modernized child support system project to a successful
conclusion. These typically involve validation of a state’s initial
requirements, development of multiple design documents after long
sessions with state personnel, code development or changes using
the latest software, multiple testing phases, mapping and conversion
of data both “clean” and troublesome from old data structures to
newer ones. Training of technical and user staff including
documentation and delivery, and actual “roll-out” of the system to
users. In the background, they bring sophisticated tools for the
software development life cycle (SDLC) and the traceability of
requirements from beginning to end. If the state mandates these
tools, the vendor must demonstrate that they have the requisite skills
or can easily learn them.
It is important that they can clearly develop and articulate a
“roadmap” that defines the plan, as well as the complexity and
sequencing of the work. The DDI vendor must be able to work with
multiple other entities for the required system interfaces and integrate
ancillary applications for document management, business
intelligence, customer portals, etc. They are contractually responsible
for ensuring that the new system meets OCSS federal certification
requirements. After a warranty period, some DDI vendors stay on for
maintenance and operations, or they are required to assist the state
technology team in taking final ownership.
When selecting a DDI vendor, states should consider their preferred
modernization approach from both an SDLC standpoint (waterfall,
hybrid, agile, etc.) as well as from a technical standpoint
(replatforming, refactoring, transfer, low-code, custom development,
etc.). It is also important to consider how these services are procured.
Traditional DDI procurement documents (RFPs, RFOs, etc.) may
align more closely with historical waterfall development practices, and
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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states seeking agile and/or iterative development may want to
consider alternative procurement strategies that may better support
the state’s chosen methodology.
Organizational Change Management (OCM)
Ensuring that child support staff is ready for a new system that may
look and function very differently from the legacy system is a critical
task. Business processes may also change, as newer systems can
typically do more behind the scenes to leave workers to focus on
more difficult tasks. States may take the opportunity with newer
systems to change state plan decisions on items such as Deficit
Reduction Act (DRA) vs. Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Act (PRWORA) distribution. All of this means that regular
communication during the entire project is essential to user
acceptance when the new system is rolled out. While some states
include OCM duties within their DDI procurement requirements,
others often look to separate private sector partners for these tasks
that require a different skill set than the more technical DDI activities.
Staff Augmentation
States often find that they do not have enough internal staff to keep
up with the demands of these large system development efforts, in
addition to the day-to-day work of keeping the legacy system running
or the normal child support program tasks. If this is the case, they
often look to existing staff augmentation vehicles (often called master
service agreements or something similar) to bring in specific skill sets
that are needed to bolster the state team.
State child support teams typically lack the skills and capacity necessary to
effectively modernize systems on their own. Collectively, vendors work with
the state resources on the project and leverage the extensive
programmatic knowledge, business process standards, and unique needs
of the state to scale resources and navigate project complexity in a secure,
coordinated, and streamlined manner.
When choosing any of the above private sector partners, realize that their
fit in terms of team dynamic and organizational culture is as important as
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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their experience and expertise in their official role. The relationship
between a state program and its private sector partners, when functioning
in a healthy and constructive way, is just that--a partnership. Aiming for this
dynamic, setting it forth as an expectation, and working collaboratively
together can be just as critical to a project’s trajectory and ultimate success
as any other element of the modernization journey.
By carefully and strategically staffing each critical project role, states can
embark on a modernization journey with the goal of delivering maximum
value to their end-users and customers in a unique way focused on
positively transforming the business of child support.
Heather Noble started her career with the Arizona Department of Economic Security,
Division of Child Support Services in 2011. During her years in child support, she
worked on efforts aligned with the Arizona Lean Management System, digitizing child
support case files, customer engagement initiatives, and more recently, modernizing the
child support case management system. Since 2017, Heather has served as Assistant
Director of Arizona’s Child Support program and continues to work to expand its
partnership and shared vision with the Attorney General's Office, Administrative Office
of the Courts, and Clerks of Court serving the families in Arizona. In 2022, Heather
became co-chair of the National Council of Child Support Directors’ (NCCSD) System
Modernization Committee.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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Credit Bureau Reporting Changes in
Minnesota
by Trish Skophammer, Director, Ramsey County,
Minnesota Attorney’s Office, Child Support
Services Division
Credit bureau reporting has an adverse impact on obligors, impeding their
ability to purchase a home or a car, obtain rental housing, lines of credit,
and employment. The adverse impact can affect the child by hindering the
obligor’s ability to exercise parenting time, pay child support, and otherwise
provide for and parent the child. The negative consequences of credit
bureau reporting have a significant impact on obligors of color who are
overrepresented in the child support system and are more likely to
experience barriers to employment and bias in credit reporting.
