PRACfICES
EFFCf PATERN  ESTABLISHMNT 
REPORT
TECHCAL 
RICHAD P. KUSSEROW 
INSPECfOR GENERA 
OAI 06-89-00911  JANUARY 1990  For Further Information:  A condensed executive version of the report and 
additional copies of this technical report are available from the Superintendent of 
Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.  EXCU SUMY

PUR 
effective State and local paternity establishment practices 
This report describes 
barriers to a succssful paternity establishment program, and perceptions of the 
program s cost/bnefit. 
BACKGROUN 
The Congress, concerned by the increasing costs of the Aid to Familes with 
Dependent Children (AFC) program, amended the Social Security Act in 1975 
1984 and 1988 to create and then to strengthen the Child Support Enforcement 
(CSE) program. The 1988 amendments required State CSE programs, for the first 
time, to meet a specific paternity establishment percentage. 
Two recent evaluations of States' performance in child support enforcement 
S. House of Representatives subcommittee and the General 
conducted by a U.
Accounting Offce show that many States are not pursuing paternity establishment 
vigorously and successfully. These findings have serious cost implications for the 
States because States are subject to fiscal penalties if they cannot meet their 
paternity establishment percentage goal, and most paternity suits are brought in 
AFC. 
behalf of single mothers applying for 
We intervewed 77 managers, supervsors and legal personnel at 13 effective practice 
sites about barrers and key improvements to the paternity establishment process. 
We defined effective practices as procedures which improve the number of 
paternities established, case decision accuracy and/or case management effciency. 
EFFCT  SUMY 
PRACfCE 
effective practices to improve 
States should consider adopting the following seven 
paternity establihment in their Child Support Enforcement programs. 
SOUCl SUPORT

Actively solicit the support and commitment of top management, the judiciary, 
legislators and the community for the paternity establishment program. Through 
them the effective practice sites were able to increase program resources, streamline 
adjudication, increase paternity establishments and change paternity laws.  Cl 
REPONSmIL 
AFC, 
Decide whether  Child Support or other staff should be responsible for 
obtaining necessary intake information about the putative (alleged or supposed) 
father so that paternty establishment can be pursued. Then provide the needed 
resources and hold the staff accountable. 
PROMOTE COPERATION 
Develop better techniques for convincing parents to cooperate with the process. 
Effective practice sites have proven strategies for overcoming parental resistance, a 
major barrer to paternity establishment.

ST 
ADJUICATION 
Simplify adjudicative procedures whenever possible under State law and try to 
The effective practice sites have achieved this, and the 
minimize time spent in court. 
Congress, in amendmen  to the Child Support Enforcement program has 
encouraged streamlining of adjudication. 
INST 
CASE CONTOLS 
Institute a case control system to identify, age and monitor the status of the paternity 
establishment caseload. Whether automated or manual, systematic case management 
is crucial to processing all caes in a timely and accurate manner. 
SIMLI  PROCING 
CASE 
Evaluate case processing to simplify it, increase effciency and reduce duplication of 
effort. The effective practice sites improved in several ways, e.  , computer-
generated documents, elimation of overlapping staff duties, and at intake screening 
out clients who cannot use Chld Support Enforcement servces. 
STAFG 
IMROVE 
Re-evaluate the number, duties, capabilties and division of labor of present staff. 
Hire enough staff to do the job; consider improving staff capabilty by specializg 
staff functions and/or contracting for paternity establishment servces.  ................ ............................................. .......................................... ...... ........................ ................... ........................... . ................ ...... .......... .... .......................................... ................. 
CONT

TABLE OF 
EXCU SUM 
Y........................................................................................................ i
INODUCfON 
Purpose.................... ......................................................................................... .................. 1
Background.. ......  ..................................... 1
Methodology...................................................................... ......... "'''''..'''.'''''''''''''''''''''''''. 4
SUMY 
OF SIT DA T A...................................................................................... ............ 6
PATERN ESABUSHM PROC 
Initial Intake Procedures......................... .............. 

Location of the Putative Father...................................................................................

Case Confrontation/ Adj udication........ ........ .......... ................................................. 13
IMORTAN MAAGEM. 
FACfORS 
Cae 
Systema tic  Management. ...................................... ................ ............................... 17
More Effective S taff Utiliztion......................................................................... ......... 20
Top Management Commitment...................................................'..'......'.'........""""" 22
PATE 
ESABUSHM 
PERCEONS OF 
Importance of Paternity Establishment....................................................................

Cost Effectiveness of Paternity Establishment..................................................... 24
EFCT 
SUMY 
PRACfCE 
Solicit Support for the Paternity Establishment Program..................................... 26
Clari  .................................. 27
Responsibilty for Obtaining Intake Information 
Promote Improved Parental Cooperation ............................................................ 27
Streamline Adjudication of Paternity Cases........................................................... 27
Institute Effective Case Management Controls................................................. 28
S implify Case Processing ...  ............................. ........ .......... 28
Upgrade and Improve Staff Utilzation............................................................ 28
APPENICE..........  ..... .......... 29
Appendix A: Study Methodology

Appendix B: Individual Site Profies  . . ... 
".............."......,......"..".................................~................................,..,.....,. .~... ............., .. ...."...,........"...~..,.....,.. ............... ...... .... .... '.............. ........... ............................ ...............................,......-.......... ........................................... . ........ ..........,.......-.... ............................................,....................
....... .........................................,..........-.... ..... ,........-...........,.... .,.... ...... ........'.............. ... ........  ... .   ... .....................~.. ..................... .. ............. ~....". ....."..... ~". .. "..'... '..~.. . ..  . ....... ...................-.. ...-. ."......."...."....... ......"........"........"........"........."..... .".........".........".......".'.......,.....   . .
...................
EF 
PATE 
ESABUSHM PRACfCE
TECA 
RERT

0611 
OAI 
INODUCfON 
PURE 
This report describes effective State and local paternity establishment practices 
barrers to a succssful paternity establishment program, and perceptions of the 
program s cost/bnefit. 
BACKGROUN 
lre 
pglfql 
m...... 
Beginning in 1967, the Congress, concerned by the increasing costs of the Aid to 
Familes with Dependent Children (AFC) program, amended the Social Security 
Act to require States to attempt to establish paternty and obtain support for AFDC 
children. 
Other amendments in 1975, 1984 and 1988 created, and then strengthened, the 
current Child Support Enforcement Program (CSE). Participation in the Child 
AFC 
Support program became a condition of  eligibilty. The 1988 amendments 
will require States, for the first time, to meet a specific paternity establishment 
percentage beginning in fiscal year 1992. States not meeting their percentage goals
wi be subject to fiscal penalties. 
In addition, according to a "The New York Times" article (July 21, 1989) nearly 
00 
285  paternty suits are fied nationwide ev ry year. Most of these paternity suits 
are brought by CSE agencies in behalf of single mothers who have applied for 
AFDC. Women receiving AFDC have assigned their support rights to the CSE 
agency. If regular child support payments were made following paternity 
AFC 
establishment,  program costs for these families may be reduced. 
h........ .' .

!!ml_  iii  .IIIII_II 
:!i:.!: 
Beyond the value of reduced welfare costs, Congress, as well as researchers and 
social work professionals, also recognize that many other social and financial benefits  ...!...:.   '
!..........,.................. ..-,.,.. ...... ........................,..-.. .,..  ...p..................... ... ........ "....... ,  ...p'.....,,.,.g..........!....... ....."....q....."......"..!.....,-..!.-.."..,!.".,...- .".., .,."...:...:.".!......."............".....,.."....'....,.,,... ..,.,.,-..,-,...",........
may accrue from paternity establishment. These include the child's access to 
government benefits such as social security, health cae 
through the father
employer-provided plan, ineritance rights, importt 
genetic and medical history
information, and strengthened emotional growth and development through a sense of 
identity. 
lltll 
miil
Two recent evaluations of States
' performance in child support enforcement show
that many States are not pursuing paternity establishment vigorously and successfully. 
In October 1988, the Hous Subcmmittee on Public Assistance and Unemployment
Compensation released a report card of performance. The mean State paternity 
establishment rate was 31 percent (paternties established in fiscal year 1987 divided 
by births to unmarred mothers in 1985). Thrt-two 
States scored below 30 percent; 
45 scored below 50 percent. 
In April 1987, the General Accounting Offce (Child Support: Need to Improve
Effort to Identify Fathers and Obtain Support Ordm, GAOIH-87-37) found that
4 of every 10 AFDC sampled children who needed paternity determinations for 
support orders (61 percent) or just support orders (39 percent) did not 
receive them 
because their cases were never opened, were closed prematurely or remained open 
but unattended.

