A report of the Child Support Panel: a cooperative effort of public and private sector organizations concerned with child support enforcement in Cook County.

The Appleseed Fund For Justice & Chicago Council of Lawyers
May, 1998

The Child Support Panel was convened by the Appleseed Fund For Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers. The Panel held its first meeting on May 30, 1996, and has met several times since then. In addition, the Panel divided its work among several subcommitees, which met throughout the process. The Child Support Panel was a voluntary effort of representatives of various government agencies, legal services providers, and community groups.

The Appleseed Fund For Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers expresses its appreciation to the individuals who have participated in the Panel, to the government agencies, legal services providers, and the community groups, to Seymour Simon, who served as the moderator of the Panel, and to the law firm of Rudnick & Wolfe, which provided its office facilities for all meetings of the Panel and hosted a lunch for Panel participants.

Kathleen L. Roach, President, Chicago Council of Lawyers

Ellen L. Johnson, Chair, The Appleseed Fund For Justice

Malcolm C. Rich, Executive Director, Chicago Council of Lawyers and The Appleseed Fund For Justice

Joan S. Colen, Project Director, Chicago Council of Lawyers

Sean Collins-Stapleton and Susan Cox, Staff Associates

This Child Support Panel has enjoyed and is grateful for participation from the following organizations:

• Association for Children for Enforcement of Support (ACES)
• Circuit Court of Cook County, Office of the Chief Judge
• Circuit Court of Cook County, Domestic Relations Division
• Circuit Court of Cook County, Office of the Clerk
• City of Chicago, Office of Consumer Services
• Chicago Area Project
• Cook County Public Defender's Office
• Cook County Sheriff's Office
• Cook County State's Attorney's Office
• Families, Fathers, and Public Policy
• Family Resource Coalition
• Horner Association of Men
• Illinois Attorney General's Office
• Illinois Department of Public Aid
• Legal Assistance Foundation of Chicago
• Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, University of Chicago Law School
• Metropolitan Family Services
• National Clearinghouse for Legal Services, Poverty Law Project
• Paternal Involvement Project
• Women for Economic Security

The Appleseed Fund For Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers thanks the Chicago Foundation for Women and the Fel-Pro/Mecklenberger Foundation for their financial support of this project.

The Child Support Panel of the Appleseed Fund For Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers was established to review child support collection and enforcement procedures in Cook County and to make recommendations to improve the performance of the agencies involved.

Cook County handles about 60% of the state’s child support caseload. While the Illinois Department of Public Aid (IDPA) is the IV-D agency, and has the lead in collection and enforcement procedures, it has contracted out pieces of the process in Cook County to the Clerk of the Court, State’s Attorney, Chief Judge and Sheriff’s offices. IDPA has 269 full-time and 144 part-time staff members assigned to its Cook County office. The Clerk of the Court has 170 staff members assigned to child support. The State’s Attorney has 178, the Sheriff has 56, and the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County has approximately 27. Funding for all of the staff positions and operations comes from the IV-D program.

Participants in the Child Support Panel ("The Panel") have been from all of the government agencies named above, from legal service offices and private law firms, and from social service organizations and public policy centers concerned with family issues. The Panel, which has been meeting for almost two years, has developed a model of what the child support agency or agencies should look like and how it or they should work to achieve efficient and effective child support enforcement for the children of our community.

In meetings that were long, intense and candid, the Child Support Panel discussed the problems, the barriers, the requirements, and the expectations of all parties in a child support matter. The Panel set as its goal the maximum collection of child support for the children of Cook County.

The meetings resulted in a recommendation for a model child support collection system in Cook County that provides good client contact, accountability, and continuous, aggressive case monitoring. The Model is described in this report and the attached flow chart. Although some of the government agencies, legal services providers, and community groups who participated in the Panel may have reservations about particular recommendations contained in this report, all support the basic structure and organizational changes set out herein to improve child support enforcement for the families of Cook County and Illinois.