Recent changes to legislation in Minnesota related to credit bureau
reporting are helping to provide services using an equity lens, and in a way
that gives more discretion to caseworkers to take the right action to collect
support without causing harm to families.
Federal regulations (see 45 C.F.R. §302.70 (a)(7)) require states to have in
effect laws and procedures for making information regarding the amount of
overdue support owed by a noncustodial parent available to consumer
reporting agencies. Minnesota, like many states, implemented a law with
automation and efficiency in mind, and that resulted in reporting all obligors
who meet the criteria, regardless of the circumstances that led to the
accumulation of arrears, or the outcomes associated with credit reporting.
This regulation lays the foundation for a tool that can be useful in the right
circumstances but does not require the tool be used in all cases.
Before the law changed in Minnesota, after receiving notice of intent to
report to the credit bureau, the obligor could prevent credit reporting only by
paying the arrears in full or requesting an administrative review. The
administrative review is limited to issues of mistaken identity, legal action
involving the arrears balance, or an incorrect arrears balance.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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Most often an obligor is not able to pay the arrears in full. Arrears are then
reported to the credit bureau and continue to be reported until the arrears
balance reaches zero. For obligors with barriers to employment and
continuously increasing arrears balances, credit bureau reporting could
continue for decades. The collateral consequences of credit bureau
reporting outweigh the potential benefits in most cases.
Data from the Minnesota PRISM child support computer system provides
some insight. Data was used for the time period 2015 to 2019 because
practices changed during the COVID-19 public health emergency starting
in 2020. A deeper dive into the data is needed to provide a clearer picture
of the impact of credit bureau reporting and an obligor’s attempts or ability
to pay.
• Credit bureau reporting does not seem to result in timely and
consistent payments in most cases. Over 81% of cases noticed for
credit bureau reporting proceeded to be reported. This indicates that
obligors either are not attentive to the notice, do not understand the
notice or the potential consequences, or do not have the ability to pay
the arrears in full.
• Over half of the cases that received $0 in the three months prior to
receiving notice of credit bureau reporting also received $0 in the
three months following the notice.
• While 38% of cases did receive more payments in the three months
following the notice, those payments did not prevent reporting for the
most part, and the increase in payments may be in response to other
enforcement tools such as driver’s license suspension and tax
intercepts which would be triggered around the same time.
• Approximately 19% of obligors who received notice of credit bureau
reporting have more than one child support case, which may indicate
a strain on financial resources to meet multiple obligations.
• Credit bureau reporting exacerbates existing racial disparities. For
example, in Ramsey County, African Americans make up just over
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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13% of the population but represent 41% of the obligors in the child
support caseload and 48% of the cases reported to the credit bureau.
During the COVID-19 public health emergency, federal and state
government allowed for setting aside certain enforcement tools. This
continued in Minnesota until July 2021 when the Governor’s peacetime
emergency expired. At that time statewide direction was given to
caseworkers to review cases and let the enforcement tools run where it
was appropriate to do so. In Ramsey County, enforcement tools continued
to be set aside pending additional policy guidance based on the upcoming
legislative change. Caseworkers could ask for an exception and allow
credit bureau reporting to run in specific cases if they had reason to believe
it would be effective.
Ramsey County was successful in getting legislation passed in the 2021
legislative session that allows for the use of discretion and payment
agreements to prevent credit bureau reporting. The new law went into
effect January 1, 2023. Minnesota Statute §518A.685 now states that the
public authority may, rather than must, report delinquent obligors to credit
reporting agencies. It also provides the option for an obligor to enter into a
payment agreement to prevent credit reporting, providing a more
reasonable option than the requirement to pay the arrears in full.