National data reported by the CSE program does show that, in fiscal year 1987, a
total of 269 00 paternities was established. This was a 10 percent increase over the 
prior fiscal year. 
..n......'........n...,............... ..,......n. 
..

aRi!H 
!gi.......

The Offce of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) within the Family Support 
Administration (FSA), Department of Health and Human Servces (DHHS) is 
responsible for establishing Federal program standards and ensuring effective State 
programs. Their activities include promulgating regulations, ongoing reviews of 
program operations (paternity establishment performance is a specifc component), 
disseminating program information through traing 
conferences and professional 
publications, and funding demonstration projects for program improvement. 
States have oversight responsibilty, but use a variety of organizational 
models to 
administer their operations. Whatever the model, child support enforcement tyically
consists of three major steps: establishing paternity, obtaining a support order, and 
collecting/enforcing support payments.  Paternt; establihment, however, is the 
fundaenta fit step from which the others follow.  .. 
.... ........ .,... ........~ .~..~........,,."...........  "
.". ". '....,-.".".".."..".'.'.''.'.'. ..."., ..,. .' .''.'.'..''...'.'.''..''.'.'.'.'.'.'..'~'..''..'',.~..,.'.... ~.'........"......".'. .. .... ...........~.........~.... ..~.........;.:.,.;.,..'.
PATERN 
ESABLISHMNT PROCES 
INORMATION FLOW

CONFONTATION 
n....... '................... ............ ...
...... "n -""""""""'"'''''

::li  :li,fftg%II 
There are  four seuential steps in the tyical paternity establishment process:  intake 
location, confontation and adjudication. (See exhibit "Paternity Establishment 
Process Information Flow" above. 
Intae 
begins with an intervew of the mother to learn the identity of 
the child's father, his address and his willngness to admit paternity. 
Failure of the AFDC mother to cooperate here, or at other points in 
the process, may result in fiancial sanctions to her.  Lotion.  A CSE caeworker tries to establish a location and address 
for the putative (alleged or supposed) father based on the information

obtaed 
from the mother. 
Confontation.  The putative father is notified of the paternity 
allegation, often through legal servce of a summons and complaint. 
He is also inormed of his rights and responsibilties. 
Adjudication  paternty allegation for the 
is  the legal disposition of the 
putative fathers that voluntariy admit paternity or could be con 
fronted. Procedures for this phase vary greatly among jurisdictions due 
to differences in State laws. Due process is a key concern. 
MEOOOLOY 
Ths inspection focused on effective practices of paternty establishment up to, but 
not including, the issuance of the child support order. We defined "effective 
practices" as procedures which increase the number of paternities established, case 
decision accuracy, and/or case management effciency. 
Our sample, selected by a 3-tiered screening process based on literature review 
expert' recommendations and national data is judgmental and consists of 77 
respondents at 13 effective practice sites in 12 States: Pulaski County (Uttle Rock), 
Arkansas; Sa Fraci, California; Santa Barbara County (Sata Barbar), 
(Wilgtn), 
California, New Castle County  Delaware; Fulton County (Atlanta), 
Georgia; Cook County (Chcago), Ilinois; Marion County (Indianapoli), Indiana; 
Price Gerge s County, Maryland; Wayne County (Detroit), Michigan; Dakota 
County, Minnesota; Phiadelphi Pennsylvania; Shelby County (Memphi), 
Tennessee; Salt Lake County (Sat Lae City), Utah. (See Appendix A for details of 
the study methodology. 
During the site screening, we also derived a set of characteristics for an ideal 
paternity establishment process to serve as a reference in describing effective 
practices. (See exhibit "An Ideal Paternity Establishment Process
" on the next page).   --_

... 
............ ................. .,. ......
.......'... .... ........".....--.-..... .....,--
'.',................... .......... ........ ,--,.....
SUMY 
OF SIT DATA 
1,.1.8111 
111 
Al thireen sites were selected because they were perceived by people 
knowledgeable in the field as effective in paternity establishment. Each site 
however, is also unique in its administrative procedures, sta size and duties 
population, paternty laws, and perceptions by their management and legislators. (See 
Appendix B for individual site profies. 
Compared to the "ideal" model and even by their own assessment none of the sites 
has a perfect paternty establishment system. The sites see a need to improve 
performance, and most have plans for future refinements. Compared to each other 
the sites are in different stages of evolution. Some had instituted just one or two 
changes that had made a marked difference in their effectiveness; others had made 
many changes over several years. 
t!I!JI."'.il.'''
.... ,--n............".'.'.'
''''''' ,n,,",........'....n",..... n.,... .....

barers 
to effective paternty 
The greatest and most frequently reported 

establishment are the parents and the adjudication process. 
The mothers provide incomplete or no information about the putative 
father due to a lack of understanding of the benefits of paternity 
establishment and other factors. 
The fathers do not want to accept parental responsibilty. 
The adjudication of paternty cases is restrained, delayed and 
complicated by State laws and procedures. 
Other less frequently mentioned barrers are: diffculties in locating the putative 
father, lack of community interest, and belief that paternity establishment is not 
important, not cost 
effective or too diffcult to adjudicate. 
key improvements made in sites' paternity establishment 
The most frequent 

procedures included improved case processing and management, and streamling of 
case adjudication. Additional staff and staff specializtion were also lited as positive  BARR I ERS AND IMPROVEMENTS 
THE PATERN I TY ESTABL I SHMENT PROCESS 
FATHER CANNOT BE SERVED

AFDC / CSE COOPERA T I ON  BARRIERS  LEGAL PROCESS COMPLEX

BENCH DOES NOT A I D OR 
PROCESS DELAYS
 UNDERSTAND PATERN I TY 
EST ABL I SHMENT 
MOTHERS DO NOT UNDERSTAND

BENEFITS OF PATERNITY
 CASES LOST OR
 LEGAL SYSTEM INHIBITS 
ESTABL I SHMENT  UNA TrENDED  PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT

CASES LOST OR
 INADEOUATE LOCATE
 PARENTS CANNOT AFFO

UNA TrENDED  SOURCE I NFORMA T ION  BLOOD TESrS 
FATHER FAILS TO ATTEND

INSUFFICIENT STAFF
 INSUFFICIENT STAFF
 HEARINGS OR BLOOD TEST

MSHOET HDEORE AS LLNEOGTE
 S  FFOAUTNHDE RT HCRANONUOGTH 
 BE
 TI INMSEU F/P FE IR CS OI ENNNTE CLO URT 
KNON FATHER
 AVA I LABLE CHANNELS 
INTAKE  LOCA TE  CONFRONT  ADJUD I CATE 
IMPROVE RELA T IONS 
CONTRACT FOR LEGAL SERVICES

WI TH AFDC 
CSE DOES I TS OW 
DATA COLLECTION
 CHANGE LAWS

IMPROVEMENTS
REDES I GN OR STREAML I NE  EXPEDI TE - ALLOW

PROCEDURES  VOLUNT ARY ADM I SS IONS 
I MPROVE I NFORMA T I ON AND 
PRESENT A T ION OF PA TERN I TY  EDUCATE JUDICIARY 
EST ABL I SHMENT BENEF I TS  AND PUBL I C 
STRENGTHEr. "ASE  DEVELOP PROCEDURES THAT

MANAGEMENT CONTROLS  NEGA TE OR REDUCE NEED 
FOR COURT TIME 
ADD/SPECIALIZE STAFF  ADD/SPECIALIZE STAFF
 USE HEAR I NG OFF I CERS 
OR MED I A TORS 
APPL Y SANCT IONS
 STRENGTHEN CASE
 AGENCY FRONTS BLOOD

