Enforcement Strategies for Long Term Delinquent Cases

Long-Term Delinquent Team (LTD) Renee Cruz Supervising Child Support Specialist Ramona Mitchell Child Support Specialist Solano County

The Proposal ■Identify Enforcement and Interstate cases that have not received a payment on arrears. ■Develop a plan to obtain payments.

The Pilot

Interstate High Priority Team Results

 October to April total collections: $67,674  As of September 2013  Total Collections: $285,268  76% increase in 6 months  Affect on Department Performance Measures  0.3% increase on current support (FPM 3)  1.7% increase on arrears payment (FPM 4) Interstate High Priority Team Results

Enforcement Non-Paying/Locate Team Results

 Total collections for FFY 2013: $3,162  As of May 2014  Total Collections: $150,420  76% increase in 6 months  Affect on Department Performance Measures  0.2% increase on current support (FPM 3)  1.1% increase on arrears payment (FPM 4) Enforcement Non-Paying/Locate Team Results

The Long-Term Delinquent (LTD) Team

Current Statistics As ofCollections on Current Collection on Arrears October 2014$28,351$85,310 November 2014$25,269$52,940 December 2014$28,646$99,342 January 2015$21,182$32,954 February 2015$21,417$45,206 Total collections: $439,617

Miscellaneous Desk Guide Transfer cases between Units Freeform Letters Hand-Off SLMS Offer Manual Suspension Outbound Dialers Postcards

Know your case Know the history of your case  Review activity log  Case type  Payment history  Account types How can we move case forward?  Have an action plan

Know your LTD NP Learn as much as you can about NP  NP circumstances  Call CP  NP employment history  NP earning potential  NP license status  Utilize all locate sources

Wake up your case Reach out to NP  Call NP  Send a freeform letter  Use outbound dialer  Follow up with NP

Be a support person for LTD NP Hold their hand  Always answer the telephone  Provide direct contact information  Respond to messages or inquiries ASAP  Educate NP about their case  Smile and be conscious of your tone  Confirm and honor agreements  Secure payments

Give NP incentive to pay Win – Win  Offer SLMS release  Negotiate a lesser payment  COAP candidate?  Just Ask!

Renee Cruz, Supervising Child Support Specialist Solano County Ramona Mitchell, Child Support Specialist Solano County

Enforcement Processes Jennifer Rexford Child Support Services Supervisor Sonoma County

Special Enforcement Review What is a Special Enforcement Review (SER)? ■SER is a alternative enforcement action conducted within office or via telephone call ✷ Formal appointment notice is sent to the NCP ✷ Interrogatories are attached to the letter and reviewed during the scheduled appointment

Special Enforcement Review

 During scheduled appointment ✷ Caseworker will review with NCP reason for delinquency ✷ Agreement acknowledging court order terms  Caseworker to monitor compliance with SER agreement

Special Enforcement Review  Sonoma County SER Highlights 2013/2014 FFY ✷ December 2013 caseworkers began scheduling appointments 153 NCP’s appeared for appointments 148 NCP’s conducted phone appointments ✷ Locate, asset and employment information was obtained ✷ Modifications were initiated to obtain appropriate orders ✷ $35,194 in first time payments were collected as a result of the SER appointment letters being issued

Order for Examination of Judgment Debtor What is a Order for Examination of Judgment Debtor (OEX)? ■OEX is a enforcement remedy used to discover assets and income under oath when other routine discovery actions are unsuccessful ✷ During the OEX hearing OEX is conducted by an LCSA representative under the supervision of an attorney

Order of Examination of Judgment Debtor  Sonoma County OEX Highlights 2013/2014 FFY ✷ Sonoma County had an average show rate of 27% ✷ Of the NCPs that showed 86% of them made a payment ✷ Sonoma County average monthly collection was $1,104

Project Urgent What is a Project Urgent? ■Project Urgent is a strategy used to increase collections by implementing a special mailing that targets cases with 120+ days of delinquency ✷ Caseworkers worked a report of cases that were 120 days or more delinquent

Project Urgent Jennifer Rexford Child Support Services Supervisor Sonoma County Jennifer Rexford Child Support Services Supervisor Sonoma County Example of envelope sent to NCP

Project Urgent  Sonoma County Project Urgent Highlights 2013/2014 FFY ✷ April 2014 caseworkers were given an initial report that contained 748 cases to be reviewed Additional cases were identified during our review period of April September 2014 as a result 681 letters were mailed out 152 cases made payments ✷ $14,175 in first time payments were collected a result of this targeted mailing

