Pennsylvania Domestic Relations Sections
Best Practices in the Child Support Program
Seventh Edition
June 2006
Pennsylvania Best Practices
Seventh Edition
This is the seventh 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 and State creativity. It covers the entire range of child support operations. Counties are using these booklets to identify successful solutions to a variety of issues from customer service to work 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.
Cumberland County
LOCATE BEST PRACTICES
In order to improve the statistical performance criteria upon which funding is directly tied to, you must look at a couple of factors:
1.) Methods of locating missing clients must be improved.
2.) In the broad sense of an office caseload, you must eliminate clients from the locate pool that do not need locating.
Upon initial application process, if any of the 4 key data elements are missing, the intake officer will contact an enforcement officer. Enforcement Officer (EO) will then interview the applicant and then go to local resources to attempt to obtain the missing information.
Resources that are utilized:
PACSES-there are times when partial information may already be in the system. The Domestic Relations Office (DRO) must use some of the many automated reports provided by PACSES to not only locate new respondents. Many of the existing cases in PACSES are probably able to be closed due to meeting Federal case closure criteria or clients may have had private agreements, reconciled, or may have died and no one has thought to advise the (DRO).
From a case monitoring perspective we regularly review cases using:
1.) Federal Case Closure Report. This id’s all cases eligible for closure under Federal criteria.
2.) Financial non-compliance Report E009. This id’s all delinquent cases at 3 months, 6 months and over 12 months.
3.) Pending Paternity and Support Order Actions R606. This id’s cases with pending actions. Data is given to Conference Officers (COs’) to review cases that have been pending for an unreasonably long time.
4.) State and Federal New Hire Lists. Information is reviewed and postal and employer verification notices are sent out.
5.) Self-Assessment Reports that are reviewed are those that “id” cases which are pending, delinquent and id’s UIFSA cases that need review.
The reports listed above are reviewed on a regular basis by one person and when aberrations appear, the case is given to the proper person to attempt to take the necessary steps to resolve whatever issue has arisen within the case, where possible. Obviously not all cases can be located and not all issues can be resolved. The key is to reduce the numbers needing to be looked at.
The primary resource for most locating activity remains with the Enforcement Unit. Having professionally trained, adequately staffed and committed staff members is of critical importance. The following are some of the tools that are used as well as some of the internal methodologies we employ in our attempts to maximize efficiency.
Harrisburg METRO System- Harrisburg area police system that will show a variety of information to include recent citations, arrests, complaints, Police/Fire Dispatch, tax & voter information
Numerous internet search sites
Department of Public Welfare System
JNET-obtain drivers license information and also photograph that plaintiff could possibly identify
Accurint- site that you can search name, name & ssn, name & town, address only, and reverse phone checks, plus other features
Telephone-make contact with plaintiffs, defendants, employers, relatives of both parties, neighbors other governmental agencies
Team/worker mail- follow up daily on mail alerts with possible employers or addresses and also confirm DEMO information that may be new
Email-contact plaintiffs and defendants at email addresses that they have provided in the past
EO’s will also make street visits to confirm or rule out information that was provided or obtained through other means. During times on the street officers will also stop in the local police department and speak with officers. This promotes cooperation and continuity between departments
EO’s are assigned to specific CO’s. This enables the EO to become very familiar with clients, their circumstances, their surroundings as well as associates and friends. EO looks at the “problem cases” more frequently and can take action on case prior to it going into “locate” status. Officers will also have a good starting point to begin locate work when/if the case comes into locate status
EO’s serve our agency’s warrants. With this capability we can follow up on information more rapidly and can bring individuals before the court in a more timely fashion. We are not dependant upon another agency to assist with this function of our jobs
We have developed and implemented an “In Team” and “Out Team” program. Officers rotate schedules in and out of the office. Out team will make all services and warrant attempts and street visits and contacts. “In team” will handle any intake locate requests, develop leads on other cases in locate or warrant status and feed that information to the “Out Team” for follow up
We have a rigid training schedule wherein our EO staff receives regular scenario training in the field, use of force training, mediation training, as well as the required weapons training. This is important because area police agencies recognize our Enforcement Section as a highly trained professional unit deserving of their respect. There is a great deal of interaction between law enforcement units during this field training which allows more sources from which to extract or obtain information on individuals trying to fly below the radar. The information is often mutually beneficial which further enhances future interaction.