MANAGEMENT CONTROLS  TEST FEES

PERS I STENT CAREFUL  CSOOUNTRRCAECST:  EF.O GR.  I CNRFOERDMITA T ION BLOOD DRAWS ON PREM I SES 
I NTERV I EWI NG  BUREAUS  WH I LE PARENTS ARE THERE 
INTERVIEW MOTHER ON DAY  SOLICIT AID/INFORMATION

SHE ALSO APPL I ES FOR AFDC  FROM THE CDMUN I TY  INCREASE COURTS/PERSONNEL
 changes by many respondents. Support from the community, legal groups and 
private agencies, as well as legislative interest, were also important. 
A summary of barrers faced by Child Support programs in establishing paternity and 
improvements made to overcome these barrers are summaried in the exhibit 
Barrers and Improvements to the Paternity Establishment Process" on the prior 
page. 
PATERN ESABUSHMNT PROC 
IN 
INAK PROCUR 
Ideally, caseworkers are trained to obtain information essential to paternity 
establishment, such as the name and address of the putative father. The effective 
solutions  intae barers 
practice sites have devised 
 to the major initial 
AFC 
1) unsatisfactory  performance in obtaining basic intake information, and 
2) the mothers' non-cooperation with the paternity establishment process. 
AFC 
generally has the first contact with the unwed mothers. Most Child Support 
AFC 
staffs (10 of 13) believe that  staffs are ineffective in obtaining even basic 
information about the putative father. Some respondents are quite critical (tlAFC 
just doesn t seem to care ), and some see AFDC as having its own problems and 
different program concerns. One respondent pointed out that AFDC picks up more 
information than is passed on to Child Support.

Child Support staffs gather their own information 
Child Support staffs solve the problem of incomplete AFDC intake information 
primarily by gatherig the data themselves. Three sites do not rely on AFDC for 
AFC 
information. Seven routinely do a follow-up intervew to the  intake intervew 
and two do a follow-up intervew when needed. Respondents at these same two 
AFC 
sites added that  does not consistently obtain the needed information. Several 
which do follow-up noted they can get what they need by telephone. 
The CSE respondents listed, on average, 12 basic pieces of information they try to 
collect, other than a name, such as aliases, physical description and birh data. All 
staffs, but one, agreed that some items are more critical than others. Frequently 
mentioned were: address, place of employment, social security number and date of 
birth.  , "
AFC 
More training of  staff to improve intake information 
When asked about cross-training for the AFC staff, nine Child Support staffs said 
they have done some, but most do it less than yearly. The content and purpose are 
basically intended to improve rapport between Child Support and AFC staffs, and 
to explain CSE's need for the information on the putative father. 
Price George s County CSE intae/locate unit told us that in September 1988 they 
staed to work with AFC to clear caes for the work program. 
We got together with AFC and explained if they gave us good information 
we could work the cases much quicker. We also checked cases and returned 
those that were incomplete. We ended up with a better working 
relationship.... The main barrier was the negative attitude of what we thought
AFC  AFC 
did and what  thought we did. 
AFC 
In 1989 Wilmington trained its  workers on how to view clients diferently. 
The AFC workers are encouraged to see welfare as something temporary, clients 
as competent, and paternity establishment as helping them. 
This approach changes 
the workers' perceptions of clients and improves intake information qualty. 
AFC 
Conducting  and Child Support intake intervews on the same day 
Under an ideal process, staff take action to 
establish paternity as early as possible in 
the life of the case. Prince George s County, Santa Barbara and Wilmington each 
had positive experiences with coordinated intake intervews and prompt paternity 
establishment actions. 
AFC 
For 1 year Prince George s County sent CSE workers to the  offce to do the 
intake intervews. "We got fantatic information. We knew what we needed, and the 
clients were a lot more cooperative because they felt their grants depended on it. 
Unfortunately, we did not have enough money to continue funding (the project). 
At all three Santa Barbara intake offces CSE now coordinates with AFC staff to 
conduct intake intervews on the same day. Prior to mid-1989, the site had 1 offce 
which did follow-up intake intervews 6 to 10 weeks after AFC's. CSE staff 
believed they obtained better information about the putative father when they 
conducted same day intervews because the mothers were more 
impressed then with 
the seriousness of the process.

Wilmington physically co-locates Child Support caseworkers with AFC staff. The 
advantages of co-location are  It saves time and gets the cases processed much  "......., 
..... "....," 

....." ..
, " .......
faster. AFC and Chld Support have a much better relationship. The key thing is 
that we are able to conduct more intervews. There were no barriers to this. 
"II-JlI1 
jii 
1:1 
The other major intake barrer is convincing the mother to cooperate in establishing. 
paternty. Failure to cooperate is defined almost 
uniformly by the respondents as 
refusal to keep appointments for intake intervews, legal hearings and blood tests 
and refusal to divulge information about the putative father. Refusal to divulge

information is the aspect of cooperation which concerns respondents the most. 
Exlaining paternity esta1:hment benefits to mot 
Al the sites provide the mother with information on the benefits of establishing 
paternity as a tool to obtain her cooperation. All the site staffs explain them to her 
verbally, six give her written material, usually pamphlets, and Santa Barbara uses a 
prepared audio/vsual presentation of which child support enforcement servces is a 
segment. Most of the site staffs explain the future legal and financial benefits to the 
child if the father is known, or just generally stress the importance of identifyng the 
father. Several stress the importance to the child of knowing both parents. 
Chicago, funded by DHHS, is also piloting Project Advance which targets the .needs 
of young mothers. At least once a week a family support specialist intervews the 
mothers at the pilot offces after the mothers have participated in a workshop to 
discuss what child support is, the advantages of paternty establishment and the 
untruth of popularly believed myths such as  If you name the father, he will be 
locked Up." Although findings are preliminary, the workshop participants seem to 
view the process as less adversarial, are better prepared for the intake intervew, and 
are more willng to cooperate. 
When we specifically asked the staffs how they reduce non-cooperation, eight said 
they explain the future benefits available to the child. Other approaches were

makig an emotional appeal to the mother about her child, reminding her the father 
has a responsibilty to the child and convincing her that the CSE program can help. 
Financial penalties as incentives for mothers to cooperate 
The penalty for non-cooperation at all sites is the removal of the mother from the 
AFDC grant, thereby reducing the amount of cash assistance she receives. Two 
AFC 
sites, at which  and CSE do intake intervew on the same day, can exclude the 
mother for non-cooperation with CSE intake early in the process. Many of the 
sampled site staffs would like to have this option. Four of these sites also designate  a new grant payee. Salt Lake City and Dakota County make vendor payments for 
the mother, which means she receives no check from AFC; 
instead the site pays 
her bils on her behalf.

Seven staffs specificall said they try to reduce non-cooperation by explaining the 
penalty and using it if necessary. . The San Francisco director, however, said the 
Agency "rarely" penalizs. Here a welfare advocacy group had complained that the 
agency was too aggessive in askig about the putative father and in using non
cooperation sanctions. The site modifed its procedure by 
offerig the mothers an 
opportunity to sign a declaration about the putative father under penalty of perjury. 
The procedure is now required State-wide. 
The use of the penalty for non-cooperation ranged among the sites from 1 case in 10 
to 1 in 50. Two site respondents qualified their answers by 
saying that they 
recommend penalties at a certin frequency, but the actual penalty rate is smaller 
since many mothers apparently think it over and do eventually cooperate. 
Prince George s CSE staff (most sites rely on AFDC staff has had the authority for 
a year to sanction the uncooperative mothers. The benefit has been, according to 
the respondent, "the mothers saw we meant business and some of the pressure was 
taken off AFC." 
Persistent. careful intervewing of mothers alleging they don t know who the 
father is 
If the mother says she doesn t know who the father is, most of the Child Support 
intake staffs, nevertheless, continue aggessive and persistent intervewing. 
Respondents told us they ask her to explain why, ask her to name the men who are 
the most likely, tell her they don t believe her and ask again, ask detailed questions 
concerning the time frame when she became pregnant, or have other staff intervew 
her. 
Some sites may intervew collaterals. Memphis has the custodial parent supply them 
with the names and telephone numbers of people who can verify her circumstances. 
The workers find these contacts very useful in supplying information about the 
absent parent that the mother might not divulge. 
Salt Lake City sometimes requires the mother to document, as part of cooperation 
that she doesn t know who the father is. This may include her obtaining sworn 
statements from bartenders, friends, or neighbors saying they saw her with a man at 
a particular time, but they didn t know who he was, nor had they seen her with him 
before. A caseworker estimates that initially 20 percent of the mothers say they 
don t know the father, but, based on experience, the real percentage is substantially 
lower.  .p 
;: 
",'?

