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NOTE: Hyperlinks provided in this policy fax briefing were correct as of the time of publication.
June 2000 - Vol. 2, No 5
Update on Federal Child Support/Fatherhood Bills
Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and co-sponsors Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) and Rep. Phil English (R-PA) introduced the Child Support Distribution Act of 2000 (H.R. 4469) on May 16, 2000. On May 18, the House Subcommittee on Human Resources held hearings on the bill. A list of witnesses and copies of the testimonies presented at that hearing can be downloaded from the subcommittee's web page at http://thomas.loc.gov/waysandmeans/humres.html
The bill has three distinct purposes: to change the distribution of child support so that families receive child support payments once they leave welfare; to allow private collection agencies access to child support enforcement data and enforcement tools, and to provide grants to fatherhood programs.
Testimony at the May 18th hearings centered on the provisions related to the expansion of child support enforcement mechanisms to private collection agencies (see the testimony of Joan Entmacher and Vicki Turetsky at the site listed above as well as the summary of a similar bill in the December 1999 Policy Fax Briefing available at www.cffpp.org, for additional analysis of these provisions), and the child support distribution changes.
Among the bill's provisions:
- The share of child support that a state may retain from a TANF recipient would be limited to the amount of child support owed to that family during the period of welfare receipt. Currently, TANF recipients must assign the right to all child support income to the state up to the total amount of welfare benefits paid by the state.
- Payments on child support arrears would be distributed to the family first, once the recipient is off TANF.
- Reinstates a mandatory review and adjustment of all TANF child support orders every three years.
- States would be allowed to fund the new distribution using TANF funds or counting the expenditure toward the state's TANF Maintenance of Effort requirement (but could not do both).
- Prohibits state child support agencies from collecting a child's birth costs from the father when the child and mother receive medical assistance from the state.
- Allows private collection agencies access to child support enforcement tools, such as the Federal Parent Locator Service (which can provide access to such information as wages, assets, health insurance as well as employment and location), federal and state income tax intercepts, denial of passports and reporting to consumer credit bureaus of noncustodial parents who are delinquent in child support payments.
- The bill's provisions related to fatherhood programs are almost identical to those contained in the Fathers Count Bill, introduced in and passed by the House last fall. The Fathers Count Bill is described in detail in our November 1999 Policy Brief available on-line at www.cffpp.org.
The bill does not affect the pass-through of child support; this would remain a state option at state cost. The bill has been referred to the House Education and Workforce, the House Judiciary and the House Ways and Means Committees for consideration of the provisions of the bill that fall within their jurisdictions.
Federal Government Provides Program Guidance On-Line
- Guidance for Collaboration between Welfare-to-Work, TANF and Child Support Enforcement Agencies Published. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a set of strategies for enhancing the recruitment, referral, eligibility determination and service provision processes between Welfare-to-Work, TANF and child support enforcement agencies. The guidance is based on a series of conferences between program operators from each of the entities and includes policy clarification, information for coordinating services at the local level and potential solutions to identified challenges. The guidance can be obtained on-line at http://wtw.doleta.gov/11-99at.htm.
- Automated Management Information System for Fatherhood Programs Available On-Line. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), through a contract with The Lewin Group, has developed an automated data system that can be used by fatherhood programs to develop data forms to track participant characteristics, services received, outcomes and costs. The system, referred to as the Responsible Fatherhood Management Information System, provides data entry forms and instructions for completing them, and instructions on installing, finding and editing data records, as well as on generating reports. A guidebook that provides instructions for using the system can be obtained on-line at http://fatherhood.hhs.gov/guidebook99/index.htm
Several States Contending With Errors in Child Support Payments
Several states have recently contended with problems related to the disbursement of child support payments and the recovery of overpayments:
- As reported in the April 2000 Policy Fax Briefing, Illinois has had numerous difficulties working out a system for distributing collected child support. Last October, payments became so difficult for families to obtain that approximately $10 million in emergency payments were made to assist families in financial crisis. On May 13, Attorney General Jim Ryan declared that the state has the right to recover the emergency loans from families who received them. Public Aid officials report that the process of tracking down the payments and retrieving them could be expensive and difficult.
