DRAP

Pennsylvania Domestic Relations Sections

Best Practices
In the
Child Support Program

Second Edition - August 2001

This is the second edition of child support best practices for the Pennsylvania Counties. The Domestic Relations Sections (DRS) in Pennsylvania have always been very creative in developing solutions to local problems.

This booklet is an illustration of DRS creativity. It covers the entire range of child support operations. The good ideas in this booklet range from successful intake practices and paternity establishment to providing health care coverage for children and programs for non-custodial parents.

The booklet is intended to identify good ideas and best practices that have proven successful. This booklet is not a complete survey of current practices. The booklet does share practices volunteered by the counties.

Allegheny County DRS

This program is designed to facilitate gainful employment of non-custodial parents (NCP's) and encourage regular child support payments over a significant period of time. By doing so, families of non-custodial Welfare recipients will benefit financially and should move off welfare more rapidly.

To assist NCP's, the Goodwill Foundation will pay a percentage of the participant's arrears as they complete significant program benchmarks toward employment and compliance with child support obligations. The maximum grant is $5,000. In addition, the child support order can be modified during the enrollment period prior to employment to assist participants with successful completion of the program. Most NCP's will participate for a minimum of 25 hours per week for a maximum of six months (or until full-time employment is achieved).

Specific activities include:
* Objective Assessment and Individual Service Strategy Development
* Parenting and Life Skills Training
* Adult Basic Education and G.E.D. Instruction
* Job Search/Job Placement Assistance
* Driver's Education
* Acquisition of a vehicle as needed for employment purposes through Goodwill's auto auction
* Case Management
* Short-term training (employer specific/entrepreneurial)
* Post-Employment Career development
* Mental Health/Drug and Alcohol Assessment

There are 20 participants enrolled in the program. As of 12/31/00, 2 have completed the program, 14 are actively participating and 4 were terminated for non-compliance. Fifteen participants are currently employed with a mean wage per hour of $7.74.

Berks County DRS

The Internet

Since Feb 2001, Clients can send us e-inquiries via an interactive form on
our website and we respond to clients by using a new "generic" internet email address:
support.berks@pacses.com. This replaces our old "generic" email address: support@drs.berks.pa.us. We are using this new email address to conduct client service inquiries/casework via internet e-mail and our website.

Recall that our website <http://www.drs.berks.pa.us/> has an interactive form (in use since 2/8/01....the form requires users to enter data elements such as name, case #, phone number, email address, etc.) which clients can use to send messages to us. (Clients use the form online to submit their questions; when they click <SUBMIT> on the form, their inquiry will be emailed to us (CSU) at <support.berks@pacses.com> from the website.

Our CSU workers retrieve these e-mails, and work them with their colleagues in the CSU. If they can't answer the question, they will forward it to a unit specialist to answer the question and reply to the CSU Worker who will in turn email the reply to the original sender via the Internet - from support.berks@pacses.com. This allows us to send/receive internet emails without revealing an individual worker's unique email addresses;

To date, we have not advertised this new way to contact us (no signs have been posted to date). Even so, based on our current rate, we expect to receive approximately 1,000 email inquiries in 2001. We are planning to advertise or develop a leaflet since it's much easier to field a written
inquiry, particularly if a complex issue is involved.

TELEPHONE CONFERENCE PROCEDURE

Berks County has implemented a Telephone Conference / Hearing Procedure pursuant to Rule 1930.3 of the PA Rules of Civil Procedure. This procedure has been implemented to:
1) provide a means for granting or denying a request based upon good cause.
2) advise the other party that telephone testimony has been granted or denied.
3) clarify that the requesting party will be responsible for the phone charges if the request is granted.
4) confirm service of process on the party.
5) confirm the phone number where the party can be reached at the start of the conference or hearing.
6) provide the officer with all necessary financial information needed to conduct a telephone conference/hearing.
7) provide an affordable alternative to parties who live out of county or out of state to participate without having to travel to Berks County.

A party may request an application for a telephone conference prior to the date of the scheduled conference. The form may be faxed or mailed to the requested party for completion. It is also available on Berks County's web site at www.drs.berks.pa.us. The party is advised to complete and return the form with all of the necessary financial information no later than 10 days prior to the conference date. The request is forwarded to the unit manager for approval or denial of the request. The signed form with the result is then forwarded to all parties to the action. If denied, the party has the right to file a motion with the Judge asking for a reversal of the decision. If paternity is an issue and the Defendant has requested the phone conference, an attempt is made to have the Defendant acknowledge or deny paternity prior to the date of the conference.