Erie County
Erie County carefully analyzed their performance on arrears cases. They developed a PASCES query on the difference between Line 28 - Cases with Arrears Due During the Fiscal Year and Line 29 - Cases Paying Toward Arrearages During the Fiscal Year on the OCSE 157 report. The first query, which was July data revealed some interesting things: Out of 3,448 cases on this query, we had
1,623 that were coded locate,
419 where the defendant was incarcerated.
335 closed cases without payment on arrears
154 cases where the defendant is overpaid on the case level
55 cases showing $0.00 balance
272 outstanding bench warrants
73 defendant on C or D welfare
18 defendant on J category
These total 2,949 leaving a balance of 499 cases that enforcement officers could work, not that these cases can't be worked, but they are not easily resolved.
When they ran an update with the August OCSE 157 report numbers, it got more interesting...If we were to get a "payment" on the closed cases number (which was 391 on this query), Erie’s Payment on Arrears number for August would have moved from 10995/14173 = 77.58 to 11386/14173 = 80.34 and would have made the magic number. Erie County has asked all the directors about how their County handles direct credits, because that is really hurting big time. Almost everyone who responded will give the direct credit, but will limit the number...it still hurts our numbers.
Per Georgia Lyons at PACSES, it is a Federal requirement to count cases like those above...what I don't understand is if a couple get back together (which is a good thing), and decides they don't want to use our services (which is a good thing), we close it and forgive arrears, the County takes a hit (which is a bad thing).
Our BCSE field agent who knows everything about the buckets...could not believe that we have cases out there with $25 owing in the PM bucket and the case is prepaid in the NA bucket, and the system will keep over paying the Non TANF buckets, up to 2 times the MSO and have nothing on the TANF arrears bucket. She is talking with her supervisors to look at this problem.
For the next couple of months, we are really going to focus on locate, jailed defendants, direct credits because I think this is the only way Erie can make our performance numbers. It is really interesting to look the exact cases from the ratio of lines 28 & 29.
Franklin County
Effective February 4, 2005, the Franklin County DRS hired a full time staff attorney that is housed in the DRS. This is unusual for a 5th Class County but we have found having a full time attorney is very beneficial. The responsibilities include: reviewing cases prior to Contempt Court as well as representing plaintiffs at both Contempt Court and Appeal Court. She has met with unrepresented clients in more difficult cases pertaining to self-employment, medical and disability concerns, etc. Also, handling discovery processes in more complicated matters is also a responsibility of this position. The Staff Attorney is available to provide on going training to DRS staff on legal issues and is responsible for interpretation of case law and state and federal statues.
In Contempt Court having documentation of waiters and waitresses income was a problem so a form was developed for the client to fill out and present in Court. The form is a weekly record where the employee records his/her tips and signs the form verifying the statement is true and correct.
Also, at the Intake level, the staff has found it very helpful to have small gifts for the children to keep them occupied. We have given out bubble pens, stickers, notepads, etc… The children love the surprises and the parents/guardians are happy as well. A small but great customer service idea and not too expensive since the items are ordered from Oriental Trade Co.
Jefferson County
Customer Service Folders
This office began the practice of giving folders to clients who apply for child support services several years ago when we heard of it at a training conference. When the plaintiff comes into the office to file for child support, we give them a bright blue pocket folder with a florescent yellow sticker on the front that gives the name of our agency, address and telephone number.
Inside this folder the client will find a client information sheet which explains the services this office provides, payment information including an explanation of the IRS intercept program, clients rights and responsibilities, a detailed explanation of the Pennsylvania EPPICard and a direct deposit enrollment form.
Also included in the packet is a Q&A sheet of general questions, the BCSE Child Support Handbook and the BCSE booklet on SCDU.
If paternity is an issue, pamphlets on paternity establishment will be placed in this folder, and if Blue Chip Health Care information is requested we include this in the folder.
