04.22.02 Chicago Appleseed Child Support Model System Incorporated in Pending Legislation
Chicago Appleseed Child Support Model System Incorporated in Pending Legislation
April 22, 2002
On April 5, 2002, the Illinois House of Representatives unanimously passed H.B. 5140. At a hearing on the bill, Representative Eileen Lyons cited Chicago Appleseed as "the major architect for the bill." Many of the concepts incorporated in the legislation are based on the model system outlined in the 1998 report issued by Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers, "Child Support in Cook County: A Model for Improved Performance," and on the results of Chicago Appleseed's comprehensive research and individual representation project conducted between 2000 and the present. H.B. 5140 is entitled the Unified Child Support Services Act. If it passes, this Act will bring about sweeping changes in the way Illinois counties administer their child support programs. The legislation is now being considered by the Illinois Senate.
Under the bill as passed by the Illinois House of Representatives, the Illinois Department of Public Aid ("IDPA") will hand over the day-to-day operations of the child support agency in Cook and DuPage Counties to the County State's Attorney. In Cook County, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office ("SAO") would have primary responsibility for child support collection and enforcement. However, under the legislation, the SAO is required to develop a plan that must be approved by the IDPA -- a plan that must contain the basic tenets of the Chicago Appleseed model. These include providing services seamlessly with an "under one roof" structure. Other aspects of the bill include assigning each child support case to a "go-to" person who has accountability for the case, establishing evening and weekend hours, and providing quality customer service to both custodial and non-custodial parents. Other counties can choose to opt into the Act.
Over the past ten years, Chicago Appleseed has studied the issue of child support in Cook County, Illinois. We led a task force of government agencies, legal services providers, and community-based organizations that examined child support over a series of meetings. Some of these agencies included the Illinois Department of Public Aid, the Cook County State's Attorney, the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court, the Office of the Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Court, the Cook County Sheriff's Office, and the Cook County Public Defender's Office. We interviewed over 100 people, represented parents in child support matters, conducted court watching, and surveyed eleven states.
For more information on child support, see:
Anne Case et al., Explaining Child Support Trends: Economic, Demographic, and Policy Effects, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing, Princeton, working paper #00-20 (2000). See http://www.northwestern.edu/ipr/jcpr/workingpapers/wpfiles/case_lin_mclanahan.pdf
Vicki Turetsky, Realistic Child Support Policies for Low Income Fathers, Center for Law and Social Policy (2000), available at www.clasp.org.
Laura Wheaton & Elaine Sorensen, Child Support And Welfare Costs: Reducing Welfare Costs and Dependency: How Much Bang for the Child Support Buck?, Volume 4, George Washington University Public Policy Review, at page 23 (1998).
Please contact me if you need further information or have questions.
Malcolm Rich
malcolmrich@chicagocouncil.org