Jennifer Rexford Child Support Services Supervisor Sonoma County

Investigative Task Force Team (ITF) Shamara McFarland Supervising Child Support Officer Los Angeles

Enforcement and Collections A general perspective of the enforcement and collection of child support is that Child Support agencies tend to function as a hybrid of services. ■The Hybrid of Services Model: Customer Service Social Service Collections

LOCATE EFFORTS A particular focus of collections is long term debt. Long term debt requires specific strategies to increase collections. These strategies include to a large extend Locate Efforts. In general, the scope of the Locate Efforts falls into three categories: Locate NCP (e.g. phone number, address) Locate Income (e.g. employer, self-employment) Locate Assets (e.g. retirement benefits, properties)

STRATEGIES Two MAIN COMPONENTS to surmise the locate efforts: I.Holistic Case Review II.Ongoing Staff Training

HOLISTIC CASE REVIEW Thorough and comprehensive case review to guide the determination of what actions to take in each case. This strategy maximizes the use of databases and applications.

HOLISTIC CASE REVIEW METHODOLOGIES and components of Holistic Case: A.Full case review on each case worked B.Maximum uses of the existing locate tools C.Completion of tasks D.Utilize CMT E.Teamwork

METHODOLOGIES…..Full Case Review o Full case review on each case worked: no matter the reason for working or reviewing the case. o Maximum uses of the existing locate tools: CLEAR, Accurint, CITRIX, DMV, YODA, SOMS, MEDS, FACEBOOK, LEADER, CWS LITE, THE WORK NUMBER, and various city, county, and state websites.

o Completion of tasks: relating to CP contacting CSSD, deceased participants, change in earnings/income information for NCPs. i. Types of Tasks: Tasks associated with possible: CM126, CM124, PM023, PM025, CM104 and PM028. ii. Purpose: to review for appropriate case closures, to clean up caseload and reduce the denominator (improve FPMs). METHODOLOGIES.…….Tasks

METHODOLOGIES…...Case Management Tool o Utilize CMT to monitor or follow-up and to manage the caseload. A.Specific examples of use of the CMT: i.Sorting CMT by date of birth (oldest participants may be deceased). ii.Sorting the CMT by date of birth to find cases where the NCP might be receiving SSA in order to send an Income Withholding Order. iii.Sorting by the highest arrears balances or foster care to review the accounts to determine if audits are necessary because sometimes those balances converted incorrectly from the ARS.

METHODOLOGIES……..Teamwork o Teamwork: help from each other. Each team member is encouraged to use each other as a resource. Team members contribute to each other’s growth and development through encouragement and sharing resources.

ONGOING STAFF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT GOAL To build the confidence, skills, and knowledge of each CSO to maximize their implementation of the child support policies and procedures in order to accomplish their daily work.

ONGOING STAFF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT Areas of focus for trainings: I.Training staff on CSE and locate tools II.Negotiating Training III.Team Building IV.Coaching and Counseling V.Processing Payments

ONGOING STAFF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT o Weekly trainings: COAP Referral, Audit Prep, Stipulations, CMT, Contempt, Locate Strategies, Social Security Benefits. i. Results include: the CSOs are more confident in communicating with the case participants and CSOs adjusted better to the new way of doing business.

TEAM BUILDING A main strategy for staff training and development is TEAM BUILDING:  Evaluate the team as a whole and as individuals to determine current level of knowledge, skill sets, and individual professional goals.

TEAM BUILDING  Establish collaborative plans to determine how to meet the departmental goals, team goals, and project goals by setting short and long term goals.

TEAM BUILDING  Supervisor should continually evaluate staff’s knowledge and skills through quality control of daily work and observation.  Customized team trainings should be routinely developed and conducted based on the needs of the team members.

TEAM BUILDING  After department-wide or divisional trainings, supervisors should review the material in weekly briefings with staff

RESULTS USING THESE LOCATE EFFORTS

(from 2/14 to 1/2015) Paid Cases Paid CasesPaid Amount Feb $ 83, Mar $ 160, Apr $ 258, May $ 159, Jun $ 168, Jul $ 205, Aug $ 112, Sep $ 168, Oct $ 142, Nov $ 146, Dec $ 156, Total arrears paid in 2014 (from 2/14 to 12/31/14): $1,762,136.98

Shamara McFarland Supervising Child Support Officer Los Angeles County

QUESTIONS?