OCSE’s Efforts to Enhance Interstate Communication

1. OCSE’s Efforts to Enhance Interstate Communication ERICSA 2011 Atlantic City, New Jersey May 22, 2011

2. Agenda • Intergovernmental Referral Guide (IRG) • Ella Wood and Angela Kasey • Interstate Case Reconciliation (ICR) Project • Pat Conrad • Child Support Enforcement Network (CSENet) • Vinette Elam • Query Interstate Cases for Kids (QUICK) • Vinette Elam

3. What you Can See by Using the IRG

4. What is the IRG? The IRG is: • An information resource tool containing: • Profiles of policies and statutory authorities • Location Codes and Addresses • An interactive website

5. At-A-Glance Profiles • State and tribal profiles contain information regarding: • General/State/Tribe-at-a-Glance • Reciprocity • Age of majority • Statutes of limitations • Support details • Income withholding • Paternity • Support order establishment • Support enforcement • Modification and review/adjustment • Lump sum payments • Insurance match

6. Location Codes and Addresses • The Location Codes and Addresses section contains: • State contact data • Regional • County • Tribal contact data • Names, addresses, telephone numbers and, when available, fax numbers and email addresses • Tribal Address Types: Tribal Office 1 • Central and regional OCSE offices contact data • International contact data

7. OCSE Home Page

8. IRG Home Page

9. Public Access

10. Public Access • State and tribal profile download • Profile query • State addresses • Automated interstate case status request • Automated interstate payment request • Central registry • Employer assistance contact • State disbursement unit • State IV-D director • State parent locator service • Domestic violence contact • International Addresses • Canadian provinces • Comprehensive Tribes • Tribal Office 1

11. View Access

12. View AccessState and Tribal Caseworkers • State and tribal profile download • Profile query • State address types • State region address types • County addresses types • International addresses • Comprehensive tribes’ addresses • OCSE central contacts • OCSE regional contacts

13. Edit Access

14. Edit AccessState and Tribal Administrators • Edit all IRG data • Certify all IRG data • Disseminate state/tribal view user password to all caseworkers • Attend OCSE IRG conference calls • Point of contact for state or tribal IRG data

15. OCSE Administrators • Maintain and certify • OCSE central office addresses • OCSE regional office addresses • International addresses • OCSE offers additional support • State liaison • Data quality and data correction • Unlock accounts • Provide username and passwords • Training and technical assistance

16. Enhancements • Summer 2011 • IRG password security protocols • Data quality reviews • Domestic violence contact information • Future • Automatic password reset • Domestic violence profile questions

17. Questions or Comments

18. IRG Resource Information Ella Wood, Federal Manager ella.wood@acf.hhs.gov– (202) 401-4963 Angela Kasey, IRG Task Lead angela.kasey@acf.hhs.gov– (703) 367-1659 IRG Web Address https://extranet.acf.hhs.gov/irgauth/login

19. What’s New with the ICR?

20. Interstate Case Reconciliation (ICR) • OCSE’s initiative to assist states reconcile interstate cases • Eight annual case matches conducted to date • Helps states improve/increase/implement: • CSENet • EFT/EDI • QUICK

21. Case Discrepancies the ICR Identifies • Storing an incorrect case ID for the case in the other state • Your open interstate case matches to a closed case in the other state • You have no SSN for the case participant, but the other state has one • You are told if the SSN you receive is verifiable • SSN you have does not match SSN the other state has • You are told if the SSN you receive is verifiable • Case cannot be found in other state’s ICR extract file

22. Has the ICR Helped the States? ICR-1 – May 2004 ICR-11 – May 2011 8.5% Cases Not Found 32.5% Cases Matched by Case ID 30.3% Cases Not Found 5.6% Corrected Case IDs Provided 37.2% Corrected Case IDs Provided 85.9% Cases Matched by Case ID

23. Three New Things to Help More • Print program • ICR-FCR supplemental match • “Unnecessary Interstate Cases” match

24. Print Program • For issues that require manual reconciliation • For states with limited programming resources • State sets up a new CyberFusion node • State asks to receive whichever discrepancy it wants to address • State prints its own formatted reports • Cases already sorted by county in your state

25. ICR-FCR Supplemental Match • Looking for all ‘not found’ cases on the FCR • Match will be run in July • Last year discovered that 44% of the ‘not found’ cases were not even on the FCR • So what are these cases? • How would correcting/closing these cases benefit you?