At the time of the conference, the officer calls the party at the phone number provided and provides a phone number for the client to call back so that phone charges are paid by the party. If the party cannot be reached, the officer proceeds with the conference and enters a default order if appropriate. If the case proceeds to a hearing, the same form can be used to request a telephone hearing as well.

This procedure does not currently apply to Plaintiffs of incoming UIFSA or IFSA cases as Plaintiffs in these cases are not required to appear.

Bucks County DRS

Court Procedure

Bucks County has Court 3 - 4 times per week, on average. A Court List consists of 30 -40 contempt (failure to make payment) cases and 10-12 modification/New cases (these are cases which did not settle at the preliminary conference level).

All parties are scheduled to appear at 9:00 a.m. Court does not begin until 10:00 a.m. In the one hour between 9:00 - 10:00 all our Enforcement Officers (that are not scheduled for other duties) and the Enforcement Supervisor, conference the cases where both parties or only the defendant has appeared. Some counties might call this process an "arrearage conference". In Bucks County we have found that seeing the clients briefly in that hour before Court, accomplishes the same goal as having arrearage conferences for an hour at a time on another day during the week. It is much more time efficient.

If within that settlement hour, the case cannot be resolved, the Judge will hear the matter at 10:00 when Court begins. Of the 40 or so cases on the list, approximately 70% will settle during settlement hour and will be read on the Court record as an "agreement". Another 15% will fail to appear and Bench Warrants will be issued. This leaves 5 or 6 cases that the Judge might actually have to hear. This process enables us to get a case scheduled for contempt within 2 - 3 weeks from complaint call/30 day mail alert, and about 3 -4 weeks to schedule modification/new cases from conference.

Paternity Establishment

Bucks Co. D.R.S. gets this right by prescreening all support petitions to identify any cases where paternity needs to be established. Those identified cases are then scheduled on a Monday morning when at the conference the alleged father can either acknowledge paternity or request paternity testing. We have 40 slots available for paternity cases on a Monday morning. Usually we schedule approximately 30 cases.

If testing is requested the parties and child(ren), which the custodial party is advised to bring, are escorted upstairs where a waiting phlebotomist performs the buccal swab DNA paternity test. In approximately 2-3 weeks we receive the results.

What makes this a best practice is that we perform the paternity test while the parties are in our office. It provides convenience, control and security.

Butler County DRS

Butler County has an access and visitation program. This is a joint effort of the Domestic Relations Section and Family Pathways. This program is designed to improve child well being, increase visitation by non-custodial parents and improve the relationship between non-custodial parents and their children.

The results are encouraging. For a recent six month period:
* 86% of the participants indicated that support payments remained stable or increased while 10% indicated that support payments were not applicable.
* 84% of the referred participants have experienced increased access to their children on an ongoing basis while 10% of the participants were unable to respond.

Chester County DRS

The Administration for Children and Families approved the Chester County, Pennsylvania, proposal for a Partners for Fragile Families child support waiver demonstration project under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act. The Chester County Demonstration Project, known as the Family Matters Program, is a collaborative effort involving the Chester County Domestic Relations Section, the Chester County Housing Development Corporation, and the Housing Authority of the County of Chester. The program is designed to serve low-income, noncustodial, never-married fathers, between the ages of 16-25. The services offered under the program include: case management; education; fatherhood development; substance abuse treatment as needed; legal assistance; financial planning skill education; employment services; child support services; and parenting skill building.

The collaborating organizations share a mutual goal to provide a wide range of supportive services for low and very low income noncustodial fathers and their families, as deemed appropriate and necessary based on the availability of resources. The ultimate goal of the partnership is to increase child support and to strengthen the positive influence of fathers in the lives of their children.

Clinton County DRS

For years, we have been trying to get our local newspaper interested in what we do here, etc. Now with a new Publisher, the newspaper has been very open to suggestions and there is one particular writer who is excellent. She has come to our office several times to seek info and has agreed to do a series of articles over the next couple of months. She now attends our contempt court and writes it up for the newspaper detailing what has happened with each defendant. We have had a variety of responses from defendants, plaintiffs, attorneys, and just the general public.

This week's article centered on the outstanding bench warrants, asking for the public's help and telling them that they can leave anonymous tips on our AVR. She is meeting with the DRS Director weekly. The next article will deal mostly with the services we do provide, etc. Another article will discuss paternity and the fact that we do our own buccal swabs. The writer is also doing an interview with our Judge, an interview with one of our defendants who is in jail, an interview from the plaintiff's perspective. In other words, she will deal with the good, the bad, and the ugly. So far the articles have made the front page. She takes the time to call and read the articles to the DRS Director before printing them. It has been a good experience and well worth the time.