New state policy requires that caseworkers consider the potential harm
caused by credit reporting and whether reporting is likely to encourage
payments. They may use their discretion to prevent reporting, taking into
consideration the following circumstances:
• Whether the obligor is a recipient of public assistance
• The source of income and whether it is available for income
withholding
• Whether income withholding is pending
• History of incarceration or other barriers to employment
• Whether arrears are the result of court ordered arrears rather than an
accrual over time
• Parenting time and whether a minor child may be harmed by the
parent’s derogatory credit report
• The receiving parent has indicated they prefer not to have the obligor
reported
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When a case is prevented from being reported, the caseworker receives a
tickler to review the case in 90 days to determine if it is still appropriate to
prevent reporting. If a case is already being reported to the credit bureau
under previous law and policy, caseworkers are directed not to stop
reporting as that may have a more derogatory outcome as compared to the
report eventually showing a balance paid in full.
Ramsey County policy aligns with the statewide policy, but with a slightly
different approach. The presumption is that harm is always caused by
credit bureau reporting, and cases have not been newly reported since
2020. This is especially important given the racial disparities and
socioeconomic factors present in the Ramsey County caseload. The
default policy will continue to be not reporting obligors to the credit bureau,
allowing caseworkers to make exceptions in situations where they have
reason to believe it will be an effective tool.
As the child support community continues the journey toward engagement
and a whole-family approach, we must review policies and analyze data to
ensure we are working equitably with parents and not against them. The
goal of collecting timely and consistent child support payments is at the
heart of our work, and credit bureau reporting doesn’t seem to be a good
way to achieve that goal.
Dr. Trish Skophammer serves as the Director of the Child Support Services Division in
the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office located in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has 25 years
of experience in child support. She has been involved in NCSEA for many years,
serving on Leadership Symposium and Policy Forum planning committees, the Web
Talks committee co-chair, the Emerging Issues and Leading Practices subcommittee,
and as former Director on the NCSEA Board. She is involved in associations and
committees at the local level as well. Trish has presented on numerous topics at
national, regional, and local conferences, web talks and training workshops. In addition
to her expertise in child support policy and practice, Trish’s expertise includes
leadership topics such as performance management; strategic planning; and diversity,
equity and inclusion. Trish has a master’s degree from Bethel University in
Organizational Leadership and a doctorate degree in Public Administration from
Hamline University.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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Empowering Change: Spotlight on Trailblazing
Organizations in Child Support
by Konitra Jack, Louisiana IV-D Director,
Donna Jo Prather Rhoads, MCSEA Vice-President,
Jana Lebaron, Louisiana CSE Program Consultant,
and Adrianne Crawford, Louisiana CSE Program Consultant
As I sit down to compile this article, I am inspired by the incredible dedication
and impactful work of organizations in the child support community. I have had
the privilege of witnessing the commitment and meaningful contributions of
organizations striving to make a difference in the child support space. In this
article, I have the honor of shining a spotlight on two remarkable
organizations, including one from my home state. Their inspiring work serves
as a testament to the transformative possibilities within the child support
landscape.
MCSEA: leading the way
In their state’s child support arena, Missouri Child
Support Education Association (MCSEA) has been at
the forefront of empowering children and families.
Their unwavering commitment to the cause has made
a profound impact on countless lives. It is organizations like these that remind
us of the immense potential we have to create positive change.
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In 1977, a handful of Missouri’s child support employees established by the
constitution and bylaws the Missouri Child Support Enforcement Association
(MCSEA). MCSEA is a non-profit organization established to ensure that
Missouri’s child support staff can engage in collaboration and receive
program, as well as personal and professional development training. MCSEA
is an 18-member, all-volunteer board of persons working in Missouri’s child
support program and consists of six executive staff and twelve regional
directors. Executive staff are responsible for the daily, financial operations of
MCSEA, while the regional directors function to recruit and serve the
membership of their areas of Missouri. The entire board, along with
committees appointed from membership, work together to plan conferences
each year.
“One real benefit of
the partnership
between MCSEA
and Missouri’s
program is it allows
FSD to prioritize
training that crosses
functions, agencies,
and partners, to
encourage
collaboration
between all
stakeholders.”
