2. Working with Incarcerated Obligors CSDA Conference October 6, 2010 San Quentin State Prison

3. Prison Statistics ■2.3 million prisoners held in federal or state prisons or in local jails (6/30/08) ■52% of state inmates and 63% of federal inmates reported having an estimated 1.7 million minor children (midyear 2007) ✷ Accounts for 2.3% of the U.S. resident population under age 18 ■Between 1991 and midyear 2007, parents held in state and federal prisons increased by 79% * Bureau of Justice Statistics

4. Characteristics of Parents in Prison ■Median age of parents in state and federal prison is 32 and 35 years old respectfully ■48% of parents in state prison and 38% of parents in federal prison reported they never married ■41% of parents in state prison and 28% in federal prison had neither a high school diploma nor GED ■54% of state prisoners and 47% of federal prisoners who were parents reported a personal income of under $1,000 in the month before arrest

5. Research from Massachusetts and Colorado State Prisons ■Current order amounts are high for NCP’s in prison with little or no income ■Many NCP’s enter prison with child support debt ■Most NCP’s with current support orders pay no child support while in prison

6. California Statistics ■CDCR Stats (2009) ✷ Inmates in Custody167,276 ✷ New Admission 45,007 ✷ Parole Violators (return with new term) 18,623 ■County Stats ✷ County Jails (2/09) 81,086 ✷ Probation Counts (FY 08/09)247,361

7. Incarcerated/ Recently Released Parents ■Have on average 1.2 children for a total of 856,000 children or nearly 9% of California’s children ✷ 195,000 children have parents in State Prison ✷ 97,000 children have parents in County Jail ✷ 564,000 children have parent’s on parole or probation

8. Incarcerated Obligor Workgroup ■History: DCSS, LCSAs and CSDA each in their own way were trying to figure out how we could reach the incarcerated population each in our own way, which to date has been very challenging. In the Fall of 2009 a core group came together to share what we had been doing, what our barriers had been thus far and where we needed to be in order to have success. The salient question was: How could we collaborate? We were aware that some LCSAs were having success in working with county jails but what we knew that a major player in any type of workgroup we formed had to include California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

9. Incarcerated Obligor Workgroup ■Goals and Objectives: 8 tenants of how we built our charter ✷ How to modify orders due to change of circumstances ✷ Dealing with the Accumulation of Uncollectable Debt ✷ Service to Inmates ✷ Mail into and out of Institutions ✷ Communications to Inmates ✷ Orientations/counselors ✷ Education and Literacy ✷ Parole

10. Incarcerated Obligor Workgroup Work To Date: ■Developed a relationship with CDCR at the Executive level that is anxious and cooperative in assisting us with forging head with our plans to get in touch with inmates. ■Completed video to show inmates at each correctional facility. ■Enhancement of OBIS ■Submitted Survey to all LCSAs to get a better idea of where they are with outreach efforts.

11. Incarcerated Obligor Workgroup Work To Date: Asked Advocacy groups such as “Legal Services with Prisoners with Children” to partner with us in “getting the word out” to in reaching those in most need of getting this information. Working with Appris/Justice Exchange as another tool similar to OBIS in identifying where incarcerated obligors may be located both within and outside of state. Developed a new easy to use modification form that will soon be available to provide to all incarcerated population.

12. Incarcerated Obligor Workgroup ■Plans for the Future: Within the next month all of the Agendas, Minutes, Publications, Videos, and everything we can add to the topic of Incarcerated Obligors will be added as a special section within CS Central. The workgroup is not a closed group! If you have ideas please check CS Central to find out when the next meeting is and please join us. Or you can contact Linda Sekany at (916)464-5860. The incarcerated video is planned to be released to a number of institutions for inmate viewing.

13. Tools Available to Assist ✷ OBIS (Offender Base Information System) ✷ What it was – match date only and limited in its capabilities ✷ What it is now, how to access, advanced search capabilities.

14. Tools Available to Assist ■Compromise of Arrears- ✷ Enhancements to come ✷ The Department is currently looking for ways to uniformly apply policies that will address how to handle this unique population. Currently Compromises are approximately 10% of the government owed arrears. Each Director has the latitude to reduce this by another 24.99%. ✷ Special consideration may be given to incarcerated obligors at this point by the Director or his/her designee.

15. Incarcerated Obligor Video ■CSDA Video Production Workgroup Presents: ✷ Working with the Child Support Program: What You Need to Do

16. Outreach Efforts in Alameda County Working With Incarcerated Noncustodial Parents Presented by Jason Wright from Alameda County

17. Outreach Unit ■Designated staff who have been to training ■NPCL 3 day Fatherhood Workshops ■Customer Service Training ■Communication Skills Training ■Consistency with the outreach caseworkers

18. Santa Rita County Jail/ Glenn Dyer Detention Facility/ San Quentin ■Pre-release classes for county jails ■D.U.E.C.E.=Drug Diversion Program & Reading for Life Program ■Marin County DCSS/ Marin Co FLF ■Weekly PACT Meetings

19. Incarcerated NCP Barriers ■Lack of access or communication to DCSS ■NCP’s think we know they are in custody

20. Incarcerated NCP Assistance ■County Jail Resource Center ■Provide direct phone/fax#’s to outreach caseworkers ■Provide 24-48hrs turn around with follow- up with the NCP’s ■Ex-parte Initiated modifications

21. Tools to Assist Incarcerated NCP’s ■County Inmate Locator (ALACO is online) ■CDC Micro Fiche ■CRIMS ■ACCURINT ■CP’s

22. What’s Next? ■Intake form for newly incarcerated NCP’s

23. Questions/ Comments