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Gov.
Blagojevich announces opening of first interstate child support
office on Illinois-Iowa border
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New
partnership will improve communication, increase child support
collections
[NOV. 4, 2005]
CHICAGO -- As part of his continued efforts to
increase child support collections in Illinois, Gov. Rod R.
Blagojevich announced Oct. 14 that the state of Illinois
will join forces with the state of Iowa to increase enforcement of
child support laws through the opening of a new, jointly staffed
child support enforcement office in Rock Island. Located close to
the state line, the new facility will have one full-time employee
from each state who will work together to ensure improved interstate
information sharing, faster collection of court-ordered child
support and more efficient enforcement of child support laws.
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"I am proud to announce this joint effort between two great
Midwest states -- Illinois and Iowa," Blagojevich said. "By sharing
resources, child support enforcement staff in both states will have
access to the information they need to more quickly ensure that our
children's futures are brighter and more secure."
"I wish to extend my appreciation to representatives of the state
of Illinois for their openness to exploring new approaches to serve
children better," said Iowa Gov. Thomas Vilsack. "I am pleased that
Iowa staff has the opportunity to share resources and work
collaboratively with Illinois staff to secure support for children.
By working together, we will be able to break down barriers to
enforcing interstate cases and better serve our states' children."
Interstate child support cases make up about 12.3 percent of the
entire Illinois child support caseload, but they represent about 22
percent of the debt. The differences in Illinois and Iowa laws and
the delay in handing off cases make it more difficult to establish
child support payments in interstate cases than in same-state cases.
The two employees staffing the new office will have access to the
other state's computer system to enhance communication between both
states and increase child support payments. The shared information
will also improve each state's ability to track parents who avoid
their child support responsibilities by frequently moving from one
state to another.
Iowa's child support program is operated by its Department of
Human Services, and Illinois' child support program is operated
through its Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
"This joint effort between our two states opens critical lines of
communication and access to resources that will help increase child
support collections," said Barry S. Maram, director of the Illinois
Department of Healthcare and Family
Services. "Governor Blagojevich's leadership has vastly
improved child support enforcement in Illinois -- both in and out of
state."
In addition to the new Illinois-Iowa joint office, Blagojevich
has launched a number of innovative and aggressive programs to
improve collection to help Illinois parents, including a New Hire
initiative website that allows employers to report new employees
online more conveniently and quickly; a "deadbeat parents"
website that identifies parents who owe more than $5,000 in child
support payments, which has resulted in the collection of over
$172,000 in back payments; federal certification of the Key
Information Delivery System, the main computer for the child support
process; and the Sheridan Rehabilitation Project, which helps
ex-offenders access jobs and training in order to meet their child
support obligations.
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 "This Illinois and Iowa collaboration is yet another avenue
Governor Blagojevich has chosen in order to improve Illinois' child
support collection efforts," said Pam Compton, the acting
administrator for Illinois' Child Support Enforcement program under
the Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
In July, Blagojevich announced that a record-breaking $1 billion
in child support payments have been made this year. The funds will
provide 386,000 Illinois parents with the money they need to care
for their children. More than $100 million of the $1 billion
collected went to parents whose child support was severely overdue.
Collections on cases receiving enforcement services from the
Department of Healthcare and Family Services grew 8.5 percent,
surpassing the national average of 3 percent growth.
Child support is the second-largest income source for low-income
families who qualify for the program. In 2003, more than 846,735
children in Illinois were owed child support payments totaling about
$3 billion, with a collection rate of 28 percent. Today, the
collection rate is 32 percent, with 741,787 children's support being
enforced by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
All child support enforcement services are free and include the
automatic location of employers; automatic serving of income
withholding notices; and the submission of child support debt to
credit reporting agencies and to state and federal governments,
which can then intercept tax refunds, suspend or revoke professional
and occupational licenses, and deny passports.
Information about applying for enforcement services is available
at
http://www.ilchildsupport.com/.
[News release from the governor's
office]
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