October 8, 2001 - Heartland Works teams with courts and SRS in helping non-custodial parents find regular employment and pay child support

They are long-term non-payers, owing child support for at least three months but often much longer. According to the District Judge Terry L. Bullock, who presides over contempt hearings for failure to pay child support cases in Shawnee County, often they are ‘hard core' evaders of supporting their children.

In recent months, a program teaming several public agencies, the courts, and private, not-for-profit firms has found a way to bring in those needed child support payments from non-custodial parents. In the process, the Shawnee County Non-Custodial Welfare to Work/Heartland Works program has also provided new opportunities for non-custodial parents by matching them with the training and supports they need to become regularly employed and long-term payers of child support.

For the non-custodial parents, the program begins just prior to their court appearance. Attorneys for DynCorp Management Resources, Inc., meet individually with those on the court docket eligible for Welfare to Work assistance to give them a choice: Sign a personal responsibility contract with Heartland Works, the agency running the Shawnee County Welfare to Work program, or face the consequences. Heartland Works employees sit at a table just outside the courtroom and make appointments with those who agree to sign the contract.

Eligibility of the parents for the work program is determined by the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) prior to court. If the non-custodial parent or the children supported by the non-custodial parent are eligible for or receiving cash assistance, food assistance, medical assistance, or child care assistance, they also become eligible for Welfare to Work assistance.

"By the time it gets to me, they are in violation of their court order and subject to being locked up," said Judge Bullock. "We say to them, ‘you've got two choices. You can go to jail and have a (work release) job of our choice, or go to Heartland, develop skills, and get a job of your choice.' But there is no choice not to work."

"Our objective is to see to it that these children have dinner, and we prefer that it is paid for by the parents, not the taxpayers," he said.

Judge Bullock explained that under case law, it is only those who have refused to pay child support who can be jailed, not those who are merely unable to pay. But he said he is tired of the excuses he heard in court from parents who were not working, and said those who come before him on the contempt docket have resisted paying child support for a long time.

According to Stacie Wittman, an attorney for DynCorp Management Resources, Inc., which contracts with SRS to provide child support enforcement, the project has become a ‘win-win' situation for all involved.

"We found that many times non-custodial parents do not pay, because they are not employed," she said. "The only recourse was to throw them in jail, but that really doesn't address the problem. They needed to become gainfully employed."

Wittman said during the nine-month pilot program that ended in August, they showed a 55 percent success rate, meaning 21 of 38 people enrolled were either fully participating in the welfare to work program, paying child support, or both. Since the program expanded, the success rate based on the same criteria had jumped to 72 percent.

"We're seeing an average starting wage of $8.16 an hour for those paying child support, which we feel is pretty good," she said. "And many have benefits. It's positively effected the lives of over 60 children."

Julie Elder, chief of child support enforcement in Shawnee County, along with officials in the agency's Economic and Employment Support division, was instrumental in setting up the program. Elder said the program fits perfectly with the SRS vision statement: SRS: Partnering to Connect Supports and Services to Improve Lives.

"Government, the courts, and private business worked together on this project with the common goal of helping people," she said.

Judge Bullock said Heartland Works has been doing a good job of teaching clients employment and interview skills, and working with community schools and employers.

"Heartland Works does an excellent job, as near as I can tell," he said. "Many of these people did not know how to get a job, how to perform at a job interview, and don't have basic skills for even rudimentary jobs. Heartland Works does all of those things. They have mock interviews, teach them to fill out applications, and provide training with area schools. They also have partnerships with businesses in the community and education providers such as the vo-tech school."

As a Welfare to Work agency, Heartland works with clients to assess barriers to employment, helps evaluate skills, and develops an employment plan. They help clients deal with other barriers such as substance abuse, child care, consumer credit, transportation, training, interviewing, housing, job retention, and job skills.

Another advantage to non-custodial parents who choose to sign up with Heartland Works is that the withholding order for child support is modified to current support only when the parent first gains employment for a period of 60 days. If the parent fails to attend or complete the Heartland Works program, enforcement begins on any payment in arrears.

When the program first began, Judge Bullock said some of those who signed the agreement with Heartland Works did not follow through with appointments and training. But when he heard of this problem, he had a solution.

"I said ‘Let's have a docket of all those who agreed and failed to participate, and put the worst three cases first,'" he said. "Since the hearing where the worst offenders were sent to jail, there has been much better participation. The word seems to have gotten out."

Judge Bullock said the success of the entire program is because of teamwork, and it has worked very well.