After the intake process is completed, a copy of the complaint for support and all other information relating to the action that is given to the plaintiff is placed in the folder.
The final piece is a card which is inserted in the business card pocket inside the folder. On this card we include our office name, phone number, fax number, the PA SCDU toll free number, the client’s PACSES case number, the client’s member ID and the name of the caseworker who will handle the case after the intake process.
We advise the client to put any additional information necessary to their case inside this folder in the event they need to call the office. We have found that the information provided up front avoids many questions regarding their case in the future and eliminates needless calls for a copy of their latest court order as they already have one and they know where it is at.
Telephone Conference Hearings
Jefferson County allows for both plaintiff and defendant telephone conferencing when one or the other (or both) clients are not able to attend a conference hearing. The conference officer will allow that party to call the office and participate by telephone. If money is an issue – this office will initiate the call.
Reasons allowed for telephone conferencing are varied and include PFA issues, employment issues, travel issues and the famous “I really don’t want to face the other party” issue.
We find that if a party fails to show up for a hearing and there is a telephone number available for a home, cell phone or work, the conference officer may feel the need to try to contact the party in the event there is a question of fact. If that person cannot be reached by telephone the conference officer will continue with the hearing and either enter an order for support, or – in the event that it is the defendant who fails to appear for the hearing and we have no income verification to enter an order – send out the notice for bench warrant for failure to appear.
When a new case is scheduled and the defendant resides in another state or several counties away, we will send a letter with the hearing notice informing the defendant that he/she can have a telephone conference. This letter gives specific instructions as to what they will need to do in order to appear by telephone.
This office has found that we have fewer “no shows” for hearings, we don’t need to contact the defendant prior to the hearing to remind him/her of the hearing date and time and the defendant is more willing to submit to local jurisdiction rather than having to send the case out of state as UIFSA or intrastate as IFSA.
We have also avoided the need to reschedule a conference when the client cannot appear in person and tries to have another date scheduled because of a conflict in their schedules. When we inform them that we will do a telephone conference it usually eliminates that excuse to get out of the hearing date.
JNET
Benefits of JNET Access
County DRS employees successfully lobbied for and were granted access to the PA Justice Network (JNET) in July, 2003. Initially, DRS staff were assigned the role of “Non –Criminal Justice User”, which limited our access to mainly Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (Penn DOT) Driver’s License information and District Justice level records. Although this was very helpful, it also limited the usefulness of JNET for the Domestic Relations Section (DRS). Since that time, the relationship between JNET, BCSE, PACSES and the county DRS offices has been expanded to include JNET Notification Services, Criminal Justice access for DRS Officers and PACSES Bench Warrant listings on JNET.
Having access to Penn DOT records provided several benefits to the DRS’s. First, workers are able to verify addresses and dates of birth from driver’s licenses which can then be added to PACSES in order to obtain the automated match necessary to begin the driver’s license suspension remedy. In addition, DRS workers are also able to obtain photographs of defendants to be used for verification purposes. This can be a very valuable asset and safety feature in the conference setting as well as to enforcement personnel serving bench warrants in the field. DRS workers can also see the actual certified driver’s history from the Penn DOT files in order to verify current license status, etc.
The first project which included the actual exchange of information between the PACSES database and the JNET system was the JNET Notification Service. In short, this program involves a cross match between any individual whose name is entered into JNET as being involved in an event (i.e. arrest, criminal disposition, parole violation, Penn DOT change of address, etc.) and is listed on the “watch list” provided by PACSES. If a match is made, the designated DRS worker(s) is automatically sent an e-mail which alerts the worker to check JNET for further information. If a new arrest has occurred, for example, the worker may be able to get an updated address or upcoming hearing dates/ times for an individual they have been seeking. This has proven to be a very valuable locate/enforcement tool, especially the larger counties. However, the current watch list provided by PACSES is limited to the Bench Warrant list, which many would like to see expanded to include all of the defendants who are currently in locate.