MCSEA serves Missouri’s Family Support Division
(FSD) and its partners but operates independently
from the state. MCSEA and FSD have enjoyed a
solid 46-year relationship because they share a
common goal: to create a team of the best-trained
child support professionals in the business.
Missouri’s Family Support Division strives to assist
families to maintain or improve their quality of life,
and they accomplish this by providing the best
possible services. MCSEA contributes to that
success by providing FSD with a mechanism for
training staff that is cost-effective, efficient, and in a
way that helps to create a sense of commitment to
each other and to the work. MCSEA has a real “work
family” vibe that has staff, retirees, and vendors,
returning year after year. MCSEA also assists FSD
by addressing issues of staff retention by offering training for tenured staff.
The largest portion of any training budget is spent on new staff. By sending
tenured, as well as new staff to MCSEA for training, Missouri’s leadership
communicates that staff development is a priority.
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One real benefit of the partnership between MCSEA and Missouri’s program
is it allows FSD to prioritize training that crosses functions, agencies, and
partners, to encourage collaboration between all stakeholders. These
moments of connection can lead to the discovery of both challenges and
solutions, leading to efficiencies, which benefit Missouri’s program. Training in
this way levels the playing field for the free exchange of ideas. Attendees
could be seated next to anyone, at any level of the job, with a variety of
experiences and perspectives; this is a real asset to the Division. Missouri
Director John Ginwright says, “You never know when, where, or from whom
the next big idea will come, so listen to everyone”. MCSEA is the perfect
setting for great things—ideas, partnerships, friendships—to begin.
The most significant change to MCSEA since 1977 has been to make the E
stand for Education. This change reflects the goal of MCSEA and best
describes one of the goals of Missouri’s program. While we still enforce orders
for support, there has been a shift in attitudes about how we approach the job.
At every phase of the process, educating our clients to assist them in
understanding their rights and responsibilities has become the priority. Clients
should not feel as if child support is happening to them but rather, is
happening with them; that providing support is something they are doing
purposefully, willingly, for the benefit of their children.
Because MCSEA loves company, we have started to reach out to surrounding
states and invite them to join us at our annual conference. MCSEA offers
Missouri program training and training appropriate for professionals from any
jurisdiction. MCSEA collaborates with FSD to offer specialized tracks of
learning to highlight Missouri projects.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about MCSEA, you can
reach out to us at mcsea77@gmail.com or by visiting www.mcseaonline.org.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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LSEA: Blazing Trails
Renowned for their trailblazing efforts, the Louisiana
Support Enforcement Association (LSEA) has been
instrumental in shaping child support services. Their
visionary training, including the transition to familycentered
support, has garnered widespread recognition
and transformed the lives of many. Their forward-thinking
approach inspires Louisiana’s entire child support community to push
boundaries and explore new avenues of support.
The Louisiana Support Enforcement Association (LSEA) is an organization
dedicated to promoting the rights of children and families by advocating for the
enforcement of child support laws in Louisiana. LSEA offers a range of
services to its members, including training and education programs,
networking opportunities, and access to resources and information related to
child support enforcement.
LSEA membership is available to any person who is actively engaged in the
field of the Family Support program as administered by the state of Louisiana.
Members gain access to valuable resources that can help them to better serve
the children and families of Louisiana.
The LSEA Board of Directors consists of not more than seventeen persons.
The IV-D Liaison of the Louisiana District Attorney Association, the Director for
the Child Support Enforcement section within Department of Children and
Family Services (DCFS), and the President of the Louisiana Hearing Officer
Association, along with the past two immediate presidents of the organization,
are entitled to board membership. The remaining board members are divided
into two distinct groups: six members represent employees of the District
Attorney staff, while the additional six represent employees from DCFS. This
balanced composition ensures that the board is equipped to address the
specific needs and concerns of both groups.
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LSEA hosts an annual meeting and training conference to educate those
interested in the child support enforcement program. The conference consists
of multiple training classes that include continuing legal education credits for
attorneys, along with educational tracks for the administrative and case
managers. The LSEA training conference is held in the State of Louisiana
during the month of March.