Cumberland County DRS

Judicial Stamps

We have recently obtained Judges stamps for all our Judges, save one, and are now stamping everything possible, faxing as well, and sending hard copy later. We have done this in order to expedite initiating payments on wage withholding orders. By faxing to employers that will accept, we can begin payment earlier. All in all, it would appear this should save time, result in higher payments, consequently increase payments on current support which will in turn increase our incentive % and thus hopefully the amount of incentives we will receive.

The Judges finally allowed us to use stamps to get out from under the number of orders that were coming across their desks since the inception of PACSES. Any county that is not should try to convince their Judges of this process if only to reduce their workload. The Judges were reluctant until a recent presentation by the DRS Director. Now, they are ecstatic to get rid of signing all of those orders.

Voluntary Acknowledgements

We were running into a situation where defendants were appearing in our office and in open court indicating that the hospital had given them a voluntary acknowledgement form and only advised they HAD to sign it. Obviously this caused additional work for us as the court was placed in a position where unless we could refute the claim, paternity testing was necessary.

We wrote a letter to the Hospital Administrator who apparently ignored it. The second letter was a more threatening and some might be surprised, a somewhat sarcastic commentary on their failure to take the issue and
first letter seriously. We got an immediate response to the second correspondence because they knew we were serious.

We scheduled a meeting with Carlisle Hospital and discussed the situation with the powers that be. We met with the persons in charge of explaining the process to the clients. We were concerned that the process was being
dismissed as unimportant and that any nurse that happened to be in the area was just handing out the form. We emphasized a.) the ramifications of not explaining (i.e. what was happening in our court), b.) the fact that
DPW was sending a team of auditors statewide to check on hospital policy, c.) that failing this audit could result in $500 per day fines for not having an established policy, d.)the benefits for the child if an acknowledgement is
properly signed etc.

Using the literature provided by BCSE , we advised Carlisle Hospital that we did not expect them to be experts on the whole process, but they should sufficiently explain the consequences of signing. Any more complicated
questions should be referred to our office. We also gave them a contact person.

The hospital advised that they had one individual assigned to the task of speaking to the parties and would use the new information packet that was much better than the old one they used. They also have one backup person when the primary is gone. Both are knowledgeable to the extent they need to be and are happy that we will respond to any questions they are unable to answer. The meeting lasted perhaps one hour.

Finally, we now feel comfortable in a conference or court setting advising anyone that comes in here that we do not buy the "I did not know what I was signing" argument because a very tight procedure is in place to ensure that
all the necessary information was imparted to them before they signed the acknowledgement.

If you want to discuss this further or have any questions please feel free to contact Rick Betts, the Director of the Domestic Relations Section.

Fayette County DRS

At the end of the year, Fayette County requests a list of all defendants that have turned 62 during the year. We then send verifications to Social Security to see if the defendant has applied and if so, we attach. It is usually for arrears only but at least that gets some arrears payments.

Also, we require plaintiffs to attend Contempt Conferences and Sanctions Hearings. This way (s) he can hear what the defendant has to say. This has reduced the requests for contempt and phone calls as (s) he can offer information or give proof of the defendant's income. If no proof is available, the plaintiff knows there is little we can do except monitor the case.

Franklin County DRS

Morale issues are a consistent problem in a local child support office. Franklin County DRS has developed several innovations that have improved morale and substantially reduced staff turnover.

1. Monthly staff meetings begin with a mission statement. In addition, an employee of the month is also named. The employee is nominated by their co-workers and chosen by the supervisory staff members. The employee receives a certificate, an Employee of the Month Pin, balloons and a card with their name is placed on a plaque which is located in the lunch room. The employee also receives an hour of comp time to use within the month.

In addition, the monthly meeting recognizes other staff members that were nominated in Franklin County's "Way to Go" program. This program was started by the County Commissioners. Staff can nominate fellow employees. The nominator and person being recognized may win Chamber dollars at participating stores. Also, employees receiving a thank you from a client, going ''the extra mile" for a co-worker or client etc. are also announced at the staff meeting.

Also, the Statewide Performance Report is reviewed with the staff. If goals are met, a casual day is awarded. Also, casual days are awarded if all staff members respond to best practices or training requests. Casual days have worked out very well.

The monthly meetings are supplemented by various other meetings which foster communication and help resolve issues before they become major problems.