26. “Unnecessary Interstate Cases” Match • Matching last year’s ICR response file to this year’s response file • To identify cases that had the same issue (e.g., open/closed mismatch) 2 years in a row • This match will be available after Labor Day • How can this match help you triage the workload to address the most important cases first?

27. Questions or Comments

28. ICR Resource Information Pat Conrad, ICR team lead pat.conrad@ngc.com – (701) 258-6426 ICR Web Address www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/newhire/nicr/nicr.htm

29. CSENet and QUICK and Intergovernmental Regulations

30. CSENet and QUICK • Child Support Enforcement Network (CSENet) • A batch interstate communications tool that conveys information regarding child support business, locate and case status through the use of transactions • Query Interstate Cases for Kids (QUICK) • A real-time application for users to view participant information, financial information, case activities and contact information on a case in another participating state

31. Intergovernmental Regulations • Comprehensive regulation (states, tribes and foreign countries) • Replaces 1988 interstate regulation • Applies only to IV-D programs and clarifies the IV-D initiating and responding states’ responsibilities • Recognizes electronic communications advancements • Effective date: January 3, 2011

32. Description of Revised Regulations Case Closure • 303.11(b)(14) Notify the responding agency that its intergovernmental services are no longer needed. • 303.7(d)(10) Notify the initiating agency when a case is closed pursuant to one of the case closure criteria under (d)(9) and 303.11 (b)(12) through (14). • 303.7(c)(12) Instruct the responding agency to close its case and stop any withholding order or notice before the initiating state transmits a withholding order or notice to an employer, unless the two states reach another agreement on how to proceed. • 303.7(d)(9) Stop the responding state’s income withholding order or notice and close the intergovernmental case within 10 working days of receipt of instructions for case closure from an initiating agency under paragraph (c)(12) of this section, unless the two states reach an alternative agreement. Interest • 303.7(c)(7) Provide annual notice to responding agency regarding amount of interest charges owed on overdue support on an initiating state order and upon request in an individual case.

33. Initiating State Responsibilities • Provide annual notification of interest charged on overdue support on an initiating state order • Within 10 working days, notify responding state of case closure and basis for closure • Instruct responding state to close its case and stop the wage withholding process before the initiating state begins the wage withholding process

34. Responding State Responsibilities • Stop wage withholding actions when directed unless an alternative agreement can be reached • Assess the need for case closure based on receipt of case closure information from the initiating state

35. CSENet Changes • Four New Case Closure Transactions were added • To notify the responding state that the initiating state is keeping its case open, but no longer needs the responding state’s intergovernmental services (MSC P GSC15) • To notify the initiating state when a case is closed pursuant to Sec. 303.11(b)(12) through (14) and Sec. 303.7(d)(90) (MSC P GSC16)

36. CSENet Changes cont. • To notify the responding state that it must stop any income withholding orders or notices to an employer and close the interstate case unless the two states reach an alternative agreement (MSC P GSC17) • To notify the initiating state when a case is closed pursuant to CFR 303.7(c)(12) since an alternate arrangement was not reached. The responding state closed its corresponding case upon direction from the initiating state. (MSC P GSC18)

37. CSENet Changes cont. • Two new transactions for arrears and interest • Request another state’s interest information on an individual interstate case (MSC R GRINT) • Initiating state provides the responding state with arrears and interest information annually (MSC P GSTAI)

38. QUICK Changes • Three new case closure reason codes • The initiating state directed closure because it issued a direct withholding order • The initiating state advised that its case is closed • Intergovernmental services are no longer needed by the initiating state

39. When will these changes take effect? • CSENet changes were implemented: • March 4, 2011 • QUICK changes will be implemented: • June 21, 2011

40. Questions or Comments

41. Resources • CSENet/QUICK Assistance • Email: CSENet.2000@lmco.com • Help Desk: 1-800-258-2736 • Release Management Library, OCSE Website: • 11-02 Release Specifications Documentation • http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cse/newhire/library/relmgnt/relmgnt.htm