The annual conference brings together child support professionals from
across Louisiana to share best practices, learn about new developments in
the field, and network with their colleagues. The LSEA training conference is
unique in that it allows everyone, from entry-level employees to the DCFS
Secretary, the same opportunity to express their opinions and provide input on
a level playing field. This allows for a collaborative and inclusive learning
environment that benefits all members and, ultimately, the children and
families they serve.
One of the ways that the LSEA recognizes individuals who
have made significant contributions to this cause is through
the Russell B. Long Award. The award is named after the
late Senator Russell Long, who was a strong advocate for
child support enforcement during his time in Congress.
Russell B. Long
Recipients of the award are individuals who have gone
above and beyond in their efforts to ensure that children in Louisiana receive
the support they need from their parents. This may include attorneys, judges,
law enforcement officials, child support workers, and others who work
tirelessly to enforce child support laws and hold non-paying parents
accountable for their obligations. Recipients of the Russell P. Long Award are
recognized in front of their peers during LSEA’s annual conference, receiving
a trophy and other honors as a token of their achievements. By recognizing
individuals who have made significant contributions to child support
enforcement, LSEA hopes to inspire others to join in the effort to ensure that
all children in Louisiana receive the financial support they need to thrive.
July 2023 NCSEA CSQ
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If you know someone who has made a significant contribution to child support
enforcement in Louisiana, consider nominating them for the Russell P. Long
Award. By doing so, you will help to ensure that their efforts are recognized
and celebrated, and you will help to inspire others to follow in their footsteps.
Together, we can make a difference in the lives of children and families
throughout Louisiana.
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about LSEA, you can
visit LSEA.us.
Celebrating Collaborative Progress
As I navigate the child support community, I am continually amazed by the
collaborative spirit that propels the program forward. Each organization,
including MCSEA and LSEA, plays a vital role in improving outcomes for
children. It is through their collective efforts, alongside countless other
organizations, that we witness the true power of collaboration and shared
vision.
I am reminded that each of us holds the power to effect change. Whether
large or small, every organization has the potential to make a meaningful
impact. This article serves as a reminder of the incredible work happening
within our own communities, driving us to unleash our own potential for
positive change.
Konitra Jack is a dedicated advocate for family support and the Louisiana CSE Director.
With extensive experience in the field, she brings a wealth of expertise to her role. Hailing
from Baker, Louisiana, Konitra joined the Child Support Enforcement team in 2008 as a
caseworker and has since made significant contributions to the program. Her commitment
to empowering families and fostering success is reflected in her role, where she guides the
programmatic operations for the child support enforcement section.
Donna Jo Prather Rhoads has been employed by the State of Missouri, working in child
support, since June of 1999. She began her career as a caseworker and from there moved
to specialize in financials, spending a good portion of her career working with prosecuting
attorney staff as a state’s witness testifying about case arrears. Donna has served on the
board of MCSEA in some capacity since 2004 and is currently the organization’s vice
president. Donna Jo has been quoted to say, “I started this job as a way out of an old life,
and what I really found was a way in, to one of the greatest loves of my life, this work and
to some of the best friends I have ever known.”
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Jana Lebaron is an experienced professional who has dedicated 13 years of her career to
Child Support Enforcement (CSE). Currently serving as the CSE Program Consultant in the
Program Integration division, she plays a crucial role in the Alexandria District Child
Support Offices. Jana has served on the LSEA board of directors for three years. She
previously served as vice-president and currently serves as LSEA president for the 2023-
2024 term.
Adrianne Crawford is a dedicated professional with over 16 years of experience in the
field of Louisiana Child Support Enforcement (CSE), currently serving as the CSE Program
Consultant in the Program Integration Unit at the Baton Rouge and Covington District Child
Support offices. Adrianne has actively served on the LSEA board of directors for the past 3
years and has served as secretary for the past 2 years.
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Go with the Flow: Increase Capacity to
Transform Your Child Support Program
by April Klatt, Consultant, Change & Innovation
Agency (C!A)
Never has the pressure to improve the program and do good on behalf of
the children and families we serve been so intense. This pressure—fueled
by increasing demands to improve federal measures and a new-found
focus on parental engagement activities—comes at a time when programs
across the country are experiencing significant staff attrition, decreasing
budgets, and stagnant collections. To continue delivering on their promise
and achieving outcomes that matter most, programs must rethink how they
serve the modern family.