- A state audit of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue's Child Support Enforcement Division found that the division had weak financial controls and poor management and oversight. Among the findings was that, in spite of a state law requiring any undisbursed child support payments be maintained in a trust fund for three years while attempting to locate the obligee or the obligor, funds were transferred out of the fund after only 13 months. The transfer left custodial parents with checks that they were unable to cash.
- In Hawaii, lawyers are representing nearly 10,000 children in a case against the state Child Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) that seeks payment of $867,000 in interest earned on late payments to families. The CSEA has been criticized for several years by state auditors for poor record keeping and late payments to children.
- In a case related to recovering overpayments in Minnesota, a father's income was withheld beyond his child's reaching the age of majority, resulting in a child support overpayment. There were no arrearages or future monthly child support obligations remaining against which overpayments could be offset, so the county child support unit initiated income withholding against the mother in order to repay the overpayments to the father. The State Court of Appeals ruled that a public authority responsible for child support enforcement may not recover child support overpayments by instituting income withholding against an obligee parent. The case, Goplen v. Morse, was filed May 23, 2000 and can be found on-line at www.state.mn.us/courts/library/archive.
Human Rights Group Cites Disparities by Race in Drug Sentencing
In a report released on June 8, 2000, Human Rights Watch charged that racial disparities in drug incarceration rates are "a national scandal." The report, Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs, finds that in the ten states with the greatest disparities, African-American men are sent to prison on drug charges at 27 to 57 times the rate of white men. This is in spite of the fact that, according to the report's author, five times as many whites use drugs as blacks. The report also finds that:
- The United States has the highest incarceration rate among western democracies, fed in large part by drug control policies.
- There has been a ninefold increase throughout the 1990's in the incarceration rate for drug offenders.
- More people are sent to prison in the United States for nonviolent drug offenses than for violent crimes.
- Blacks are incarcerated for all offenses at 8.2 times the rate for whites.
- The rate of incarceration in state or federal prisons is one in 20 for black men and one in 180 for white men.
- Drug sentences are particularly severe for lesser drug offenses such as retailing or possessing small drug quantities, and can compare to or exceed sentences for serious violent crimes such as armed robbery, rape and even murder. Mandatory sentencing laws for drug offenses that do not permit judges to determine sentences based on the particulars of a case often result in excessively long prison sentences.
The report concludes that, by damaging the human and social capital of already disadvantaged neighborhoods, the "war on drugs" may be counterproductive, diminishing opportunities for social and economic mobility and even contributing to an increase in crime rates.
The report can be obtained on-line at www.hrw.org.
Senate Committee Slashes Social Security Block Grant Funding
During the week of May 8, 2000, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted to cut the Title XX Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) by 66%, from $1.75 billion down to $600 million. The committee also capped the amount of TANF funds that could be transferred by states to Title XX at 4.24%, compared to the current 10%. This would result in yet further cuts to the SSBG program, which provides funds to states for child welfare services, services for persons with disabilities, youth at risk services and elderly services. Two bills were introduced on May 17, 2000 that would increase the Title XX authorization to $2.38 billion. In the House, Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-CT) and several co-sponsors introduced H.R. 4481, which has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee. In the Senate, Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL) and several co-sponsors introduced S. 2585, which has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
Conference on Incarcerated Fathers To Be Held in Fall
The National Practitioners Network for Fathers and Families (NPNFF) and the Familyand Corrections Network (FCN), will co-sponsor the North American Conference on Fathers Behind Bars and on the Street, September 13-15 at the Regal University Hotel in Durham, North Carolina. The conference will bring together practitioners, researchers and policy experts working in the fatherhood field and in the corrections system to increase understanding of the issues particular to each field and the ways in which they interact. The conference is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. For more information, contact NPNFF at 202/737-6680, (fax) 202/737-6683 or by e-mail: pgarrison@npnff.org.
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