Since the beginning of this project, it was apparent that JNET contained a lot of information that the DRS’s were prevented from accessing, due to our assigned role of Non-criminal Justice User. In July of 2005, following an extensive review by the JNET legal department-at the request of the Domestic Relations Association of PA, all DRS workers were granted “Criminal Justice” access to JNET. Of course, the stipulation is that DRS users can only access this information in their official capacity to assist in establishing and enforcing child support orders. DRS workers cannot use JNET criminal justice information in spousal support only cases or for any other purpose outside their role in child support matters for the court.
Most recently, through the collaborative efforts of all of the agencies identified above, DRS warrants included in PACSES (as determined by the individual counties), are now listed in JNET. The warrants are available to be viewed by any police agency having a JNET connection. Police agencies have been encouraged to act upon these warrants, and complete DRS contact information is displayed for the Officer along with the warrant information. Because there are over 40,000 DRS warrants currently in existence in PA, this program is expected to be very effective as it becomes fully operational across the state and as more police agencies begin to have access to JNET in their cruisers through the use of a wireless connection.
Lancaster County
Introduction: Barriers develop during the course of working relationships; the purpose of this conference is, through cooperation, to overcome these obstacles. This morning we will be addressing common issues, possible resolutions, and helpful tips to increase the working relationship between Puerto Rico Child Support Office, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and other states.
I. Language barriers
A. Language barriers arise when states attempt to contact Puerto Rico for case information by phone. An easy solution is to have the 67 counties of Pennsylvania and ten regions of Puerto Rico to provide a contact that is bi-lingual or trained to utilize Language Line services.
B. Please remember that Puerto Rico does not follow Daylight Savings Time. The best time to contact Puerto Rico is during working hours of: 8:00am to 4:30pm in the summer and 7:00am to 3:30pm in the winter. If you want to contact Puerto Rico by phone, please understand that not all case workers have voicemail and a second attempt may be needed.
C. Puerto Rico is now providing its caseworkers with English language training in all of the regional offices. Caseworkers are more comfortable with communicating in English if it is in writing, such as e-mail or CSENET.
D. When conducting normal business on support cases it would be in the best interests of all states involved, to contact the regional office directly. ASUME should only be contacted if there were to be an emergency or a specific reoccurring problem with a region. Central registry will then follow up on the case.
E. Puerto Rico has provided us with an updated contact list. To receive an updated contact list notify Iris Gonzalez Gorritz, Director of Central Registry at her email address: igonzalez@asume.gobierno.pr
II. Paternity - Full Faith and Credit
A. Puerto Rico has been having difficulty with the issue of paternity when registering orders to other states. Responding states sometimes require genetic testing when the parties were not married at the time of birth.
B. In Puerto Rico, if a man voluntarily acknowledges his child, his name is then placed on the birth certificate. To have this done, the couple must visit the General Registry of Vital Statistics and sign a legally binding document. The couple may also sign in the hospital or institution of the birth in front of the administrator or director of the institution. This document is then remitted to the General Registry of Vital Statistics for registration. This document acts similar to our Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity.
C. According to the law of Puerto Rico, a voluntary acknowledgement is the equivalent of a final determination of paternity, if it is not challenged by the father within 60 days. The ASM -715 form (Full Faith and Credit of Birth Certificate) will accompany the birth certificate whenever an UIFSA petition is sent where the parties were not married.[1]
D. The Full Faith and Credit Clause ensures that judicial decisions rendered by the courts in one state are recognized and honored in every other state. UIFSA also requires states to enforce another’s child support order regardless of any conflicts of law between the issuing and responding states.[2] Therefore, the responding state’s requirement of genetic testing is superfluous.
III. Puerto Rico New Guidelines
A. Puerto Rico has established a set of new guidelines to establish support obligations. These new guidelines are in the process of being translated into English.
IV. Translation of orders
A. Translation is a lengthy process that delays the establishment and/or enforcement of an order.
B. To expedite the process, when an order is established a copy of the translated order could be provided to Puerto Rico in Spanish via a stateside translation vendor.
C. If a state that requests an order from Puerto Rico has document translation services and deems it would be faster to have it translated through said services, they may request the order in Spanish. Puerto Rico asks that the state specifies in what language they would accept the order; the fastest way to do so is via fax or e-mail
D. When Puerto Rico establishes an order on behalf of Pennsylvania and payments are being received before a translated order the initiating state can ask Puerto Rico to provide their Certification of Arrears. This document has the order information both Spanish and English.
