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Illinois receives certification for its child-support database

aellis@dailyegyptian.com

The state had a problem getting deadbeat parents to pay what they owed.

But after several program improvements, the Illinois Department of Public Aid is seeing more money coming into its Division of Child Support Enforcement.

In December, the IDPA received a nod from federal officials for its Key Information Delivery System (KIDS), a database containing all the child-support cases in the state, which now total more than 700,000.

And on Tuesday, Illinois became one of 28 states to receive federal certification for its child-support database.

In order to qualify, databases must have systems that are both reliable and accurate. States that do not have certification are often faced with severe cuts in federal funding.

According to Mike Claffey, spokesman for the IDPA, Illinois ranked in the bottom 10 percent of all categories before revamping its system.

"The state has a massive, monumental challenge in going through these cases," Claffey said. "The database makes the job more manageable. We will no longer be wasting time on cases that are dead or cases that are uncollectible."

Sherri Heller, commissioner of the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, commended the child-support efforts of officials in Illinois, saying the KIDS program will improve efficiency in Illinois.

"This is a program that ˆ bottom-line results ˆ is on the move, and it shows in the

data I see in Washington," Heller said during the ceremony at the IDPA headquarters. "Effective automation is a key element of child support and provides good customer service. This certification demonstrates that Illinois is committed and working hard to provide both to children and families."

Heller said she was pleased with the changes the system has made and felt confident when Illinois residents ask for help, they will now be able to receive it.

"I have been to states where they sort of built what they had to pass certification, and that was it," Heller said. "This is a state that has kept improving the product so that it works better and it actually helps the workers in the field.

"I have been to states where they got certified and avoided the penalty, but the system is killing them. They come in the morning, and it's 'death by alert.' The work lists are just red."

The IDPA implemented the Passport Denial Program, which targets those parents who are more than $5,000 behind in child-support payments and stops them from getting new passports or renewing passports.

Last month, a Jackson County woman received $89,000 in child-support back payments when her husband was unable to renew his passport.

And in November, Pashia Acree of Harrisburg received $17,000 in child-support back payments.

Last year, the IDPA launched a website that displays the photographs of deadbeat parents who have accumulated a child-support payment debt of more than $5,000 and have not made a payment within the last 60 days.

Claffey said the idea of the website is to "scare people into fearing that if they don't pay up, they'll end up on the website."

To date, the website has garnered $100,000 in child-support back payments.

Throughout Illinois, there are 42,000 parents who qualify for both the Passport Denial Program and the website services.

In Jackson County, 180 non-custodial parents are also eligible and owe more than $2.2 million in child-support back pay.

During this fiscal year, the department expects to collect $922 million in child support-payments and is estimating a $67 million increase for fiscal year 2005.