2. Pins, Pins and Pins !!! Motivational, Inspirational and Reward Pins are given to the entire staff. For example, the entire staff received a pin that stated: " Children are our Business" to remind them why we are here and why our jobs are so important. Approximately six months later, they were given another pin which stated "Kids First". This is a reminder that the child support job is really important. In addition, staff may receive pins such as: "Thanks we appreciate your extra effort", "Great Job", Thanks a Bunch" just to name a few. These pins are given by the Director/Supervisor to demonstrate appreciation and thanks from the managers. In January, frames were provided so that employees could display their pins. All staff members proudly display their pins on their desk.

3. Director's Submission Box- An employee receives an entry blank for various special activities (thank you notes from clients etc.), employee anniversaries etc. Drawings are held every so often and employees have won: beta fish, plant aquariums, candles, flowers etc. This is very popular.

4. Earn a Bead program - These are provided by the Enforcement Unit Supervisor for various accomplishments such as completing delinquency lists, attaining financial goals etc, monthly attendance with no absences etc.

5. Bulletin Board Themes- Staff tell about themselves, games, DRS events and a Client thank you's are posted for all to see.

6. Party Planners- Every year two staff members volunteer as party planners. They plan all kinds of special events such as a Super Bowl Party, Monthly Anniversary Party (to celebrate staff that remain with DRS) Valentines Party, Pizza Party, etc. Most is accomplished during lunch breaks but evening and weekend events are also planned with an invitation to all staff. The DRS also performs community service such as collecting for the homeless and donating toys at Christmas to the Toy Mission. These events help to bond the staff, form relationships and work together as a team.

Huntingdon County DRS

Utilizing the automated system (PACSES), the Domestic Relations Section identifies cases eligible for referral to the Welfare to Work program. These clients are given a choice of a monetary order or registering with work programs. Directly following the meeting with the Hearing Officer, the client meets with caseworkers who carefully explain the Order. The client has an opportunity to immediately appeal the order. If the client chooses to register with a work program, and is not eligible for the Welfare to Work program, there is a referral to other contracted programs (OVR, SPOC, Up Front etc.).

Strong individual case management and collaboration with the Welfare to Work Program, the County Judge and the County Assistance Office are keys to the success of this program. Through this program, both the NCP and CP can obtain the same benefits to education, training, re-training and re-direction into the job market.

Indiana County DRS

Indiana Co. has adopted a new procedure to handle contempt cases. As the Enforcement Officers are working cases, any cases in contempt of the Court Order are sent a Past Due Notice. If the defendant does not comply with the Past Due Notice, within 30 days, a contempt hearing is scheduled in front of the DRS's Permanent Hearing Officer (PHO). The PHO conducts a contempt hearing with the DRS staff attorney present to represent the interest of the child/ren. The PHO makes a written recommendation to the Court at the time of the
hearing. This recommendation is signed by the defendant and plaintiff (if present) and submitted to the Court. The defendant has 10 days to file exceptions. If no exceptions are filed, the defendant must purge him/herself, or a contempt hearing is scheduled before the Judge. If the defendant does not purge him/herself by the time of the contempt hearing in front of the Judge, the Judge incarcerates the defendant for 6 months or until the purged condition is satisfied.

Jefferson County DRS

Applications for Child Support Services

Because the County Assistance Office (CAO) is a 40 mile round trip to our Domestic Relations Office (DRO), we have a waiver for the client to appear in our office prior to obtaining cash assistance. DRO has an agreement with the CAO to insure cooperation with the clients for child and or spousal support purposes.

The CAO has an application form for child/ren and or spousal support that the client must sign before they can receive cash assistance. The Assistance Caseworker then has the client complete a questionnaire that includes all the information needed to complete the PACSES intake process which also includes the confidential address confirmation.

The worker then forwards the signed application and questionnaire forms to the Domestic Relations Office and the Client Information Systems referral is then cleared to a PACSES case. PACSES is then updated with the information received from the CAO.

The complaint for support is then printed and forwarded to the DPW/BCSE Agent assigned to Jefferson County for signature and then the original complaint for support is filed for docketing purposes.

This eliminates any cases where the plaintiff "forgets the appointment" to appear at the DRS for her application for support.

Customer Service Folders

The Jefferson County Domestic Relations Office has a gift we give the plaintiff when they appear in this office for intake. Usually when they come in and complete the process, they have information with them that they shove in a bag or envelope. If they want a copy of their complaint, or if they are given information pamphlets they get shoved in the same envelope and are usually lost in the process and they must request copies that take up caseworker time.