To make Child Support Enforcement in Cook County effective the Panel on Child Support finds and recommends the following:

A. The Welfare Reform Act (WRA) and Child Support

1. The Welfare Reform Act (WRA) continues to require every state to have one statewide agency for child support, the WRA contemplates however, that the one statewide agency may contract out for some of its services. In addition, a state's child support agency may also present a request for waiver of some of its provisions to the Department of Health and Human Services if it can be shown that having local agencies involved in some or all of the child support functions will be more efficient and cost effective. The IV-D agency should explore the potential for seeking such waivers for some of the functions handled by the Cook County child support agency.

2. The WRA requires that each state have one, statewide computer system for child support. The requirements for this statewide computer system have evolved in the past eight years, but several constants remain. The system should have data input at the point of origin of any activity, and data retrieval by any of the authorized users from any point and for all the information. Information in the system should be accurate, timely and complete. It is also anticipated that defined information milestones will trigger collection and enforcement events and administrative processes within routine, automatic procedures.

3. The WRA requires a significant shift to administrative processes, and those processes can be used effectively to identify certain pre-defined milestones, put procedures in motion, and determine certain facts.

4. The WRA administrative process anticipates non-court, out of court, and pre-court hearings that could be structured to identify issues in conflict, issues not in conflict and agreed or disputed solutions.

5. These administrative hearings should functionally be within the scope of work of the IV-D agency while still within the bounds of due process.

6. Custodial parents who need child support assistance are in a particularly vulnerable position, since the WRA clock has begun to run, and those on welfare face the 60 month end of services whether child support collection is improved or not.

B. The Child Support Agency in Cook County

l. We suggest that there be one agency named the Child Support Agency in Cook County (the "Agency"), and that it have the responsibility to design, implement and monitor paternity establishment and child support collections and enforcement in Cook County.

2. The Agency might be either one of the existing child support related agencies in Cook County; an entirely new agency created or approved by the IV-D Agency; or an office or bureau of the IV-D agency, assigned to Cook County cases only.

3. The custodial parents involved in the child support system are often in life and job situations over which they have little or no control. They are more likely than not to be in jobs with little time off, and generally have very few resources available. Helping these custodial parents must include providing basic information and services in a compassionate, convenient, speedy and efficient process, including evening and weekend hours for service.

4. The custodial parents who come to the Child Support Agency for help are generally not in a position to wait a long time for money to start arriving.

5. A pilot project should be established to facilitate the voluntary resolution of issues of visitation and custody. These issues, while not strictly within the scope of child support enforcement, are, when present, high predictors of trouble in enforcement and collection. It is therefore preferable to resolve those issues early and by mediation, rather than leaving them unresolved, or pushed into a forced resolution by judicial order. The process to collect child support should continue while issues of custody and visitation are resolved. Custody and visitation issues should not be permitted to delay child support payments.

6. Child support collection efforts should include successful procedures used in the private sector and may or may not be contracted out from the Child Support Agency.

7. The Child Support Agency should recognize that some non-custodial parents have so limited an ability to find and/or hold a job, that to use up limited resources pursuing those absent parents would be an unrealistic and unproductive exercise. The Child Support Agency must have discretion to make an employability assessment in order to make this determination.

8. Legislation should be submitted to permit the cost of collection to be ADDED to the amount in arrears on any collection cases, rather than taken out of the amount tendered to the custodial parent after collection. The IV-D Agency should not seek such costs, however, if a non-custodial parent is truly unable to pay child support.

9. Many functions traditionally performed by named agencies, i.e., State’s Attorney, Clerk of the Court, Sheriff and even Judges, could be performed under well defined procedures by Child Support Agency staff assigned to those functions. Prosecuting cases can be done by attorneys assigned to the Child Support Agency as designated special Assistant State's Attorneys or special Assistant Attorneys General. Process papers can be served by process servers hired by that agency. Documents and information normally developed or maintained by the Clerk of the Court could just as well be handled by some other named and trained staff.

10. By identifying early in the process those absent parents who will not be likely to respond to aggressive child support initiatives, the Child Support Agency can focus more attention on the immediate needs of the custodial parent in that situation. The Child Support Agency should, especially in these cases, cooperate with other agencies in the referral of custodial parents to programs for benefits, job training, child care, and other support services.