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LOATION OF TH PUTATI FATHR 
!ii 
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_I.I' 
1I1!!
A wide variety of information sources 
A good location effort requires skill and emphasis by the Agency. This frequently 
translated into using a wide variety of inormation sources. Those used by the 
majority were locator servces (State and Federal), intervews with famiy members 
and  collaterals such as neighbors, the post offce, the department of motor 
other 
vehicles, State wage or taxation information, other programs managed by the same 
State agency, the tax assessor and prison/criminal records. 
SOURCES OF LOCATE I NFORMA T ION 
USED BY THE 13 SITES

NUMBER OF RESPONSES

0 \)
0 R- 0 RJ 
(( RJ

-0 . 
i 
0 "
8"0  0tv 0 0 0",  v.'0?  vfi   (f ,(Q 
C; -t'?  0  tv :: ooy 0
tv 
'" O

rt 
* Q1t RY: BANKS- 3; VOTER REG I STRATI ON- 3; 
COURT RECOR05-2; EMPlOYERS-2;MI l ITARY-2;OEPT. OF 
lABOR- 2; PROFESS IONAl BOARDS- 2; UN IONS- 1  ....................................................................-,-........................................~.....~....~.......... .......  ..... .......... .....  ".....'".'.'' '''.''.'"'   ...,. ......~...~.....~.". ,...... ....... . .:..:..:.............. ..," .:,". ..,~.. .:." .~..,.  ~........,...  "."..... '.'. .'..' ..  ......."....".".,.."... .... ...........  .............'..'.......... .......".  :.. :'...."""....'... ..'..:"..".,...... .
Specializd staffs. follow-up intervews and community public relations efforts 
Four sites have specialied location units: Atlanta, Price George s County, 
Phiadelphia and Wilgton. Philadelphia, which also locates missing children, has 
investigators that locte about 500 fathers a month. In addition to the link (many 
automated) to the information sources already mentioned, they also work, if required 
by the case, neighborhood churches, bars and grocery stores to obtain information 
about the father. 
Atlanta sends custodial parents a computer-generated form letter to solicit 
information on absent parents as part of an annual Federal report on cases where 
paternity has not been established. They achieve a 75 percent response rate with 15 
percent of returns providing good location information. 
A Salt Lake City worker does presentations to large companies in the area 
explain the work of Child Support Enforcement. As a result, Child Support staff has 
successfully obtained the companies' help in checking records for location and wage 
information on the putative fathers. 
As a one-time project, Memphis CSE published a list of men that it was tryng to 
locate for open, but unworkable, paternity establishment cases. Businessmen 
relatives and private citizens called in information that led to the location of absent 
fathers. A Memphis respondent rated it "a moderate success" that they would try 
again. 
CASE CONFONTATION/ADJUICATION 
The adjudication system, often perceived as a complicated barrier to effective 
paternity establishment, is usually dictated by State laws. Within 
the legal 
simple approaches when possible
framework, thse etffrecteivea preacti ce sites try to use 

the required procures. Twelve site staffs believe their systems
and to 

work well, citing: 1) expedited processes, 2) specialized courts and personnel 
3) supportive public policy, or 4) a committed judiciary. (See exhibit "Typical 
Adjudication System for Paternity Establishment" on the next page. 
...no,...................... """..-

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Simplifyng confrontation 
In confrontation, seven sites use telephone calls, the mother s help or form letters to 
make appointments with the putative father in the hope he will voluntarily admit  (stipulate) paternty. Failing that, they next issue a formal summons and complaint. 
The other sites, given their more exacting legal processes, cannot or prefer not to 
use informal methods. For example, State law requires servce of a summons and 
complaint even if the man stipulates paternity, or a stipulated judgment is not 
permissible without judicial involvement.

TYPICAL ADJUDICATION SYSTEM FOR PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT

PUTATIVE FATHER

CONFRONTED BY CSE.

\ I 
FATHER ST IPULATES  CASE REFERRED BY CSE  PUTATIVE FATHER 
TO PATERNITY OUT  TO LEGAL COUNSEL;  FAilS TO RESPOND, 
OF COURT.  SUMMONS  COMPlA I NT  DEFAULT JUDGMENT 
F I LED AND SERVED.  I S RENDERED. 
\ I 
TR I AL BY JUDGE  PUT AT I VE FATHER  D I SM I SSAl OF 
OR JURY  RESPONDS, BLOOD
 ACT! ON . 
TESTS PERFORMED.

Establishing paternity without court involvement 
Eleven sites have a mechanism whereby a man can legally admit paternity without 
court involvement (stipulated judgment, expedited process, consent decree, voluntary 
acknowledgement). Atlanta and Indianapolis, which have implemented their 
stipulation procedures in recent years, agree that the benefits have been cost savings 
and improved timeliness in adjudication.  Salt Lake City and Prince George s County have provided special intervew training 
to caseworkers who negotiate for voluntary 
admissions of paternity. In both 
instances, the training improved performance. Attorney time was saved, and fewer 
cases went to court for hearings. 
Philadelphia, Memphis and Detroit, in addition to voluntary admissions of paternity, 
use special negotiators to work out agreements before formal court appearances. 
Philadelphia, even when a cae is scheduled for trial because an agreement can t be 
reached, the District Attorney, who has the results of the blood tests in hand
, tries 
one last time in the courtroom, before the judge enters, to reach a settlement. 
Chicago and Wilmington: Increasing paternity adiudications by adding courts 
or legal personnel 
Because State law requires that all paternity establishments occur in court, Chicago 
key improvement was to add more courts and the personnel to staff them. 
Implemented in 1986 and 1987, Chicago now has three full day parentage 
courtrooms, four suburban courtrooms, and a larger legal staff. Facing large case 
backlogs, the County successfully competed for 
a funding increase by convincing the 
Chief Judge and others of the seriousness of the problem and 
the potential public 
benefit. Their trend data shows a 44 percent increase in the number of paternities 
established in 1988 compared to 1987. 
Wilmington does not use voluntary stipulations because their legal counsel anticipates 
a violation of due process. Instead, Wilmington uses court-based hearing offcers 
called mediators and masters, to explain the man s rights to him and to negotiate 
paternity and support agreements. As with the other sites, the putative father can 
stil contest paternity before a judge. 
Accelerating adiudication by effcient blood testing. use of default judgments and 
arrest warrants 
Bloo tests are often required when the putative father denies or is uncertain about 
the paternity allegation. Easy access to blood tests promotes timely adjudication. 
Seven sites authorie blood draws at the Child Support office or court while the 
parents are there for hearings or by regularly scheduled appointments. Memphis 
staff commented this saves them money in wasted time on postponements and 
finding a reluctant putative father a second time to blood test him. Philadelphia 
negotiated a tWo-sample blood draw with its contractor to combat the problem of 
redraws when samples are lost or misplaced. Generally, they are now assured of 
having analysis results in 4 to 6 weeks.  Eleven sites pay for the tests initially, and then, may try to recover their costs from 
the parente s). Several site directors said this decreases delays and stallng tactics. 
Chicago paid intially for more bloo tests in 1988 when they were able to increase 
their budget for the tests. They said, "Discovery was started sooner. The benefits 
were improved timeliness, elination of backlogs and more settlements. 
If the putative father does not respond to the formal paternity allegation, he can be 
default judgent.  Twelve sites are authoried to use 
named as the legal father by a 