We purchased blue folders with pockets in them and we have a bright yellow sticker that has our agency name, address and telephone number that we put on the front of the folder. We also printed cards that we fill out with their PACSES case number, PACSES member ID and caseworker name that are inserted to the folder. These cards are pre-printed with the DRS telephone number, DRS Fax number and the PA SCDU toll free number.

When the intake process is done, we put all information necessary for the client to call us in that folder and any pamphlets they need for questions in the future. This way when they need to call, they have all the numbers and information necessary to expedite the call in their folders and if they receive any future mailings, they can put them in the folder and hopefully they will not get lost.

Lancaster County DRS

    NONCUSTODIAL PARENTS (DRS DEFENDANTS)
    WELFARE TO WORK PROGRAM

In a cooperative effort between Lancaster County DRS and Lancaster Employment and Training Agency (LETA), we are assisting non-custodial parents increase their earning capacity and overcome their inability to pay child support obligations. LETA has subcontracted to Handi-Crafters, Inc. to administer the Welfare-to-Work program in Lancaster County. Handi-Crafters, Inc. has designed a program which will accept referrals of non-custodial parents from Domestic Relations and assist them in overcoming employment barriers. In addition, Handi-Crafters, Inc. can assist non-custodial parents with educational needs, training needs, career and employment plans and job readiness skills. When a non-custodial parent is referred to Handi-Crafters, Inc., the individual must complete an initial assessment of education, skills, attitude and job readiness. Upon completion of the assessment, Handi-Crafters, Inc. will then place the individual into the appropriate program or programs which will assist this person to finding permanent, long-term employment.

Non-custodial parents can be referred to the program by the Court or DRS staff as an outcome of establishment, modification or contempt conferences. Although some criteria cannot be fully determined until the conference, while preparing for a conference, the Domestic Relations Conference Officer evaluates the eligibility criteria of the non-custodial defendant.

In the nine months that the program has been in effect, the DRS has referred 62 non-custodial defendants to Handi-Crafters. The screening process, failure to appear as ordered or failure to comply with the training programs eliminated 41 of those referred. Appropriate court action was initiated based on their individual circumstances. Handi-Crafters accepted 21 non-custodial defendants into the program. At this time 12 of those individuals have found work and are no longer enrolled in the program. Their average salary is $7.79 per hour.

The following information provides procedures, policy and forms which were developed by Lancaster County DRS to address the needs of the DRS and LETA.

    LANCASTER COUNTY DRS POLICY

PROBLEM: Unemployed defendants (noncustodial parents) often have little or no work history, limited job skills and lack a high school diploma or GED. Thus, their prospects for employment are limited. Often these individuals appear in contempt conferences and/or before the Court on numerous occasions with few if any positive results. Support payments are usually nonexistent or sporadic. In addition, establishment of a financial obligation may be delayed or nonexistent due to the underemployed or unemployed status of the noncustodial parent.

PROGRAM: Title VIII of H.R. 3424, enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2000, contains the "Welfare to Work and Child Support Amendments of 1999". These amendments make several significant changes to the Welfare-to-Work (WtW) grant programs administered by the Department of Labor. These changes allow WtW grantees to more effectively serve both long-term welfare recipients and noncustodial parents of low-income children and to streamline WtW reporting requirements. Examples of services provided under the program include assessment of education and skill level, job readiness, job placement, vocational training and post-employment services.

NON CUSTODIAL PARENT ELIGIBILITY: Under the 1999 amendments, noncustodial parents are eligible if the following conditions are met:

1. They are unemployed, underemployed, or having difficulty paying child support obligations.
2. Their minor children are eligible for, or receiving TANF benefits (with a priority for parents with children who are long-term recipients), receiving TANF benefits during the preceding year, or are eligible for, or receiving assistance under the Food Stamps program, the Supplemental Security Income program, Medicaid, or the CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program).
3. They enter into a personal responsibility contract under which they commit to cooperating in establishing paternity and paying child support, and participating in services to increase their employment and earnings, and to support their children.

    PROCEDURE:

1. Identify a noncustodial parent who is unemployed, underemployed or is having difficulty paying their child support obligation(s).

2. Determine, through CIS (DPW's Client Information System), if minor child(ren) is/are eligible (#2 above). Verification of CHIP is limited to supervisors, therefore, DRS staff should discount all other eligibility prior to seeking CHIP confirmation.