The challenge is daunting, but the transformation the Missouri Department
of Human Services, Family Support Division, has seen as they have
embarked upon rethinking how they perform their vital work, has given
renewed hope. Unlocking capacity within their existing operation has been
key. They have truly learned how to go with the flow…workflow, that is.
Caseworker Attrition Kickstarts a Downward Spiral
All anti-poverty programs are experiencing record employee turnover, and
child support programs are not immune from this trend. Based on our work
with various child support programs in recent months, programs are
experiencing between 20% to 60% annual turnover. Without a doubt, child
support programs as we know them are not sustainable.
Caseworker attrition, or the loss of caseworkers from the child support
program, kickstarts a downward spiral, significantly impacting the program's
ability to provide services and collect child support payments. With
increased vacancies, there are fewer staff resources to manage caseloads
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and provide services to families. This
reduced staff capacity leads to longer wait
times for customers and delayed
responses to their inquiries.
Attrition results in increased workload for
remaining caseworkers. Required to take
on additional responsibilities and work
longer hours to maintain the program's
operations, caseworkers are under
increased stress. Working in such an environment can lead to burnout and
reduced job satisfaction.
With attrition also comes significant loss of valuable institutional knowledge
and expertise. This knowledge deficit can make it exceedingly difficult to
manage complex cases and provide effective services to families. In
addition, it takes time to recruit, hire, and train new caseworkers, and the
process is also costly. This expense strains program budgets and reduces
programs’ ability to provide services to families.
What can you do to stop the downward spiral of negative impacts on your
program? The answer: regain capacity.
How Do You Start to Regain Capacity?
“High turnover, significant
vacancies in some areas, and
a loss of institutional
knowledge all erode capacity
and a program’s ability to
serve.”
High turnover, significant vacancies in some areas, and a loss of
institutional knowledge all erode capacity and a program’s ability to serve.
So how do you begin to regain capacity within your existing operation?
What is the Need?
Quite simply, you first need to determine how much capacity you have and
then determine how much you need to meet demand. The answer is all in
the numbers.
To determine need across the entire program, you are essentially trying to
identify:
Work Time X Volume
Available Resources
Many do not look at capacity this way. They think about caseloads and
worry about backlogs or delays. They could not tell you what their values
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were in the above math equation. But taking a deeper dive and changing
how we think about capacity, we can begin to determine how we can
maximize the staff capacity we do have to drive improved outcomes.
Make Work “Visible”
Once you have determined how much capacity you need, you must explore
how you can actually find this capacity. To regain capacity from your
existing operation, you must look at the work and how it moves through the
program from start to finish. Engaging staff and centering their voice is a
critical component of identifying capacity-building opportunities.
To visualize the work process(es), begin with gathering and analyzing
objective process performance data, including work volume. Next in the
visualization effort comes meeting with supervisors and caseworkers to
collect subjective data and learn more about the processes used.
Then it is time to bring the child support program
experts together to analyze the existing
process(es) in detail to identify inefficiencies and
areas for improvement. This involves using
process mapping techniques to visualize the flow
of work and identify hand-offs, batching of work,
bottlenecks, and backlogs to pinpoint areas
where manual processes can be improved.
The result of these initial efforts is to have a clear picture of the work being
done, how it is done, and who is doing it. In most cases the capacity math
indicates there are not enough skilled staff to complete the work without
process changes.
Make Work Flow
Based on the analysis of the existing business processes and making the
work visible, the next step is to make the work flow, ensuring children and
families are served as quickly as possible. You do this by developing a new
process design that considers staffing and skill levels, addresses the
identified inefficiencies, and achieves the desired improvements in
performance. This may involve simplifying or eliminating steps in the
process, automating manual tasks, and introducing innovative technology
or tools to ensure the redesigned processes remain visible and
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manageable. It is in redesigning processes that a program can truly unlock
capacity within their existing operation.
What Works Best for Your Program: Caseload or Task-Based?
