Commissioner Tanguler Gray

As I mentioned earlier this year, I’m thrilled to be engaging child support professionals in person again! One of my recent trips took me overseas to the Netherlands for The Hague Special Commission. Spending a few days in the company of child support professionals from around the world was a wonderful experience. It confirmed that despite differences in language, program structures, and laws, we all share the same deep commitment to helping children and families.  

Serving families where one parent lives outside the U.S. is a critical part of the mission of the IV-D child support program, and the 2007 Hague Child Support Convention provides an important framework for serving these international families. After being postponed by the pandemic for two years, a Special Commission to review the operation of the 2007 Convention finally convened in The Hague in May 2022. I was delighted to lead the U.S. delegation to express our views on the Convention’s operation. Along with delegations from 57 countries and six intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations (including the National Child Support Enforcement Association), we discussed Convention policy issues and practical issues, such as the need for translated Convention forms in multiple languages and updated country profiles.

The consensus was that the Convention is working well, and I was pleased to confirm that the U.S. experience with Convention cases has been very positive. Thank you to everyone in the child support program who works on international cases for your hard work and dedication.

Resources for international cases

As the Central Authority for the United States under the Convention, OCSE is committed to supporting state child support agencies with international cases. We recently issued additional guidance on international cases, and we’re working to implement the Central Authority Payment program, a centralized federal service that will assist states with transmitting international child support payments. We’re also working to implement iForms, software which will allow state caseworkers to easily generate the required Convention forms in multiple languages. 

We hope these initiatives will assist states in managing international child support cases and allow us to better serve these families. I’m confident that we can continue working with foreign child support programs to provide excellent service to families around the world.

Patti Wood, Director of Operations, Child Support Field Services and Family Assistance and Child Support Contracts

In 2021, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee signed the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Opportunity Act into law. The Tennessee Department of Human Services (TDHS) partnered with the Tennessee General Assembly on this law to fundamentally change the way the state uses TANF funds. One component of the law is investing in agencies across the state to implement innovative strategies that help families who struggle economically and socially become self-sufficient. In addition, it provided Families First Community Grants to nonprofits across the state and created a Families First Community Advisory Board, consisting of 21 members from the Tennessee General Assembly, TDHS, state agencies, nonprofits, and community leaders.

After months of hard work, six public-private groups were selected by the Advisory Board, and one group was selected by TDHS to implement those innovative strategies. Each group will receive $25 million in TANF funds for their three-year pilots. The pilot initiatives were selected to maximize geographic diversity and coverage across the state. With pilots spanning rural and urban areas across Tennessee, these public-private groups are positioned to identify and address the unique needs of the families living in their areas.

The lead organizations for the pilot initiatives include:

• Families Matter (West TN)
• University of Memphis (West TN)
• Family & Children’s Service (Middle TN)
• Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency (Middle TN)
• First Tennessee Development District Foundation (East TN)
• United Way of Greater Knoxville (East TN)
• Martha O’Bryan Center (TDHS selected, serving Middle TN)

Evaluation and support

Over the next three years, each pilot will undergo a robust third-party program evaluation process. TDHS will work with a research partner to evaluate the effectiveness of each pilot and highlight interventions that are most effective in supporting low-income families. They’ll also work with a training and technical assistance partner to provide pilots with operational support in areas such as data collection, deployment of a universal assessment tool, and overall project management.

“Tennessee is taking a comprehensive approach to serving those who are the most economically vulnerable in a truly transformative way,” said TDHS Commissioner Clarence H. Carter. “Through this collaboration of multi-disciplinary partners dedicated to engaging all sectors of the state, these pilots offer an opportunity for innovation and best practices to match the needs of low-income families in their journey forward.”

Funding for the Tennessee Opportunity Pilot Initiative is provided through the TANF program. Visit this website for more information . 

Christena Verrill, L.L. Bean Payroll Manager and member of the American Payroll Association

I’ve worked in payroll for three different companies over the past 30 years, and so many things have changed regarding child support orders and payroll processing. Employers have seen an increase in the total number of orders they’re processing, and if not handled correctly, it can be a costly error.

As a payroll professional, what can you do to ensure your company is compliant when processing all the support orders? To streamline our process, OCSE helped us implement e-IWO. OCSE delivers child support orders electronically, and they’re stored in a folder on our server and reviewed daily. At times, we’ll receive a paper order, and we contact the child support agency to request they send it through the e-IWO process. 
When we process an e-IWO, we search both the payroll and accounts payable systems to determine if the noncustodial parent is or was an employee or an independent contractor for L.L. Bean. Then:

• If the employee is terminated, we provide the termination date and last known address. 
   
• If the name and social security number don’t match, we reject the order and provide the reason. This allows the state to correct and send a new order. We also reject any order where we cannot find the employee worked for L.L. Bean. 
   
• If there’s a match, we withhold and remit payments based on the details in the order. It’s important to test the system setup on all withholding orders to ensure the deduction amount agrees with the order details and Consumer Credit Protection Act limits. Important details in the order that impact the deduction amount are the withholding percentage and arrears greater than 12 weeks. 

We also notify states in advance of any lump-sum payment and process lump-sum orders we receive. When an employee with a garnishment terminates, we notify the child support agency, as required by law. We don’t close an order without a written release from the agency. 

While the e-IWO process makes child support garnishments easier to administer, we still have more work to do on some processes and procedures. Employers would like to see more consistency in their roles and responsibilities across child support programs to make it easier for them to comply. For example, it would be helpful if states adopted consistent lump-sum reporting and withholding requirements outlined in statute and/or regulations.  

Learn more about the benefits of the e-IWO process.

OCSE issued recent guidance to help states and tribes develop and operate their child support programs according to federal laws and regulations:

• Submittal of SF-424 Mandatory Form for FY 2023 (06/29/22)
• Tribal IV-D Program Job Descriptions (06/17/22)