a default judgment; fie invoke it soon after the deadle for responding to the 
summons and complaint is passed, seven somewhat later in the 
adjudicative process. 
Price George s County has no defaults arest wants for men 
, but they do isue 
who fail to appear for their heargs. 
Memphis includes default language in all papers served to the putative father
, e. 
summons and notices of continuance, so that he has received due process regarding 
defaults. Implemented to end stallng and avoidance tactics, the procedure reduced 
waste of court time by defendants who failed to appear for hearings or blood tests. 
Effcient case scheduling improves timeliness of adjudication 
Detroit uss a "docket-driven" system that dictates all actions and timing of paternity 
procedures. When their attempts to obtain a voluntary acknowledgement fail, the 
Child Support staff refer cases to the Wayne County Friend of the Court (FOC). 
The FOC computer system immediately schedules the case into the court docket for 
every possible action with due dates. The schedule includes blood testing which the 
court orders routinely for contested caes. 
Letters advising the putative fathers of 
the scheduled dates are also sent. 
The legal documents needed for each court appearance are produced automatically 
as actions fall due. The FOC sytem provides data on each case s age, current status 
and future actions as well as summaries of specific tyes of actions that are 
scheduled for upcoming months. 
For Detroit, the streamlined cae scheduling instituted in 1988, combined with 
improved trackig and the Chief Judge s certification of the FOC to negotiate and 
accept paternty acknowledgements in 1986, have made a substantial difference. 
Detroit had 3984 paternities established in 1987. In 1988 this number rose to 5800 
66 
and is projected to reach 
in 1989. 
Five other sites also effciently schedule their caes. Chicago uses its automated 
Prince George 
system to notify clients and putative fathers of all court dates. 
County and Philadelphia schedule and notify the putative father of 
the next court 
date when he is bloo tested. Memphis will sometimes arrest putative fathers if they  fail to appear in cour. When the man is picked up, he has a hearing the next day. 
He may either stay in jail overnight or post bond. 
In Indianapolis, al contested caes must go to court but under their system there 
are gradations of "contested" caes: the man admits paternity, but does not agree on 
other issues such as the child support amount; the man 
disagrees with the paternity 
allegation; the man disagrees with the paternity allegation and is represented by 
counsel. These caes are grouped by 
tye and scheduled for court on specific days. 
Legislative and judicial support 
Seven site directors believe legislative or judicial support is a 
factor in their success. 
Memphis and Price George s County are especially complientary of the strong 
leadership and support they receive from two judges, one per site, that guide 
paternity adjudication. In Chicago, staff from CSE and the State Attorney s office 
brief individual judges on the specific requirements and problems of child support 
enforcement law. 
IMORTAN MAAGEMENT 
FACTORS 
SYSTTIC.  MAAGEM 
CASE 
Systematic case management, whether automated or manual, is critical to effective 
paternity establishment. It promotes efficient movement of cases through the 
process identifies the paternity establishment caseload, and helps assure that required 
case actions are completed timely. 
1_-
lt.I'fi

$lljllll
Automated case management systems 
Automated case management systems can be very effective, but their implementation 
requires funding and long-range planning. Wilmington, Prince George s County, 
Chicago and San Francisco have automated systems that can identify, track, age and 
obtain information for paternity cases as they are processed. 
For Wilmington and 
San Francisco, almost anything that is done for the case, including document 
generation, is done through the automated system. Little Rock and Atlanta also do 
some automated document generation.  Funding was a maj9r consideration addressed by long range planning and by 
convicing senior management of the need for and benefits of the system.
Wilgton usd 
a steering committee, that formed a plan to 
consolidate several 
agencies under an umbrella, to assess whom they were servcing and to study what 
was available to them. Prince George s County installed a system designed by a 
private company whose owner was famiar with the already operational New York 
child support enforcement system. 
San Francisco: A successful conversion from a manual 
to an automated case 
management sytem