If you have been in the child support community for any time, you have
been engaged in the long-time debate of using a task-based model for
case management versus a caseload mode, and there are many opinions
on which is the best approach. There does not appear to be a clear winner
because every program utilizes a different service delivery model and has
unique needs. But if programs are looking for ways to regain capacity, they
should consider the crucial decision of caseload vs. task-based, particularly
in the dynamic world of child support and the evolving needs of children
and families. The answer does not have to be one or the other in a black
and white context; the answer could be a hybrid, as long as the right work
gets to the right caseworker, at the right time, based upon their skillset.
Let’s explore it.
In child support, the role of the caseworker is to really know the family—the
situation, the collective and individual needs, and all the details of the
file. The caseworker should have a relationship with the family that is deep
enough to create a path for the work, resolve issues, and help steer the
family to resources that can better the family’s situation. Having a single
point of contact to help families navigate the complexity of government for
the lifespan of a case sounds appealing, but the reality of today’s staff
attrition makes managing caseloads at this level of involvement and
knowledge increasingly difficult.
For instance, it is possible for caseworkers with 50-150 cases to know and
remember families’ stories, but due to today’s high staff attrition rates,
programs are facing caseloads upwards of 500-1200 for each worker! Even
with case management systems, a caseworker would need a photographic
memory or enough time to comb through the case history to understand the
work completed and still needed. And, of course, the work still needed is
likely to be further complicated by the challenge of connecting with
participants. If one participant does not make an appointment… if one
worker calls in sick… if one situation causes a thirty-minute discussion to
go for two hours…if one cannot contact or locate a participant…if we must
re-serve legal documents or reschedule genetic testing, there is a ripple
effect that can have an impact for days and weeks to come. Suddenly,
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work is ready, but it is sitting, waiting for participants and the caseworker to
connect.
“It is possible for
caseworkers with
50-150 cases to
know and
remember
families’ stories,
but due to today’s
high staff attrition
rates, programs
are facing
caseloads
upwards of 500-
1200 for each
worker!”
Missouri faced such a situation, and a shared, taskbased
model made sense for their program. They
replaced their individual caseload with a list of all the
program’s cases detailed at the task level. All tasks
that need to be completed are visible and shared
among all the workers in their program across the
state. Regardless of who owned the case before or
who the participant is, Missouri’s caseworkers
receive the right work, at the right time, based upon
their skill level and what they can do. Caseworkers
share the work, so they feel less pressure to rush,
and they always know the cases on which they
should focus.
According to Kim Evans, the Missouri Family Support
Division Director, a task-based model has truly
transformed how they do their work, and their agency
has benefited. Evans said, “Our software shows us the types of cases that
need done. We can match that to employees who have the right skillsets to
accomplish those. When we see a case list in a specific area growing
larger than our skillset resources, we know we need to train more people to
help there. New workers do not need to know how to work a case from start
to finish; we can get them productive sooner by training them on the most
popular cases and build their skills over time.”
Some see sharing work as demotivating and fear that, without ownership
over the entire case, caseworkers can “pass the buck” to another worker. In
the shared caseload model, this fear can be addressed by using a quality
control process that incorporates monitoring completed work daily, weekly,
and monthly rather than only annually or bi-annually as part of the audit.
By using a shared, task-based model and having visibility into the total
outstanding work, child support programs are better suited to maintain
virtual operations. Overall, remote work can offer many benefits to both
employees and employers, including flexibility, increased productivity, cost
savings, improved work-life balance, and access to a wider talent pool.
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Missouri was initially concerned with this impact. As Evans said, “Ironically,
some of our most experienced staff are feeling a renewed connection with
families. They see the results of their work every day, instead of passing
work off to other workers, so they know they are making a difference. Also,
since leadership has unparalleled visibility into the cases being completed
and the results of their efforts, they can confidently offer our workers the
flexibility to work from anywhere.”
Capacity to Transform
Transforming child support programs to
ensure they remain relevant and meet the
needs of the modern family is critical. But
for impactful and sustainable
transformation to occur, child support
programs must first have capacity to
change in a meaningful way. The talented team in Missouri understood
how important it is to maximize the capacity of your operation—and what is
possible when you do! Since moving to this new business model in June
2022, Missouri has experienced a 20% increase in average tasks
completed per caseworker.
Only when we build sufficient capacity within our existing operation can we
expand our parental engagement activities to drive voluntary compliance
and achieve other mission-critical outcomes that matter most.
