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Ken Caldwell,
Director of Job and Family Services, and Luanne Stiriz were
present to update the Board on Child Support issues. Ms. Stiriz
began a PowerPoint presentation as follows:
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Ohio’s Child
Support Program touches more children than any other program in
Ohio except for Education.
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Parents have
an obligation to support their children.
Services available
include:
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Establishment
of paternity
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Location of
absent parents
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Establishment
of child support and medical support
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Enforcement
of existing child support and medical support orders
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Collection
and disbursement of payments
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Education and
outreach about the child support program
Kinds of cases
handled by the CSEA include:
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Non-Public
Assistance
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Former
Assistance
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Medical
Assistance
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Public
Assistance
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Non IV-D
Services are
provided by several staff members such as:
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Collections
and Disbursement Staff
This staff processes
any payments that come to the office, answer payment inquiries,
audits on cases, open and enter cases, update changes on the
system from the court orders and issue wage withholdings.
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Account Clerk
She does
reconciliation,
distribution
on public assistance
cases, as well
as the audits on
them. She
handles FIDM,
Security
Coordinator, SETS,
computer or on
base issues. She is
also the
agency IT person.
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Case Managers
They do case
management such
as
establishment of new cases,
Enforcement
thereof, location,
and attend
hearings. Each worker
has approx 540 cases.
Tools to enforce the
collection of Child Support include:
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Wage
withholding
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Judicial
action (contempt and felony charges)
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Drivers
license suspension
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Hunting,
fishing, and other professional license suspension (doctors,
barbers, etc)
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Filing of
liens on property, houses, and motorcycles.
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Attachment of
lottery winnings
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Attachment of
money in bank accounts
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Attachment of
tax return
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Most Wanted
Poster
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Passport
Denial
She addressed myths
about child support:
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Myth:
Services are only offered to mothers.
False. Services are
offered to both mothers and fathers, grandparents, custodial and
non-custodial parents.
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Myth: If the
mother and father are not married and have a child, the fathers
name is automatically put on the baby’s birth certificate and he
gets visitation.
False. The
parties must establish
paternity
legally before a father’s
name can be
put on a birth
certificate
for a child born out of
wedlock. If
the child is born out
of wedlock the
father does not
automatically
get visitation
rights. Once
he has been
established as
the legal father,
this gives him
the right to petition
the court for
visitation rights.
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Myth: If the
non-custodial parent is not working, they don’t have to pay
child support.
False. If the
parent obligated to pay support is not working, their child
support obligation does not stop or reduce. The obligation will
go into arrears until such time a party thereto applies and is
granted a modification in support.
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Myth: You
can’t be put in jail for not paying your child support.
False. If a party
is referred to court for failure to pay child support, the
obligor can be found in contempt which carries a jail term of 30
days and a $250.00 fine for a first offense.
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Myth: In a
judicial support enforcement hearing the CSEA represents the
mother.
False. The CSEA and
the Child Support attorney represent the State of Ohio
and the support that is to be paid for the children.
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Myth: If you
have a baby when you are a minor (female or male) you don’t have
to pay child support.
False. A minor’s
parents maybe required to pay support to minor or the minor’s
parents with whom the baby resides with.
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Myth: Once
the child turns 18, no more child support has to be paid.
False. Support is
to continue until the child is emancipated. Emancipation in Ohio
with regards to the payment of child support is until 18 years
of age or graduation from high school, whichever is the later of
the two, however it shall not continue beyond the age of 19.
The CSEA current
offers the “IT TAKES TWO” Program:
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The program
encourages parents to take financial responsibility for the
child.
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And focuses
on: Parenting, Career Planning, Personal Development
Local Statistics:
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Fulton County
currently has over 2700 cases
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Fulton County
collections for last fiscal year were $6.6 million. Ohio
collects over $2 billion.
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Total
outstanding arrears owed in Fulton County $7.2 million.
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Average
support order in Fulton County is $369.62/mo.
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Fulton County
case with the largest arrearage is $106,748.
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There are
approx. 288 cases that are absent parent mothers.
The Divorce Rate in
Fulton County:
In 2003
62%
313
Marriages
195
Divorces/Dissolutions
In 2006
63%
280 Marriages
176 Divorce/Dissolutions
Incentives:
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The CSEA
earns incentives (additional monies) for reaching goals in the
following categories. If goals are not reached there is
potential for financial hold backs of the incentive money.
Paternity Establishment
80% or
greater earns the
maximum
incentive
2004: 104.69%
2005: 114.74%
2006: 110.14%
Support Establishment
80% or
greater earns the
maximum
incentive
2004: 84.57%
2005: 83.35%
2006: 83.40%
Collections on Current Support
80% or
greater earns the
maximum
incentive
2004: 78.94%
2005: 79.64%
2006: 79.32%
Collections on Arrears
80% or
greater earns the
maximum
incentive
2004: 78.15%
2005: 78.99%
2006: 79.55%
Cost
Effectiveness
This
measurement is based on
ratio of
dollars collected vs.
dollars
spent. It is calculated on
county
specific collections and
expenditures. A ratio of $5.00
and
above earns maximum
incentive.
2004: $ 10.27
2005: $ 11.51
2006: $ 9.12
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In FFY 2005
Fulton County met 3 out of the 5 goals.
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For FFY 2006
we met the goals in Paternity Establishment, Support
Establishment, Collections on Arrears and Cost Effectiveness: 4
out of 5. |
