Legislation Incorporating Chicago Appleseed/Chicago Council Model Child Support System Becomes Law

On January 6, 2003, Senate Bill 1966, the Unified Child Support Services Act, became law in Illinois as Public Act 92-0876. The Act incorporates the model system of child support collection and enforcement developed by Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers.

Under the Unified Child Support Services Act, the State's Attorney of any county, in cooperation with appropriate county officers, may submit a Plan for Unified Child Support Services ("Plan"). If approved by the state child support agency, the state's attorney shall enter into an intergovernmental agreement incorporating the Plan. According to the legislation, the Plan must include specified requirements that are part of the model system developed by Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council with the assistance of retired Supreme Court Justice Seymour Simon. These requirements include:

  • Accept applications and referrals for services and conduct initial interviews with clients by telephone while maintaining flexible office hours—including evenings and weekends;
     
  • Assign each case to child support specialist responsible for coordinating services, accepting and properly passing on case information, and responding to parents’ inquiries and requests;
     
  • Perform legal assessment on each case and follow up on the steps identified in those assessments;
     
  • Establish and follow standards on whether to use the courts or administrative methods to provide services;
     
  • Establish and follow standards for seeking cooperation from mothers and fathers before invoking more heavy-handed enforcement procedures;
     
  • Take responsibility for managing the data on each child support case;
     
  • Operate an administrative process for establishing parentage and setting and modifying support and furnish copies of administrative orders to the clerk of the court and IDPA; and
     
  • Provide services to both custodial parents and noncustodial parents, with referral of noncustodial parents’ cases to the attorney general.

The State's Attorneys in Cook and DuPage Counties are both interested in developing a Plan under the new legislation. Representatives Julie Hamos, Sidney H. Matthias, Eileen Lyons, Patricia R. Bellock, Cynthia Soto, and Senator Peter Roskam were the principal sponsors of this legislation.

The Child Support system in Illinois is an embarrassment. Chicago Appleseed and the Council have been seeking substantial reform in this program that is second only to the public school system in terms of the number of children that are affected. In addition to Public Act 92-0876, there are other initiatives underway to bring about change. Executive Director Malcolm Rich and Chicago Appleseed Board member Ada Skyles represented Chicago Appleseed on Governor Blagojevich's Transition Team Subcommittee on Child Support. Governor Blagojevich held a press conference during his gubernatorial campaign pledging substantial improvement in the child support program -- and child support held a prominent spot during campaign television commercials.