And then, all you have to do is just go with the flow.
April Klatt began her public service career with the Arizona Department of Economic
Security in 2001, first as a call center specialist and then as a supervisor. During her
career, April has developed extensive experience with front line operations as a child
support enforcement officer, supervisor, process improvement specialist, program
manager, and most recently as an operations administrator responsible for program
improvements at all levels of the organization. April is currently a Consultant for the
Change and Innovation Agency and is a dedicated child support professional committed
to the child support program’s expansion as an important anti-poverty program. April is
also involved with WICSEC and currently is on the Board of Directors as the Second
Vice President.
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Leadership Symposium 2023: A Golden
Opportunity Not to Be Missed!
By Phyllis Nance and Ellen Rutledge, NCSEA 2023 Leadership
Symposium Co-Chairs
Walt Disney once said, “[a]nd just like that, after a long wait, a day like
any else, I decided to triumph, to look for the opportunities, not to
wait. I decided to see every problem as the opportunity to find a
solution.” Disney built what is arguably the world’s most famous
entertainment business. Under his leadership, the Walt Disney Company
has entertained families around the world. This year, child support leaders
from around the country will be able to look for opportunities to find
solutions in Disney’s backyard, Anaheim, California, while attending the
2023 Leadership Symposium from August 6 to August 9.
This year’s theme, “Golden Opportunities in Leadership,” reflects the
sunny Southern California setting for the Symposium as well as the
overarching goal of the Symposium, which is to inspire and educate
leaders, regardless of their stage in the leadership process. The
Leadership Symposium Planning Committee has put together three days of
activities designed to assist attendees in honing their leadership skills,
learning about issues facing the child support program, and networking with
colleagues.
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Team Synergy: “When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting
things to do.”
“Be Our Guest” Sunday afternoon at Team
Synergy and participate in several interesting
things. Come and lift your glass during the
Welcome Ceremony. Attendees will then have
their own free pass to play bingo and network.
Be curious at the Ideas Exchange. Small group
conversations will allow attendees to
brainstorm about common issues.
Disney was an artist, and in that spirit, bring something to share on the
Graffiti Board. It can be a picture, stickers, a brochure, a business card, or
a keepsake from the local office. Pin it up at any time throughout the
conference.
Plenaries: “First, think. Second, believe. Third, dream, and finally,
dare.”
Plenaries are the pillars of any conference. They bring forth big ideas and
introduce attendees to new concepts. This year’s plenaries are designed to
make people think about the issues facing the child support program,
believe in the possibility of change, dream about the future, and dare to
build a program that meets the needs of families.
Workshops: “Get a good idea and stay with it. Dog it, and work at it
until it’s done, and done right.”
The workshops at this year’s Leadership Symposium will introduce leaders
to many good ideas done right in all different areas of the child support
program. Learning opportunities include themes like leadership growth and
development, leadership journeys, using data to drive organizational
decisions, building a strategic roadmap, and system modernization.
Learning Labs: “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin
doing.”
Begin doing by attending one of the four Learning Labs. These sessions
are hands-on opportunities for learning. Attendees can design a personal
professional development program, learn to spot empathy overload,
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ainstorm ways to engage veterans, and use trauma-informed practices to
strengthen relationships with customers.
“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We
keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new
things…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
Use the Leadership Symposium to open new doors along your leadership
path. For more information, check out the 2023 Leadership Symposium
website.
M-I-C. See you real soon. K-E-Y. Why? Because we like you. M-O-U-S-E.
Phyllis Nance has 38 years of public service, including 30 years in the child support
program. She is currently the Director of the Alameda County Department of Child
Support Services. She arrived in Alameda County in 2016 with 24 years of experience
in the Kern County Department of Child Support Services, eight of which she served as
the Director. Phyllis has extensive knowledge of the child support program and broad
leadership experience, having served in multiple leadership roles.
Ellen Rutledge, the Director of Professional Development at YoungWilliams, uses her
experience as a child support attorney and project manager to develop training and
professional development activities. She hails from Missouri, not far from Marceline,
where Walt Disney lived as a young boy. His years growing up in Marceline inspired the
design of Disneyland’s Main Street USA.
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