V. Enforcement reminders
A. According to statistics from 2005, the unemployment rate in Puerto Rico is 11.8%.[3] This decreases the amount of regular payments that cases receive.
B. The Puerto Rican population is very mobile making service on defendants difficult.
C. Also, many Puerto Rican last names are hyphenated. If you do not know the defendant’s full hyphenated last name, include a Social Security Number and/or an ASUME case number when corresponding with Puerto Rico. This will expedite locating the defendant.
D. Prior to the establishment of ASUME, child support payments were paid directly to the plaintiff. Please keep in mind that when asking for redirection of payments to your state, these orders must go back to court [4]to direct the payments through Puerto Rico’s Child Support Office.
Conclusion: Working with interstate cases is often a slow process. When this fact is compounded by the addition of language barriers and the need for translation services, we must be creative and innovative in order to overcome these obstacles. If we continue to have opportunities to share our ideas and improve upon our working relationships; the speed of processing interstate cases will dramatically improve and the children will benefit.
Philadelphia County
Bench Warrant Improvement Plan / Special Projects Team
A Bench Warrant Special Projects Team was formed along with an administrative process to vacate bench warrants. The Special Projects Team augments the arrest or surrender procedure to dispose of bench warrants by working from computer reports to identify bench warrants that may be administratively vacated.
In addition, the team works proactively by contacting parties adversely affected by bench warrants to obtain relevant information. The Special Projects Team also receives information from a Tip Line (215-686-2977). Valid information is then updated and submitted for distribution to the Pre-Trial Services or the Case Management Team.
Child Support Amnesty Program
The Child Support Amnesty Program operated for one week beginning Monday, June 13, 2005 to Friday, June 17, 2005. This program focused on giving Defendants an opportunity to surrender to the Court; resolve their paternity establishment, support order establishment, and delinquency matters in good faith without judicial intervention. Unemployed Defendants were invited to participate in a jobs program. Defendants alleging no earning capacity and or being unemployable were referred to a Support Master who held an earning capacity hearing.
The Amnesty Program was publicized via local news stations, newspapers, flyers, FJDP DRD website, OCSE, BCSE, Fatherhood Network, and other media venues such as the PECO Tower.
Writ Service
The writ service process was improved by having writ servers perform a perfunctory administrative locate investigation before attempting personal service in the field. As a result prior to service 948 Defendants were located in prison, 50 confirmed deceased, and 4,159 incorrect addresses were identified.
In addition writ service is attempted during non-traditional hours. The successful service ratio increased an average of 6%. The overall unit successful personal service rate averaged a 13% increase monthly during 2005.
Networking for Jobs Unit Expanded
The Networking for Jobs Unit has been expanded to include two Conference Officers and Master in Support.
Conference Officers
The Conference Officers conduct support establishment and support compliance conferences in both local an Interstate Responding Cases after a Defendant completes the Jobs Program.
Employment Review Support Master
The Master in Support conducts record employment review hearings. The hearings are scheduled in a frequency intended to interrupt Defendants who allege they are unemployed yet may have “under-the table”, self employed, or other unreported income. These Defendants also appear eligible for a job program but are not actively participating in good faith (refused participation or dropped out).
The Employment Review Master will prepare a Seek Work Agreement when appropriate. If there is an existing support obligation and it appears the Defendant is intentionally unemployed, or underemployed, or has the ability to pay: the Employment Review Master will generate a Petition for Contempt and schedule a Judicial Hearing when appropriate.
If the unemployed Defendant demonstrates an inability to earn; the unemployed Defendant will be walked over or scheduled before the Special Master who will conduct an earning capacity hearing.
The hearings are also intended to reduce the number of scheduled judicial employment reviews and allow for earlier judicial hearing dates.
Westmoreland
Contempt Procedures
There are two levels of contempt: the Conference and the Hearing before a judge.