11. The federal government's 60 month limit on benefits means that the needs of the custodial parents should be identified early in the process. If the custodial parents need assistance finding a job or child care, or getting job training, that has to have time to happen.

12. The Child Support Agency should be open and available at several convenient locations, and at convenient times, including evenings and weekends.

13. Children benefit from the financial and emotional support of both their parents so the Child Support Agency should also have a small staff available to assist non-custodial parents and answer their questions, in child support matters.

14. Each child support case should begin with a discussion with both parents present to see if any agreements can be reached voluntarily. If a parent is unavailable, one attempt should be made to get that parent to come in voluntarily for the discussion, but after that one attempt or one discussion, issues should move directly to a hearing officer for appropriate orders. This obviates delay.

15. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, along with other prosecutorial agencies should consider the aggressive pursuit of criminal non-support convictions against those absent parents who have resources and fail to pay.

16. New penalties should be created for those who refuse to pay child support, such as a new unit of the Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program or home monitoring. The costs of enforcement should be paid for by absent parents convicted of criminal non-support, and this remedy should be aggressively pursued by local prosecutors in criminal court.

17. If the Child Support Agency determines that the non-custodial parent cannot make payments, alternative activities, rather than cash payments or penalties should be considered. Enrollment in a jobs training program, community service, services provided to the custodial parent, or some combination of those activities could obviate the growth of an arrearage of child support payments or the establishment of penalties that could prevent the non-custodial parent from obtaining employment.

18. The Child Support Agency should continue to have facilities to perform genetic testing for paternity on site and should have the results of those tests available in the shortest possible amount of time.

19. A demonstration video of the procedures of the Child Support Agency should be available for showing to both the custodial and non-custodial parent.

C. Staff at the Child Support Agency

1. Along with administrative, accounting and hearing officer staffs, the Child Support Agency should have multiple Client Service Teams.

2. The "intake" procedure of the child support system should be redefined as a "Client Service Interview" procedure, and should be modeled after hospital triage methods. Each new child support client should be interviewed by a well trained Child Support Specialist, who is in turn part of a larger Client Service Team. Each member of the Client Service Team should be trained and organized to handle the continuum of functions needed to get from the request for help to the successful collection of child support payments.

3. Each Client Service Team should have an assigned caseload for which it is responsible

4. Correct identification of the mother, father and all children should be accomplished early in the process and should be based on name, date and place of birth, social security number, driver’s license number, and mother’s maiden name. This information should be part of the data base and should be verified as appropriate, and required as part of additional proceedings whenever any of the parties comes under the jurisdiction of the process.

5. All staff should have a basic understanding of services such as public benefits, medical providers, job training and child care, and should be able to refer clients to the appropriate agenices.

6. All staff must understand the high potential for domestic violence issues, and a protocol must be developed for handling domestic violence issues as they arise.

7. Staffing should be appropriate to the volume of clients to be handled.

8. All staff should be well-trained, and that training should be on-going. In particular, the Child Support Specialists should be highly-motivated, and trained at about the level of an experienced paralegal.

9. The Child Support Agency should be organized so that every Team will handle all of the problems presented by parents in its caseload, including such court appearances as may be necessary. The Child Support Agency should also be responsible for contacting the parents assigned to its Teams to evaluate the quality of service.

10. Each employee should be evaluated not only on the success of the process and work he or she has handled, but also on the customer service evaluations from parents.

11. Each Client Service Team should be staffed by:

a. A Manager, who may or may not also be the Lead Attorney; and who will be responsible for day to day management of the Client Service Team, responsible for reviewing the progress of the cases in his or her Team on a regular basis, contacting the parents assigned to the Team, and evaluating service and employee performance;

b. A Lead Attorney, who may or may not also be the Manager, will be responsible for directing and supervising the legal research, case preparation, and procedures handled by members of the Team;

c. Child Support Specialists, each of whom will:

1. be the first person the custodial or non-custodial parent talks to, be trained in child support functions and be prepared with a set of questions geared to gather as much information as possible right from the beginning;

