3. Southeast Regional Child Support Enforcement Unit Improvement Plan

For FFY 2005, of$18,457,952 due in current support, $13,345,372 was distributed, for a percentage of 72.3%. This was ranked 6th, with the top region at 77.0%. Again, although the Fargo Region's increase in the current support distributed was more than any two regions combined, the increase to the percentage was marginal due to the simultaneous growth in the amount of current support due. No region had a 2% gain in improvement in this measure in FFY 2006 from FFY 2005, although the top region came close (1.84%). The other regions were between about ,05 and 1.0% improvement. Ana(vsis As is the case with the Support Orders measurement, an obstacle facing the Unit with increasing by 2% in the Current Support measure is the large and increasing caseload. The large caseload makes the percentage less sensitive due to a large "base" or denominator in the ratio. The other symptom of an increasing caseload is the demand it places on existing resources. This measure would not be as affected by turnover in the legal group to the extent of Support Orders, but is affected in a more indirect way. There are a number of administrative tools available to help improve the collection of current support, but due process requires some court review of these agency actions. The Fargo Unit has received some resistance from the bench in using these tools and the Unit has taken steps to alleviate that resistance. The opportunities to improve include removing the judicial resistance to certain administrative tools that wOllld likely improve our current support measure (interest suppression, license suspension), the introduction of the ALS, and the exceptions to the 35 month general rule on reviews and adjustments. Conclusions There are some administrative tools available to help improve collection of current support. Payment plans have the benefit of requiring payments each month, with predictable and substantial consequences if they fail. They are also more broadly applicable than the order to show cause process. They ought to be better incentives for obligors to pay current support, and one would expect better incentives to result in better behavior. The Unit also has worked with the bench to make the point that these tools are administrative, and that judicial review of these actions is limited. Removingjudicial resistance would make more aggressive use ofthese tools possible. Finally, reviews and adjustments make it more likely that existing orders will reflect an obligor's actual ability to pay. With the possibility of increased legal resources, and with 4