3. If conditions are met, explain to noncustodial parent the reason for your decision and provide basic information about the program. Schedule fifteen calendar days into the future @ 9:00 A.M. Monday through Friday, no holidays Complete WtW program form with date and time of appointment. Give the client their copy and fax copy to Handi-Crafters, Inc. 4. Prepare a summary and recommended (not agreed) order for the Court's review. The order must include the following direction:

The defendant is directed to participate in the Welfare to Work program administered by Handi-Crafters, Inc., 447 S. Prince St., Lancaster, PA 17601, and comply with and follow their recommendations. Failure to comply with this Order and/or failure to cooperate at any time with the Welfare to Work program or any other contracted program to which you have been referred may result in your being brought before the Court for contempt of the Court's order.

The defendant is directed to appear for an intake appointment at Handi-Crafters, Inc. on _________________________. (This date and time must be consistent with scheduled appointment given to the client at the conference and must be included on the order forwarded to the Court for review.)
Attach a PACSES note (appointment date and time with Handi-Crafters, Inc.) to the activity from which this order resulted

5. Do not forward a copy of the support order to Handi-Crafters.

6. Handi-Crafters, Inc. will complete Outcome of Referral part IV and Follow-Up part V for fax (717-293-7270) return to DRS on an ongoing basis.

    HEALTH CARE COVERAGE

    Description/Goal:

Pursuant to 23 Pa.C.S.A. § 4326, in every proceeding to establish or modify an order which requires the payment of child support, the court shall ascertain the ability of each parent to provide health care coverage for the children of the parties and the order shall provide health care coverage for each child as appropriate.

Since 1992, the majority of support orders entered in Lancaster County directed a parent to provide health care coverage. Verification of the coverage was maintained in the case file but not in the computer database. In November 1997, Lancaster County Domestic Relations Section case data was transferred to the Pennsylvania's statewide automated child support enforcement system known as PACSES. It is important to note that during the conversion planning for transfer of data from the legacy system into PACSES, Lancaster County DRS made the decision to convert all cases with a medical indicator that the non-custodial parent is directed to provide the coverage (indicator: 'Y') since this represented the majority of cases.

The design of PACSES provides easy access to enter or view the health care coverage data. However, in spite of ongoing instructions to workers, a report produced by PACSES in February 2000, demonstrated poor results. Of the 14,328 PACSES cases with medical indicators which directed the non-custodial parent to provide health care coverage, only 1,411 or 10% of the cases had the information to verify that the coverage had been provided. Action was initiated to identify the cause of the poor results and to develop and implement a corrective action plan.

    Cause

The result of the investigation for the cause appeared to be the absence of entry of the health insurance data into PACSES by DRS workers and the pre-conversion decision to convert all cases with the medical indicator 'Y'. In many instances, workers had obtained verification of coverage from employers and/or clients, but had failed to enter the documentation into PACSES. Case files contained the documentation with dates before and after PACSES conversion. At this point in time, it would have taken significant staff resources to review each case file to confirm if information has been provided. Therefore, the DRS decided to make use of the automated system to resolve the problem.

    Corrective Action Phase I

DRS requested PACSES identify cases that met the following criteria: 1) health care coverage indicator 'Y'; 2) valid employer data; and 3) no medical insurance data in system. Next DRS submitted a request for PACSES to generate orders/subpoenas for health insurance information for employers. On June 2, 2000, 7,000 of these documents were generated and mailed to employers. PACSES entered a case diary entry that the orders were generated to the employers.

Additionally, all DRS staff received a 'refresher' course related to proper use of the medical support indicators and to adding medical insurance information into the database in order to insure the accuracy of data on an ongoing basis. DRS also made procedural changes so that insurance information was being entered into the database by the Case Initiation Unit as soon as the order/subpoena for earnings and health insurance information was returned by employers. At the conferences where orders are established or modified, Conference Officers are required to verify the accuracy of the medical insurance information and make any updates to this information. This part of Phase 1 is critical so that the other ongoing actions to improve the statistical measures are primarily focused on converted cases.

    Results:

Once the documents were returned by employers, case reviews were completed by DRS workers to insure the support order was still in effect and to validate the identification of the children as those on the support order. In cases where coverage was in effect, medical insurance data was entered into the PACSES database. If the employers' information was no longer valid, employment records were updated so other enforcement remedies could be pursued.

The reviews identified:
* 300 employer verifications that coverage was available but the children were not enrolled (approximately 100 employers included enrollment forms for signatures)
*1,551 coverages were unavailable due to part-time employment; termination of employment (this produced a double benefit of updating our employment records) or coverage not provided by the employer
*2,200 cases in which medical insurance coverage in effect for children on the support order

    Corrective Action Phase 2

In completing Phase 1, it became clear that there were more cases with the incorrect medical indicator from PACSES conversion than was initially believed. It was noted that many cases were 'interstate initiating' in which the responding state was required to maintain insurance data or cases in which the DRS was collecting arrearage balances but not ongoing support. Again, DRS took advantage of the automated system to assist with Phase 2. DRS requested reports from PACSES of all cases with an 'interstate initiating' indicator and all cases in which there was no ongoing financial support obligation.

