Bringing Asset-Building Services to Families Involved in

the Child Support SystemCFED 2010 Assets Learning Conference

Washington, D.C.September 22, 2010

Angelica Gutierrez, Office of Community Services, DHHSElaine Sorensen, The Urban Institute

Michael Hayes, Texas Office of the Attorney General, Child Support DivisionWoody Widrow, RAISE Texas

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Why AFI is Emphasizing Partnerships with Child Support• Noncustodial parents have not been served within

AFI projects to the same extent as other groups• Increasing recognition of the importance of

addressing poverty issues surrounding low-income men

• AFI grantees in general may not understand child support issues in working with clients who owe or are owed child support

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• Partnership between the Office of Community Services (OCS) and the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE)

• Aim is to address the special challenges faced by families involved in the child support system in building assets and achieving economic stability

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• Focus on developing knowledge, providing training and technical assistance, and up to 10 demonstration projects

• Goals of the demonstrations include:– Understanding service delivery issues– Identifying best practices– Informing policy decisions– Learn how best to provide asset-building

services to families involved in the child support system—notably noncustodial parents

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Goals of This Presentation

• Give you a basic background on the Child Support system

• Talk about some of the ways both Child Support and Asset-Building Agencies can benefit from working together

• Open discussion of your ideas of potential approaches and potential barriers to partnership

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Child Support Enforcement

What Do You Know About Child Support Enforcement (CSE)?

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Child Support Enforcement

How many children were served by the CSE program in FY 09?

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How many children were served by the CSE program in FY 09?

A. 501,230

B. 1,288,135

C. 5,060,784

D. 17,413,972

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Child Support Enforcement

How much child support was collected by the CSE program

in FY 09?

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How much child support was collected by the CSE program?

A.$27 million

B.$300 million

C.$16 billion

D.$26 billion

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Child Support Enforcement

Of the amounts collected in FY 09, how much went to

families?

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How much child support collected went to families?

A.79%

B.85%

C.92%

D.100%

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Child Support Enforcement

What percentage of the CSE caseload in FY09 consisted of

families receiving welfare?

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What is the percentage of welfare cases?

A.3%

B.14%

C.22%

D.41%

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Child Support Enforcement

If a family is receiving welfare, how much of the child support collected goes to the family?

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A.None of it

B.All of it

C.Some of it

D.It depends

How much child support goes to a family receiving welfare?

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How CSE and AFI Overlap

• Both programs serve low-income families– About 65% of custodial families in the

child support system have incomes that fall below 200% of federal poverty level (FPL).

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How CSE and AFI Overlap

• Both programs serve a large number of custodial parents– 75% of IDA account holders are women– 76% of account holders are not married– 77% live with children

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How CSE and AFI Overlap

• While AFI grantees may serve fewer noncustodial parents, many of these low-income parents could be eligible for AFI or other asset building services

• CSE agencies can be a rich source of referrals for this population

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Child Support Enforcement

• 1975: Child Support Enforcement program established

• CSE originally designed to recover welfare costs

• Later offered to families not receiving welfare• Today, the primary purpose of CSE is to

ensure that custodial families receive child support

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What does CSE do for Families?

• Establishes legal paternity

• Establishes and modifies child support obligations

• Collects and enforces child support

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What does CSE do for Families?• Child support makes up 25% of a low-

income family’s monthly income if they receive it, the second largest source of income after earnings.

• In general, child support is a more important source of income for low-income families with children than TANF.

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Child Support Intake

• Receives automatic referrals from TANF

• Receives referrals from Foster Care and Medicaid

• Parents can apply for services

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Paternity Establishment

• Needed when parents of child are not married

• Benefits to the child:– Access to the child’s full family medical history– Government benefits, such as social security and veteran’s

dependent benefits– Life insurance policies and other inheritance benefits

• Established by:– Voluntary Paternity Acknowledgement (typically in hospital)– Administrative Process or Court Order

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Order Establishment

• Amounts are based on state child support guidelines, which take into account the noncustodial parent’s ability to pay and the number of children involved. Most states also take into account the custodial parent’s income.

• Usually set in family court (some states can set orders administratively)

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Order Modification• Every 3 years orders may be reviewed

• Modification typically requires a substantial change of circumstance– Permanent reduction or increase in

income– Additional children

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Child Support Collection

• Wage withholding

• Withholding from:– Unemployment compensation– Social Security benefits

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Child Support EnforcementAdministrative Processes:

• Suspend Licenses

• Intercept Tax Refunds, Lottery Winnings, Inheritances

• Deny Renewal of Passports

• Seize Bank Accounts

• File Liens on personal property

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Child Support Enforcement

Judicial Enforcement:

• Order participation in job search

• Refer to workforce agency or other employment-oriented organization

• Incarcerate if necessary

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New Emerging Programs

• Debt settlement programs– Lump sum payment in exchange for

reduced arrears balance

• Debt incentive programs– Build habit of paying support, rewarded after

period of time with forgiveness of state debt

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Customers of Mutual Interest

• The “Unbanked”

• The “Non-Filers”

• Parents that Need Financial Education

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How CSE can Help Clients of Asset-Building Agencies

• reach fathers before child support debt accumulates

• engage fathers in wide range of asset-building

• support the custodial parent’s financial needs

• cross-train child support and asset-building staff

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How CSE can Help Clients of Asset-Building Agencies

• Development of referral systems from child support to asset-building programs and vice versa

• Child support customer financial/asset building education

• Training for asset building program staff – “Paternity and Child Support 101”

• Coordinated EITC outreach and education

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How Asset-Building Agencies can Help CSE Clients

RAISE Texas --Who We Are• Statewide network working to support and

expand asset-building activities in Texas.• Committed to building financial success of

Texans through financial education, IDAs, children's savings accounts, community tax centers, and other programs that lead to increased economic security and prevent asset stripping.

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How Asset-Building Agencies can Help CSE Clients

Have expanded our work to focus on different populations with state agencies

• Trying to bring in an array of asset building products to serve specific target populations

• Need to understand the uniqueness and challenges for each population

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How Asset-Building Agencies can Help CSE Clients

Working across both households• Role of non-custodial father and ways to

move asset building forward• Relationship to custodial parent and child• Potential benefits

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• For more information visit the RAISE Texas website at www.raisetexas.org

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Where to Find More Information• Building Assets for Fathers and

Families, and technical assistance in partnering with Child Support:

– AFI Resource Center: 1-866-778-6037 or info@idaresources.org

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Where to Find More Information• Information about participating as a

demonstration pilot:

– Kelly Smith at 503-222-6060 or ksmith@portland.econw.com

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