Oral and Written Testimony of Ada Skyles
Associate Director University of Chicago, Chapin Hall Center for Children

August 29, 2001 House Task Force On Child Support Collection and Enforcement Public Forum

Good morning.

My name is Ada Skyles, I am the Associate Director of Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago.  I am also the facilitator of the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice Child Support Advisory Board, and I sit on the Board of Directors for Chicago Appleseed.

I am here today because we believe it is unacceptable that Illinois does not have a child support system that serves the mothers, fathers, and children of Illinois in an accurate, efficient, and courteous manner.  Currently, our present State IV-D program fails woefully in all three of these areas.

The Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice has undertaken an extensive research and advocacy project that will provide the necessary groundwork to transform the IV-D program into an exemplary child support system.  I would like to take a few moments to tell you about this project.

Background

Chicago Appleseed is the Chicago affiliate of the Appleseed Foundation.  Prior to this affiliation, Chicago Appleseed (then known as the Fund For Justice) began its work with child support in 1992 with a qualitative research study aimed at the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Division of Child Support Enforcement.  A report detailing the results of the study, and recommendations for improvement was released in May 1996.[1]  After releasing this report, we recognized that reforming one part of the child support system would not be sufficient.

In June 1996, Chicago Appleseed brought together government agencies, legal services providers, and community groups involved in the Cook County child support system for a series of meetings.[2]  The goal of these meetings was to devise solutions to improve Cook County’s exceptionally poor record in establishing, enforcing, and collecting on child support orders.  This group was called the Child Support Panel and was facilitated by former Illinois Supreme Court Justice, Seymour Simon.

The Model

After a year and a half of meetings, the Child Support Panel produced a report, Child Support in Cook County: A Model for Improved Performance, which provides a model for how the group believed the agency should function in Cook County.[3]

Some highlights of the Model are:

• Reduction of contractor agencies, so that the IV-D agency handles all or most child support functions “under one roof.”
• Switch to a completely administrative process.
• Creation of work teams, modeled after hospital triage methods.  All cases would no longer be treated the same, but would be detailed to specific units based on complexity and service needed.
• Emphasis on customer service and accountability, with performance indicators and evaluations in place to monitor client satisfaction.
• Increased emphasis on pursuing voluntary resolutions prior to implementing adversarial tactics.
• Provision of assistance and answers to questions to non-custodial parents.
• Aggressive pursuit of criminal nonsupport convictions for willful nonpayment.
• Alternative penalties, such as a Sheriff’s work alternative program or home monitoring, for non-custodial parents who refuse to pay.
• Creation of alternative activities for non-custodial parents who cannot pay, such as community service opportunities, or direct services to the custodial parent.
• On-site social services staff to provide one-stop assistance to parents in resolving any other service issues, such as job training, child care, medical referrals, etc.

All participants of the Child Support Panel agreed to support the basic structure and organizational changes set out in the Model.

Current Project

Recent statistics show that Illinois is still one of the worst functioning child support agencies in the country.[4]  Out of 53 reporting States and Territories, Illinois consistently ranks at the very bottom in collections, distributions, and cost-effectiveness.

Finding these statistics unacceptable, Chicago Appleseed is continuing a research and advocacy project begun in September 2000.  Using the earlier Model as a springboard, we intend to produce a detailed blueprint and a series of recommendations for what the agency should look like, how it should be transitioned, likely obstacles to transition, and solutions for overcoming the obstacles.

In furtherance of this project, over the past year Chicago Appleseed staff has:

• organized an advisory board to oversee the project composed of representatives from Cook County government agencies, including the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court, Cook County State’s Attorneys Office, and the Illinois Attorney General’s office, as well as legal services providers, and community-based organizations[5];
• conducted over 50 in depth, personal interviews with national and local child support experts, custodial and non-custodial parents, private practice, legal services and government attorneys, and clerks of the circuit court;
• completed over 30 hours of courtwatching at the Expedited Child Support Division;
• represented numerous custodial and non-custodial parents in child support matters;
• conducted extensive research on other State’s IV-D agencies that are comparable in population to Illinois;
• teamed-up with the law firm of Holland & Knight, LLC who provides pro bono assistance on this project; and
• formed coalitions with other like-minded agencies in Cook County in an effort to combine resources toward a common goal – reforming the child support system.

Data Collection

Thus far, the data show that some of the same issues that came up when the Child Support Panel began meeting in 1996 are still present today.   Generally, the computer system is still inadequate, customer service is still poor, and the court system is still overloaded with cases.  Extensive data analysis still remains to be done, which should allow us to provide a much more detailed account of the strengths and weaknesses of the child support system.

Representation

Because it is known that Chicago Appleseed has undertaken this project, it receives a constant stream of calls from parents desperate for help with child support problems.  Some are mothers who have repeatedly applied for IV-D services, but have failed to receive any assistance or even an acknowledgment of the application.  Others are fathers who want to pay child support but are being charged much more than the guidelines allow or are not being credited for payments.  Our prerequisite to helping parents is that they attempt to work with the system first.  Therefore, parents only come to Chicago Appleseed when the IV-D system has failed them and they have nowhere else to turn. This is becoming all too common. 

For example:

• non-custodial parents often encounter problems with payments and tax intercepts which are not properly credited, and inaccurate child support calculations;
• both custodial and non-custodial parents consistently receive incorrect and inconsistent information from various agencies; and
• there are delays in everything parents attempt to do.  They cannot get through on the hotlines, they have to wait for hours to see caseworkers, and they have to wait for lengthy periods of time at court and come back several times. 

We recognize that there are many hard working, dedicated people at all agencies involved in the child support system and who are invested in making the system better.  Chicago Appleseed with the assistance of its advisory board believes there is a solution for the citizens of Cook County by eliminating the policies, practices, and cumbersome structure at the root of our poorly functioning child support system.

Next Steps

In the months ahead, Chicago Appleseed will continue to gather qualitative and quantitative data regarding the Cook County child support system by interviewing parents and other agency staff.  They will continue courtwatching and include the Domestic Relations Division in their courtwatching program, and they will continue to represent parents and research other States.  The data collected through these activities will be analyzed and put into an organized format where conclusions can be drawn.  Chicago Appleseed will then work with our advisory board to develop a detailed blueprint and a set of recommendations to create an exemplary child support agency in Cook County. 

2001 Child Support Advisory Board Members

Ada Skyles, Chapin Hall Center for Children, University of Chicago, Facilitator

Dorothy Brown, Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court

Jim Brown, Director of Legal Services, CARPLS

Darryl Bush, Director of Public Policy, Paternal Involvement Project

Joan Colen, Staff Attorney, Legal Assistance Foundation

Paula Corrigan-Halpern, State Policy Director, Metropolitan Family Services

Mary Donoghue, State’s Attorney’s Office, Child Support Division

Richard Falen, Illinois Attorney General’s Office, Child Support Liaison

Mark Jamil, Mayor Daley’s Child Support Compliance Program

Frank Kopecky, Professor Legal Studies and Public Affairs, University of Illinois Springfield

Robert Lyons, Illinois Attorney General’s Office

Michael Moore, Circuit Court of Cook County, Family Law Bureau

Cheryl Niro, Quinlan & Crisham, former ISBA President

Kendra Reinshagen, Supervisory Attorney, Legal Assistance Foundation

Susan Sitter, Attorney, CARPLS

Margaret Stapleton, Staff Attorney, National Center on Poverty Law

Yvonne Vargas, Attorney

Laura Waddel, Policy Associate, Metropolitan Family Services

Jeannie Wilson, Vice President, Maximus, Child Support Division

Diana White, Deputy Director, Legal Assistance Foundation