    Results

PACSES generated reports based on the criteria requested. DRS staff reviewed the cases identified to determine appropriate actions. This review included use of the legacy system to identify non-financial support cases versus those cases which were open for collection of arrears only. DRS staff then updated the medical indicators for the case in PACSES as appropriate.

The reviews identified:
*1,500 arrears collection only or interstate cases

    Corrective Action Phase 3

Phase 3 involved development of a strategy to deal with the remaining cases in which medical indicators indicate the non-custodial parent is obligated to provide coverage, but no medical information exists in the database. As before, DRS requested assistance from PACSES to identify cases for which the medical insurance obligation is indicated but there is still no verification of coverage in the database.

    Results

PACSES identified 2,329 cases which fit these criteria and generated a report for DRS staff to use in updating the medical indicators. At this point in the process, DRS staff undertook the effort to review the current support order to determine those cases in which the custodial parent is directed to provide medical insurance or those cases where the Court has determined that medical insurance is not available to the non-custodial parent at a reasonable cost. On a case-by-case basis, the medical indicators were then updated by DRS staff. In those cases where the non-custodial parent was still obligated to provide coverage and had not done so, the medical indicators were updated to noncompliance indicators - 'P'.

Once this change is made, a PACSES-generated alert is transmitted to a DRS worker in the Case Management Services Unit. The initial action of the DRS worker is to issue a notice to the non-custodial parent advising that the support order directs the parent to provide coverage and that proof of the coverage must be provided to the DRS within 10 days.

Appropriate action by DRS staff will be taken based on the response or lack of response (lack of response results in another PACSES-generated alert).

The reviews identified:
* 625 custodial parents were directed by the current support order to provide medical insurance

Examples of required follow up action by DRS staff::

* Mailing enrollment forms to the non-custodial parent.
* Updating PACSES data to reflect current employment status, medical insurance information and the party responsible for coverage.
* Initiating enforcement action in cases where non-custodial parent fails to provide medical insurance information or to provide medical coverage.
* Providing assistance to parties in modification of support orders in cases where circumstances have changed and the other parent is currently providing the medical insurance.
* Drafting qualified medical support orders by DRS Staff Attorney in which employers are directed to enroll the children in available group medical plans in instances where the non-custodial parent fails to comply.

    Outcome of efforts as of June 30, 2001

As a result of efforts to correct data records and gather health insurance information through the variety of means described above, Lancaster County Domestic Relations has verified that health care coverage is provided in 55% of the cases in which non-custodial parents are ordered to provide it. The raw data is that this coverage is ordered in 8,076 cases and health insurance verification was obtained in 4,439 cases.

    Ongoing efforts

DRS staff continues to work on an ongoing basis to insure that the coverage is provided by non-custodial parents as ordered by the Court. This includes ongoing efforts to enter and verify health insurance information every time a case action is taken and insuring that the medical indicators in PACSES properly reflect the provisions of the support order.

PACSES periodically updates the data report which shows cases in which health care coverage is ordered, but not provided. The Case Management Service Unit continues to systematically work on these cases to seek voluntary compliance from non-custodial parents through written requests for the health insurance information. If this effort is unsuccessful and the non-custodial parent is employed, staff members issue order/subpoenas for health insurance information to the employer. As appropriate, these cases may be referred for qualified medical support orders or be scheduled for contempt conferences as resources permit.

Lycoming County DRS

Shortly before SCDU, we began retraining three key financial workers to become Customer service representatives. These workers are available during business hours for routine phone calls from clients, legal professionals and outside agencies. They are also designated as the SCDU and employer liaisons. The customer service representatives are responsible for SPAM requests and making employer inquiries when payments are missed or there appears to be an employer/SCDU problem. Because they are also familiar with the intricacies of PASCES financial distribution, they can answer some of the most common questions from payees. Why is my check different, why did DPW get money, etc.

To insure that two customer service lines are always open, the third employee acts as a back up. We prepared a script of most asked questions from each unit of the office (intake, establishment and enforcement) to insure consistent and concise information is given out.

Conference and enforcement officers see clients for appointments and walk ins all day during regular business hours. Due to this demand, we limit our client phone calls to two hours per day, five days a week. The addition of customer service representatives allows clients more access to our office for general information.