2. be the named, identifiable and accountable "GO TO PERSON" for each custodial parent assigned to him or her;

3. prepare a written list of things the parent has to provide as a follow up, i.e., birth certificates, social security numbers, etc., so that the parent can gather them up and send them in;

4. be the real person each parent may contact for information or assistance, so that the Child Support Specialist’s job is to respond to questions and needs of the parent, help plan the action needed to get child support, put the plan in motion, and monitor the case to keep it moving forward.

d. Attorney(s) who will be responsible for conducting the legal activities for each case.

e. Investigator(s) who will be responsible for locating missing parents, identifying assets, identifying employers, etc. at the direction of the Manager and/or Lead Attorney.

f. Support Staff

g. An Account Specialist, who will be assigned to coordinate with the Accounting staff and to follow the progress of each of the Team’s cases, noting which are acceptable, and which have to be flagged for action. The Account Specialist must be specifically responsible for bringing troubled accounts to the attention of the Team Manager, who will then make the necessary decisions and assignments of work to remedy the situation.

h. Social Service Staff, not employed by the Child Support Agency, but detailed from a social service agency (probably the Illinois Department of Human Services) and physically located with the Client Service Team, to assist the parents in resolving any other service issues, ie. benefits, medical referrals, job training, child care etc. By combining the information gathered during the Client Service Interview with additional information as needed, we will provide not only "one stop" service, for the client, but also eliminate redundant information and data gathering.

 

D. Administrative Hearings and Administrative Review of Child Support Proceedings

1. The Child Support Agency in Cook County should maintain administrative hearing officers who will conduct administrative hearings on contested paternity, child support and child support modification and enforcement proceedings. The hearing officers will also enter agreed orders formalizing voluntary agreements reached by parents in the administrative process for child support and custody and visitation.

2. The hearing officers should have subpoena power and the authority to take evidence under oath. Violations of an order by a hearing officer should be enforceable as directed by statute, or by referral to the judiciary.

3. Within the limits of due process, once information is established, agreements are made, or orders entered, any decisions about child support should be self-implementing, up to and including administrative processes for liens, judgments, and other remedies.

4. Issues agreed on or decided on at the administrative hearing level need to be reduced to administrative orders, which are permanent and enforceable.

5. Hearing officers should be evaluated based on the number of cases resolved, the amount of time taken, the results of administrative review, on client service reports from custodial and non-custodial parents, and on quality control standards (to be developed), for evaluating successful completion of cases resolved.

6. The administrative hearing officers should be hired by the Child Support Agency from among a pool of attorneys who have completed Child Support Hearing Officer Certification training, to be designed by the IV-D agency and the Courts, and to be conducted by law schools at the attorney’s own expense, as post JD degree training. The training need not be long, but it should be rigorous and include a thorough base in child support laws and cases, child support procedures, due process in administrative hearings and judicial review. Upon the certification of the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, hearing officers currently working within the expedited child support system should be considered for employment by the IV-D agency without taking the certification training described in this paragraph.

7. The administrative hearing officers should be paid for by the IV-D agency, but the administration of the administrative hearing section should be specific and separate within the Child Support Agency or the IV-D agency.

8. Administrative review of those orders should be based on the record created by the IV-D hearing officer, rather than a trial de novo of all issues and facts, and legislation permitting this kind of review at the circuit court level should be enacted.

9. By Cook County Circuit Court rule, Administrative Review of child support hearing officer cases should be heard in the Domestic Relations Division and not in Chancery.

10. The Circuit Court of Cook County and the state IV-D agency should decide the extent to which it is permissible and/or advisable to use the court's existing hearing officers for any purpose including review of child support cases. If it is decided that the hearing officers now assigned to the Circuit Court of Cook County should be assigned to child support functions they should be funded by the same entity that funds the Child Support Agency.

FOR A FLOWCHART SUMMARY OF "CHILD SUPPORT IN COOK COUNTY: A MODEL FOR IMPROVED PERFORMANCE" CONTACT THE APPLESEED FUND FOR JUSTICE/CHICAGO COUNCIL OF LAWYERS AT ccl@interaccess.com or call 312-427-0710.