Between 1986 and the summer of 1989, San Francisco converted from an entirely 
manual system to a fully automated system by implementing three major procedural 
improvements. 
Beginning in the summer of 1987, the Child Support offce started to use a "stand 
alone" system application maintained at the site for document generation. The 
application can generate up to 40 different documents including a summons and 
complaint, default judgments, stipulated judgments, and various form letters such as a 
locte inquiry. Prior to this time individual correspondence and documents were 
tyed manually. 
Also in 1987, San Francisco CSE initiated on-line intake with twce weekly updates 
ca 
of the  information data base. Finally, early in 1988 they added another system 
application that tracks age, actions and status of paternity cases. Previously, 
caseworkers kept personal ticklers and color codes to track needed actions, with the 
result that cases often exceeded time limits or were left unattended. The automated 
system, however, greatly improved processing times and individual case management. 
Paternity establishments for San Francisco increased from 482 in fiscal year (FY) 
1986 to 84 in FY 1987, and to 2576 in FY 1988. Other cumulative effects were: 
1) the elimination of a clerical  to 6 months, 2) the elimination of 
tying backlog of 4 
a case action backlog of 2 months, and 3) the elimination of 28 clerical positions 
(0) 
(salary range $23 00 to $25  oyer 3 fiscal years. 
Santa Barbara: Manual case management systems work effectively with the 
proper controls in place 
Santa Barbara and Memphis have primarily manual systems. The other sites are a 
combination, with the system frequently limited in its cae tracking and aging 
capacity. Nevertheless, site staffs properly manage their cases by using manual 
tracking and "tickler" procedures. Most would prefer, however, to have fully 
automated 
systems.  Santa Barbara establihed 173 paternities in 1985, 1185 in 1986, and slightly more 
than 60 in each of the next 2 years. They also won an "Outstanding Program 
Award" for 1986 from the National Child Support Enforcement Association. Part of 
their work that year was the completion of their "Default Project" which culminated 
2 years of cae management improvements. 
Faced with an extremely disorganied system in 1985, the Santa Barbara staff 
manually inventoried the entire caeload to determe 
the status of individual cases 
and actions needed to complete them. By 1986 they had identified the cases in 
which the putative fathers had been legall served with a summons and complaint 
but no other action had been taken. After notifyng the court and the public of their 
plans and soliciting cooperation, the staff processed their backlog of 450 default 
cases, about 5 years worth, in 10 working days. Paternity was legally established for 
each case, and the father was obligate  to pay to child support. 
The barers to the case management changes were no overtime money and staff 
who resisted the change. Santa Barbara overcame these by completing the work 
within regular working hours. Staff goals were stated clearly, and caseworkers were 
expected to comply. Some staff left, but the remaining staff were involved and their 
improvement suggestions utilized. 
For the current caseload, Santa Barbara instituted case trackig and quality controls: 
6O-day case reviews for actions taken and actions needed, individual cae control 
sheets, daily caseworker log sheets summarized by supervsors, supervsory review of 
all caseworker initiated legal actions, and wrtten standards describing caseworker 
responsibilties. Every 6 months supervsors review 10 percent of each caseworker 
caseload to ensure compliance with the 60-day review procedures and to identify 
additional training needs. 
Improved intake. status tracking. processing time standards. and other methods for 
improving case management 
Little Rock improved its case management at intake by scheduling specific times for 
clients' appointments. Intake procedures were wrtten; caseworkers with good 
interpersonal and wrting skills were trained in them. The site also set a 60-day time 
limit after intae for some tye of case resolution, e.g., adjudication started, case 
hold for future loction attempts. Afer 180 days, they attempt another locate or 
possibly make a cae closure referral to the supervsor. Since they made these 
changes, case processing time has improved noticeably. 
AFC 
In Philadelphia, approximately 2500 cases per month are referred from  intake 
to the Chd Support agency prior to eligibilty determination. Site personnel stated 
based on experience, that many clients, who are denied public assistance, do not wish 
to pursue child support. A pilot project at two AFC district offces specially  AFC 
trained  caeworkers to complete the entire intake intervew (screening, 
verication, loction). Oients who are not authoried to receive AFDC and who do 
not wish to pursue child support once public aid is denied, about 
3Q percent, are not 
referred to the CSE offce. Oients who are referred have already been intervewed 
for the needed CSE information. As a result, case processing becomes faster and 
concentrates on paternity establishment tasks. 
Small changes can also improve cae management: 
Lae  AFC. 
Salt  manually sort caes received from  Cases needing 
paternty establishment are color coded to indicate their status. They 
also standardized their forms for uniformity, and used simpler language 
and formats for a more "client friendly" document. 
Santa Barbara physically divides each case into color coded information 
sections. The caseworker "saves 20 to 40 minutes every time the case 
is handled" because (s)he can quickly find or enter 
the information. 
Alo at intake, clients sign a non-welfare CSE application for servces 
which permits the Child Support staff to immediately pursue paternity 
establishment even if AFDC assistance is denied. 
Since 1987 San Francisco has had a supervsor trained to legally fie 
summons/complaints, default judgments and stipulations with the court. 
This eliminates backlogs and expedites the process of filing legal 
documents generated by the site s computer system. 
EFFCT  UTTiON 
MORE  STAF 
An effective paternity establishment process requires sufficient staff organized in an 
effcient way to properly complete all casework tasks. 
tIJ 
CIBJ 
Ws,1111ffl
Hiring additional staff for 
existing case load 
Hirng additional staf just to handle the existing case load was a basic, but key, 
improvement at six sites. Even though they were backlogged or experiencing other 
serious difculties, each of the six site directors had to convince management of the 
sta. 
need for additional  Techniques they used were demonstrating their effcient use of staff currently on 
board, trackig the correlation of staff overte to improved performance, setting 
goals for worker-to-case ratios, projecting future cost effciencies and emphasizing 
compliance with Federal requirements. Five of these six site directors also perceive 
that their top managements' commitment is a factor of 
their effectiveness. 
Little Rock began its improvement plan in 1987 by setting caseload goals, adding 
staff and tracking the results. Accrding to FSA data Arkansas established 
paternities increased from 2941 in 1985 to 5903 in 1988. Little Rock is the major 
population center for the State, and the site director believes the staff increases were 
a major reason for their improved performance. 
Staff specializtion 
tever their specifc division of labor, the nine site directors using specializtion 
told us its benefits are faster and smoother case processing, more consistent and 
accurate case decisions, backlog reductions, and greater client and caseworker 
satisfaction. 
Specializtion schemes are: welfare/non-welfare cases, teams, or functional divisions 
Le., intake, location. Combinations of the schemes are common. For example, a 
AFC 
caseworker may only do intake intervews with  clients. Two sites have 
specially trained caeworkers to act as paralegals. One of their attorneys said 80 
percent of case adjudication problems ca be anticipated; therefore, caseworkers can 
be trained in advance to deal with them. He believes the site staff produces "high 
quality cases that meet legal standards." Another site director upgraded one position 
that he could hire better qualified employees. 
tye so 
One-of-a-kind positions. contracts. and use of clericals for routine case tasks 
Some sites create unique positions to faciltate paternity establishment: a paternity 
coordinator to act as liaison between court and attorneys, a blood test consultant to 
schedule appointments and negotiate payments, an ombudsman to handle difficult 
clients or sensitive cases. Prince George s County uses a court liaison officer to 
arrange transporttion for clients with volunteer drivers so they will not miss court 
hearings. 
Blood testing is the most common contracted servce. However, 10 sites contract for 
additional paternity establishment servces: legal process servers (private or sheriffs 
departments), legal counsel (private or public), and credit bureaus for location 
information. One site respondent noted that, as they gained experience, they had 
changed contractors for legal counsel in order to attain better servce.  , "
Five sites trai clerica to do routine casework tasks such as document searches, 
status verications and cae completeness reviews. By using clericals for routine 
tasks the sites gain professional staff time for more complex tasks. 
Dakota County: A convincing example of the positive effects of 
staffng changes 
In 1986 and 1987 Dakota County established 18 and 19 paternities respectively. In 
1988 they established 226, and they project 324 establihments for 1989. They 
hig 
attnbute their succss to  additional staff and realigng personnel duties. 
In July 1987 two paralegals and one attorney were added to the County Attorney 
existing child support enforcement staff of just two attorneys. The paralegals 
assumed many paternity establishment duties formerly done by Child Support staff 
and attorneys, such as intervewing the mother and father, and preparig routine 
legal documents. The attorneys, as a result, had more time to work complicated 
caes. 
In January 1988 the County added the second piece of its improvement plan -- the 
expedited administrative process. Placed in the CSE offce, child support officers 
establish binding support orders for 
present cases before administrative law judges to 
certin cae tyes, tyically default judgments and summary judgments, and to 
conduct case reviews for support amount changes. Prior to this, the County Attorney 
did all paternity and support order work; the attorneys had to attend the child 
support hearings. 
The combined effect of these changes was to add specialized staff, reassign some 
duties, train staff for new duties, and eliminate process duplication where possible. 
Now Child Support staff does intake support orders and 
, 10catioQ. routine child 
. collections. The County Attorney handles all paternity work and more legally 
complicated chid support cases. As a result, numbers of court orders produced 
collections, paternities fiished and time frames have all improved. 
COMM 
MAAGEM 
TOP 
top management commitment as a critical factor
Many effective practice sites identify 

supporting their effort to initiate needed system and procedural changes and 
improve performance in paternity establishment. One site respondent said  Child 
Support is now a management priority. We are budgeted separately. We can t have 
our money touched by other agencies when times are tough.  ... 
........ .... ...'..........................''.'...'.'...'...............'..'.,..'..'....'.'....'.....'.'....'..'...'...'" .'.."......"" ..... .. ............ ..........,.....-.....".,... .,.....,.....'..,..   ....'..' .'...,'...-...,........... .. . ..."....."..' .
'.'.''."''.'.''.'.'"'.''..',''"..''...'.".'..'..."'...'...'"...'.'.'".''..'.''.."'.''..'.''".''..'.''"."'.''.'.',''.".'.''..''.".'.'',.'.''.".''.'''..'""''..''',..''"'...''''..."'.."'.-.'...'"...'.'.."'...'...-'..,''.".,-..',.."..,...."  ...". ...'."."'..'.''.',..''', ..'''....... ............... . . ..,. .."...........,... ,.....-... . .."..  .. ..... ...........'...'.'..'...........'....'..'...'..'..'...'..'.....'..'...'..'...'..'...'..'....'..'...'....'.'....'.'.....'.'....'..'...'...'..'...'...'....'.'....'..'...'.. ................... ............................... ......... ... ....". . .'......... ...,...,.,..' ... . .....  "........................... .................................. .................... .. ........... ....."...".."...,................ ... ......"........' ..  
..,. ...... .... . ..." ................. . ...... ....... .. ....... ............. ......... ........ ....... ..... ........... ...  ...... ......
MANAGERIAL COMMITMENT GREATLY AFFECTS

THE PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT PROCESS 
GREATER MANAGER I AL 
COMM I TMENT 
ADDITIONAL STAFF

AND RESOURCES

S T A F F S P E C I A LIZ A T I ON 
IMPROVED AFDC/CSE
RELATIONS 
TRA I N I NG 
PUBL I C EDUCA T ION 
SUPPORT FROM

COMMUN I TY 
LEGISLATIVE AND

JUDICIAL INTEREST

BETTER COOPERAT ION BY

MOTHER AND FATHER

I MPROVED CASE 
MANAGEMENT 
MORE EXPER I ENCED AND 
QUALIFIED STAFF

BETTER CASE INFORMATION 
I MPROVED CASE 
ADJUD I CAT ION 
PA1ERN 
PERCEPTONS OF  ESABLISHMNT 
PATE 
IMORTANCE OF  ESTABUSHMNT 
j_lil
_I_.fI"111 
III\I.BI:I
J!'
When asked, "Should paternity establishment be a high priority?" managers and 
supervsors at all but one site, where opinion was split, said  Yes, it should. 
Some answers related to cost reduction issues: 
Paternty cases are good 
collection cases. 
Paternity establishment is the fist step towards a support order and 
controllng AFDC costs.  concern for the children 
The majority expressed genuine 

Children deserve to be supported.