Montgomery County DRS

Team Approach to Case Management

Montgomery County has taken a Team Caseload Approach to handling support matters. The concept was recommended by the Bureau of Child Support Enforcement Staff as part of a requested departmental review in December 1998. The Team Concept provides for a team of 5 Officers(2 establishment, 2 enforcement and 1 supervisor) and 4 clerical support staff. We have also assigned a customer support representative to each team. The supervisor of each team is responsible for making sure the caseload is managed effectively in terms of expedited conference scheduling. They are also responsible for monitoring the status of the 5 incentive criteria affecting the revenues of the department. Monthly reports are provided to the teams and posted in a public area comparing these criteria in each team. The approach has been quite successful to date in the case processing area. It also provided a much needed opportunity for promotion among the staff by creating the supervisor position. Another positive result is that the enforcement officers and the establishment officers within the team communicate on virtually every case. Establishment knows how to prepare the clients for enforcement procedures and vice-versa. The officers began to cross train as they learned more about the others responsibilities which was a natural reaction to having establishment and enforcement officers on the same team and not a planned situation. Montgomery County currently has 5 teams and a total caseload of approximately 25,000.

Title IV-D Compliance Unit

When discussions took place some time ago about the changes to the incentive process it was decided that the office needed to assign responsibility for tracking our progress in those areas to insure that we are maintaining an acceptable level of compliance. The creation of SCDU and the office restructuring helped to allocate resources to this task. The unit consists of 4 persons: the PACSES Administrator(the unit manager), 2 full time and 1 part time support staff. This unit is responsible for tracking progress in each of the incentive categories and preparing graphs and reports tracking the departments progress and breaking the reports down for a team by team and unit by unit comparison. They also maintain statistics for the quarterly and annual report to the Judges and County Commissioners. The unit was a big hit when the office was visited by the state auditors and an even bigger hit when charts were easily produced to support the request for 9 additional staff members. The request was successful by the way! When the commonwealth and PACSES began to provide data clean up lists this unit took the lists and began performing clean up tasks and evaluating what caused the problem in the first place. The IV-D compliance unit then develops an internal office policy to prevent the list from growing larger. The IV-D Compliance manager conducts weekly morning "power meetings" for one half hour with each unit to explain the procedures.

Philadelphia County DRS

The Networking for Jobs Program (NJP) is a Family Court initiative designed to provide access to job training and employment opportunities for those least able to obtain these services on their own. The main focus of NJP is to link unemployed noncustodial parents (NCPs) with at least one child with an active TANF case with the resources they need to enable the NCP to become self-sufficient and better able to pay their support obligations. Although primarily aimed at NCPs with children on welfare, NJP also has limited resources available to non-welfare custodial and non-custodial parents. The Networking for Jobs Program provides parents with: coordinated, comprehensive job training; identification of jobs resources; job banks and information referral systems; assistance in job application and resume preparation; mentoring and support services; alternatives to criminal and delinquent behavior.

The objectives of the Networking for Jobs Program:
* Change Attitudes
* Develop Marketable Jobs Skills
* Enable Employment
* Increase Amount and Regularitv of Child Support Payments
* Break the Cycle of Poverty
* Preserve Family Units
* Reinforce Positive Family Values

Tioga County DRS

Interstate cases are a perpetual problem in child support. While more than 30% of the child support cases involve two states, interstate collections are less than 10% of the total.

Tioga County, has worked with Chemung County and Steuben County, New York to develop an effective solution to many of their interstate problems by improving communication. Problems that previously took two or more weeks to fix as letters were sent back and forth are now being resolved by a simple phone call.

Also, an interstate worker in Tioga County can ask their counterpart in Chemung or Steuben for information (e.g. an address from the Department of Motor Vehicles). Because both New York and Pennsylvania have a statewide system, workers can provide information on a case from any county in their state. This effective partnership also means that Chemung and Steuben will quickly process cases that Tioga County identifies as a priority. Tioga returns the favor for priority cases from Chemung and Steuben Counties.

York County DRS

This program is a collaborative effort between the Domestic Relations Section and Kid's Now Access and Visitation Program. This program is designed to empower parents to assume emotional, moral, spiritual, psychological and financial responsibilities for their children. It is also designed to improve a child's financial status, if unpaid child support is a factor.

Domestic Relations is one of the agencies referring clients to the program. Clients that are mandated to participate would be scheduled for contempt court if they fail to comply with the program. Results are encouraging:
    73% of the fathers successfully completed the program
    94% demonstrated an improvement in parenting skills
    77% of those employed have maintained their employment
    33% of those unemployed have acquired employment

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