Conference Level
Qualifying defendants will be scheduled expeditiously for a Contempt Conference by the Enforcement Officer monitoring the case. Service, by rule, is by ordinary mail to the last known address. A “Notice of Non-Compliance Financial” will be generated along with the Order to Appear for the conference, and the two will be mailed together. When the worker receives the alert that the 20 day time frame for the Notice of Non-Compliance has expired, the case will be reviewed. If the defendant has remitted the required payment, the contempt conference will be canceled. If the defendant has not complied, the contempt conference has already been scheduled, and will be held at the assigned time.
If, at the conference, unemployment or under-employment is at issue, the defendant will be ordered to report to PA Career Link for evaluation, training and job search assistance as appropriate. Conference Officer will make every effort to guide the parties into consent with terms that are readily attainable and easily monitored. Though there can be some flexibility in a consent order, it is recommended that the model be considered and followed when possible.
Absent consent, the Officer will submit a Summary & Recommendation to the court along with a proposed order based upon the recommendations. The court may accept the recommendations and enter the order as prepared or make any appropriate changes. Defendant has the right of appeal.
When a defendant fails to appear, the defendant will be considered to have waived his right to challenge the contempt petition. No warrant for failure to appear will be issued. The officer will follow the procedures above for non-consent. The defendant will have the right to appeal.
Model Conference Level Contempt Order
The order will set terms for a period of six (6) months as follows:
1. Continue regular monthly support and arrears payments setting a monthly compliance date.
2. If current arrears payment amount is less than 15% of the obligation, adjust it to (at least) 15%.
3. Add a reasonable lump sum payment designed, whenever practical, to eliminate the debt within the six month period, with that lump sum being spread over the six months stating monthly due dates for compliance.
4. State in the order that failure to comply fully with the order at any monthly compliance date will be cause for scheduling the matter before the court at the next scheduled date for the assigned judge.
Request for a De Novo Hearing of the Conference Level Order
The de novo request will be forwarded to the appropriate judge who may assign the matter to a Master.
Monitoring the Order for Compliance
Docketing will create a file folder for each Lead Enforcement Officer for daily forwarding copies of Conference level contempt orders to the appropriate Lead Enforcement Officer. The lead will monitor the orders for monthly compliance, by creating monthly self-reminder notes in PACSES or by using Outlook Scheduler, delegating monitoring or scheduling tasks to individual officers, as appropriate.
If a defendant fails to comply with the order at any of the monthly due dates, the Enforcement Officer, will attempt to contact the defendant and arrange for speedy compliance. If compliance is not expeditiously achieved, and the defendant’s behavior appears to be willful, the Lead Enforcement Officer will schedule the matter before the court at the next hearing date for the appropriate judge.
Contempt Hearing (court level)
The court will hear testimony regarding the willful failure of the defendant to comply with the terms of the Conference Contempt Order, and impose appropriate sanctions or relief. Failure of a defendant to report for the Hearing before the court will be cause to issue a bench warrant. Costs will be addressed when a defendant is brought to court as a result of service by the Sheriff’s Department.
York County
Letter after conference
York County Domestic Relations has developed a letter to send out to clients 2 days after the entry of a support order, since most clients are in an emotionally elevated state while in conference and information provided to them at that time may not be clearly understood. Topics covered in the letter include, a reminder that a copy of our office policies and procedures was provided and the importance of that information in assisting them in managing their order and responsibilities, our client services contact number for any questions they may have and the importance of beginning payment on their support order immediately. In addition, the letter provides information on where to send support payments and what is to be noted on the payment for proper credit as well as notifies the defendant that failure to pay will result in being reported to the credit bureau which we do not have the ability to remove from their credit report.
A record is kept of all cases where letters are sent out and this record is utilized to monitor cases for payment. Cases where payments are not received within the first 2 weeks after the order is established are targeted for early intervention to attempt to get clients established in good payment patterns.
In the first 6 months of this project we have gone from 50% to as high as a 75% success rate, meaning clients are beginning payments within the first 2 weeks of establishment of the order and have continued ongoing payments.
The first letters were sent out in November 2005.
From November 2005 through April 2006 (6 months) we received 412 early payments on 621 cases with newly established orders for an average success rate of 66%.
In many instances not only did the payor pay their current obligation, but they also paid any retroactive arrears that were entered on the cases.