A chid is entitled to know who his father is. 
Paternty establishment is necessary to future benefits for the child. 
Non-marital chidren should not be discriminated against. 
The site staff we intervewed are strongly committed to their work, emotionally 
involved, and believe the work is importnt. 
Paternty establishment is a worthy process that will pay for itself. 
We need to give workers credit for establishing paternities and put more 
emphasis on this than just on establishing support. 
All caes deserve to be developed and to have paternity established. Cost 
appropriate measure for paternity 
effectiveness is not the 
EF 
establishment. " 
PATE 
COST  OF  ESABUSHMNT 
In February 1985 the Center for Health and Social Servces Research (funded by a 
Costs and Benefits 
grant from the Offce of Child Support Enforcement) published 
of Paternity Establishment.  They selected study sites that could be expected to be 
successful in processing paternity cases and where such cases comprised a meaningful 
portion of their overall caseload.

Although their findings "should not be seen as representative of paternity cases 
nationwide " they do indicate that in the jurisdictions studied "it is possible for 
collections on paternty cases with obligations established to exceed costs for all 
paternity cases, regardless of income, over time. 
They also found: 1) a key to increased cost effectiveness is successful paternity 
establishment, 2) improving location and confrontation increases paternity 
establishment success, and 3) paternity cases may pay as well as other cases. 
According to recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Offce (CBO), States can 
expect to spend $40 milion each year for fiscal years 1991 through 1993 to meet the 
paternity establishment goals required by the 1988 amendments. Since the CBO 
believes child support collections will lag behind paternity establishment, it estimates 
, and net costs of $25 milion and $15 millon for the 
no savings for 1991 following 2 
years. No projections are available for years beyond 1993.  ~~~
1_\I1. 
'III 
'.i!j;

Seven directors believe , paternity establishment is cost effective 
, for their sites
overall.  Four emphasized they are  cost effective right now with three having 
aggessively improved their procsses  Three stressed future 
for at least 3 years. 
payoff, and one said they could be more cost effective if they "could pick and 
choose , which they currently don 
" their cases t do. 
Five believe they  aren t yet cost effective overall, but  two of them  predict they will 
. One respondent said they aren t cost effective because they don t "prioritize 
their cases.

Chicago described a frstration in achieving cost effectiveness. IIAlthough we establish 
paternity, we don t always get cash support orders. Judges will not establish them if 
1I Their solutions are to review these cases regularly 
the father is unemployed. against 
State wage and employment data or to try proving perjury against the father 
concerning his employment status. In addition, a newly enacted State law requires a 
minimum $10 monthly support order for all cases. 
Eleven site directors think increases in paternity establishmem have contributed to 
reductions in AFDC payments and to more  AFC cases
closures of  , at least 
somewhatll (five directors) or "minimally" (four directors). Seven told us that 
implementing improved paternity establishment practices resulted in increased 
administrative costs. Four thought administrative costs stayed about the same. 
Seven, reporting administrative cost increases, attributed them to start up costs
, e. 
automated systems or additional personnel for improving their case 
processing/management, or increased legal costs. Five of those experiencing 
mostly or more than offset by increased 
increased costs believe these wil be 
collections. 
Finally, 12 sites have experienced increases in child support collections. Nine of 12 
ll influenced the 
believe that increased paternity establishment only IIsomewhat
increases in collections. Eleven site directors think, however, that collections will 
, influenced more strongly by the effect of increased paternity 
increase in the future
establishment.  EFFCf  SUMY 
PRACfCE 
Based on the study sites' descriptions of major barrers to an effective program and 
the key improvements they have made, we identified seven effective practices that 
improve paternity establishment in the Child Support Enforcement program. States 
should consider adopting these practices. 

PATE 
SOliCI  TH  ESABLISHM PROGRA 
SUPPORT FOR 
Sites improved performance when they actively solicited the support and commtment 
of top management, the judiciary, legislators and the community for the paternity 
progr. 
establishment  Commitment by top management and support from judges and 
lawmakers were key 
factors of succssfu paternity establishment at many of the effective practice sites. 
Though such support, the sites were able change paternty laws, streamline 
adjudication, increase program resources, and increase numbers of paternties 
established. Support from the immediate community also assisted in locating more 
putative fathers. 
CL 
REPONSmn. FOR OBTAIG INAK INORMTION 
Deciding whether AFC, Chld Support or other staff should be responsible for 
obtaining the necessary intake information about the putative father would improve 
intake and the site s abilty to pursue paternity establishment. Then management 
should provide the needed resources and hold the staff accountable. 
Information about the putative father is critical to paternity establishment. AFDC is 
often expected to collect the information, but they are generally perceived by the 
Child Support respondents as ineffective. While they 
usually have fist contact with 
the mothers, AFDC may not, in fact, be the best choice in . view of their priary 
AFC 
focus and program concerns. Options for improvement are co-locating  and 
Child Support staffs, same day intake intervews by both staffs, delegation of the 
primary responsibilty to CSE staff, or better training of AFC in what information 
Child Support . needs or in more effective intervew techniques. 
PROMOT IMROVE PARAL (xPERATION 
Developing better information or techniques for convincing the parents to cooperate 
with Child Support improves the paternity establishment process. 
The mothers and fathers are 
perceived as major barrers to paternity establishment. 
Convincing them of the benefits to the child
, giving them better information about
their' responsibilties and the establishment process, and more skilful intervewing by 
the caseworkers are proven strategies for overcoming the problem.
ST 
PATE 
ESABUSHM 
ADJUICATION OF 
The effective practice sites simplify adjudicative procedures whenever possible under 
State law and try to minimize time spent in court. 
The effective practice sites achieve this by encouraging voluntary admissions of 
paternity, takig default judgments, providing easy accss to blood testing, and 
effcient scheduling of cases for hearings.
 The Congress has promoted these procedures through amendments to the Social 
Security Act. Concernng paternity establishment, the 1984 amendments urged States 
to establish expdited processes withi the State judicial system or under 
administrative procsses. The 1988 amendments encourage implementation of a 
simple civil process for voluntay acknowledgig paternty, and a civi procedure for 
determning paternty in contested caes. Beginng on October 1, 1988, the 1988 
amendments also provide 90 percent Federal 
matchig payments for the cost of 
blood and other laboratory tests to establish paternty. 
EF 
INST 
CAE MAAGEM CONlOLS 
Effective case control systems allow sites to identify, age and monitor the status of 
the paternity establishment caseload.

Whether automated or manual, systematic case management is crucial to processing 
all cases in a timely and accurate manner. It also assures that cases are not lost or 
left unattended. 
SIMLI  PROCING 
CASE 
Evaluation of case processing helps sites to simplify it, increase effciency and reduce 
duplication of effort. 
The effective practice sites were able to improve their case processing with simplified 
procedures. Computer-generated documents, simpler forms, color-coding of case 
tyes or information sections, elimination of duplicative or over-lapping staff duties 
and at intake, screening out clients who cannot use child support enforcement 
servces are examples of effciency improvements at these sites. 
UTTION 
UPGRAE AN IMROVE STAF 
Re-evaluatig the number, duties, capabilties and division of labor of present staff 
can improve the paternity establishment process. 
A key improvement at six effective practice sites was hiring enough staff to do the 
job. Nine sites specialize staffs because it improves program knowledge and case 
processing. Ten contract for paternity establishment servces such as legal servce 
legal counselor locate information.  APPENDIX A 
STY 
MEODOLOY 
Scope 
The inspection focused on effective practices for paternity establishment up to, but 
not including, the issuance of the chid support order. The reasons for this were: 
the standards for paternty establishment under the Family Support Act of 1988 do 
. not include requirements for support orders, and 2) our research indicated that 
paternity establishment and obtaining a support order can be two, independent 
processes. 
The inspection sample is judgmental and consists of 77 respondents at 
13 sites in 12 
States. In addition, since the inspection sites were perceived to be effective by those 
knowledgeable in child support enforcement, we did not validate cause/effect 
relationships between the effective practices and the paternity establishment 
achievements of the jurisdictions. Rather we accepted what respondents reported 
concerning the impact of their effective practices. 
Finally, we did not attempt to calculate a cost/benefit ratio of paternity establishment 
for our sample sites, but we did question the site directors about their perceptions of 
their cost effectiveness. We also asked them about their motivations and attitudes 
regarding child support enforcement. 
Site Selection:

These sites were selected using a careful screening process based on literature 
review, analysis of national statistics for out-of-wedlock births and numbers 
paternities established, and on recommendations from various national special 
interest groups, Federal, Congressional and regional OCSE staffs, State and local 
Child Support directors, attorneys and researchers. 
From the screening, we also derived a set of characteristics for an ideal paternity 
establishment process. (See exhibit "An Ideal Paternity Establishment Process" on 
page 5. 
The final sites selected were those jurisdictions that rated above average by the 
ideal" model, the data or the expert' recommendations , and that have sizeable 
target populations. The sites provide a mix of county and State supervsed programs 
and also include a variety of paternity adjudication systems.  Data Collection/Anal 
Data for 12 jurisdictions was collected on-site through intervews with the local 
director, legal personnel, case supervsors and other knowledgeable staff. Intervews 
for one jurisdiction were conducted by telephone. The intervew topics were 
site/staff description, intake, location, confrontation, adjudication, case management 
perceptions of effective practices and cost effectiveness, and trend data. 
We analyzed the data for trends among the sampled sites. We defined "effective 
practices" as procedures which improve the number of paternities established, case 
decision accuracy, or case management effciency. We also used the characteristics 
of an ideal paternty 
establishment process as a reference for developing the 
descriptions of effective practices. 
Study Sites/Numper of Respond 
Pulaski County (Little Rock), Arkansas (8) 
San Francisco, California (5) 
Santa Barbara County (Santa Barbara), California (4) 
New Castle County (Wilmington), Delaware (10) 
Fulton County (Atlanta), Georgia (6) 
Cook County (Chicago), Ilinois (4) 
Marion County (Indianapolis), Indiana (5) 
Prince George s County, Maryland (3) 
Wayne County (Defroit), Michigan (5) 
10.  Dakota County, Minnesota (4) 
11.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (8) 
12.  Shelby County (Memphis), Tennessee (8) 
13.  Salt Lake County (Salt Lake City), Utah (7)  APPENDIX B

INIVUAL SIT PROFI

PATE 
FSABUSHM PROCUR

Study Sites 
Pulaski County (Little Rock), Arkansas 
San Francisco, California 
Santa Barbara County (Santa Barbara), California 
New Catle County (Wilmington), Delaware 
Fulton County (Atlanta), Georgia 
Cook County (Chcago), llinois 
Marion County (Indianapolis), Indiana 
Prince George s County, Maryland 
Wayne County (Detroit), Michigan 
10.  Dakota County, Minnesota 
11.  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
12.  Shelby County (Memphis), Tennessee 
13.  Salt Lake County (Salt Lake City), Utah 
Summary of Site Demographics 
Four of the sites are  00; 3 are more than 1.5 milion. 
counties of less than 500,
Nine of the sites are State administered; four, county administered. The estimated 
percentage of Child Support staff time spent on paternity establishment ranges from 
below 20 percent and 4 above 50 percent. 
17 percent to 75 percent with 2 staff 
The Child Support case load for 12 sites is primariy AFC, varyng from 55 percent 
AFC 
to 90 percent. One site has only a 30 percent  caseload. 
The population served by the Child Support Enforcement program is predominantly 
black for seven sites, predominantly white for two sites, equally divided black/hite 
for three sites The ages of the custodial parents 
, and white/hispanic for one site. 
(usually female) range from 16 to 40, with the most common span being late teens 
to early 30'
 Notes for Profile Data 
County out-of-wedlock births are estimated from 1986 data collected by the 
National Center for Health Statistics, DHHS. Their data are reported either 
by city or by standard metropolitan statistical area. 
County population is from July 1, 1988 Bureau of Census data. 
The CSE case load description information was reported by the study sites for 
their entire caseload, not just those requiring paternity establishment. 
The Offce of Child Support Enforcement told us a CSE case is defined by 
the absent parent, often the father. A CSE case load is, therefore, a count of 
AFC  AFC 
absent parents and reflects both  and non- cases. The AFDC 
and non-AFC case load percentages used here are estimates by the site CSE 
directors.  (L 
PUL COUN  ROC ARSAS

DEMOGRAmCS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births: 8,246 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births  783 
: 1,
imated) 
( es 
1988 County Population  356 
CSE Caseload Description 
The cae load is 60% to 70% AFDC; the other 30% to 40% have earned 
00 - $15 00 a year. The custodial parents' age range is 22 to 
incomes of $10 
35. Racial composition is 80% black, 15% white' and 5% other. 
PROC 
PATERN ESABLISHM 
Method of Intake 
AFDC and CSE are not co-located. AFC gathers some information on the 
AFC 
putative father; CSE routinely does a follow-up intervew.  was 
reported as not consistently obtaining basic paternity information , names 
, e. 
of all potential fathers, address, employment, Social Security number. Key 
improvements were scheduling specific times for appointments, putting intake 
procedures in wrting for the staff and then training them, and setting time 
limits for some tye of case resolution. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation 
Removal of the mother from the grant. 
Blood Tests 
Blood is drawn at a local laboratory although the site is tryng to move the 
procedure to its locl offce. The site recently began to require the putative 
father to pay for the blood tests within 30 days, not 60 as before. Failure to 
pay could result in contempt of court. If the putative father agrees to pay 
and to abide by the results should they indicate 95% probabilty of paternity 
(Agreed Order), CSEmay agree to pay for the tests up front. Before, the 
test was paid for by whomever requested it. 
Method of Adjudication 
In some cases the putative father will come to the Child Support offce to 
admit paternity, at which time the child support investigators will explain his 
legal rights. The CSE attorney prepares the documents, and the 
acknowledgement is entered into the court records. 
At the time of the on-site visit, cases were heard in a county court before a 
, State 
judge who specialized in paternity establishment. Shortly afterwards Chancery Court were given jurisdiction over paternity cases. There are no 
longer preliinary hearings and other procedures were streamlined. 
In contested caes, a complaint is fied and served to the putative father. 
must file an answer within 20 days or a default judgment is entered. 
evidence regarding income is available, support may be set at that time. 
If the putative father responds by denying paternity, he signs an Agreed Order 
for blood test payment. The Agreed Order 
also stipulates that positive results 
with a probabilty greater than 95% may be entered as evidence without 
further proof and that . the results shall be dispositive of the issue of paternity. 
Upon payment, the blood tests are scheduled. If the results are positive, an 
attempt is made to enter into an agreement with the father. Failing that, a 
court date is set. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration: State 
Case Management 
Case management is a combined manual/automated system. Information 
AFC 
transferred by computer from  to CSE is printed out at State Offce 
and the documents are sent to CSE. Some documents are computer 
generated, but notices to mothers and case tracking are done manually. 
Staffng 
AFC 
Caseworkers are assigned to AFDC or non- cases. The work is then 
assigned by function: location, collection, enforcement, intake and 
adjudication. Adding staff in 1987 and tracking the results was reported as a 
key improvement. 
Clerical workers do case related data search on payment histories at the 
courthouse, obtain docket numbers and orders, prepare case openings for 
investigators, close caes and verify case contents are complete. 
Contract for Servces: 
Roche Biomedica Labs for blood analysis 
CONTACf FOR MORE INORMTION 
Ms. Judy Jordan, Manager 
Child Support Enforcement Unit 
105 Main Street 
Little Rock, AR 72201 
Telephone: (501) 377-6130  , "
SAN FRCISC, CALIFORN 
DEMOGRAIDCS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births: 127 683 
1986 City Out of Wedlock Births: 2 707 
(estimated) 
1988 City Population: 731,600 
CSE Caseload Description 
AFC. 
The caseload is 80%  The custodial parents' age range is 17 to 35. 
Racial composition is 51.6% black  21.2% Asian, 13.3% white, 11.5% hispanic 
2% Philppino, and 0.4% American Indian. 
PATERN ESTABLISHMNT PROCE 
Method of Intake 
AFDC and CSE are not co-located. AFDC collects no information on the 
putative father; CSE has the primary responsibility for the paternity data 
which they collect on the same day as the AFDC intake interview. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation 
Mothers must talk to CSE before their AFC application is approved. Non
cooperation at CSE intake or later means removal of the mother from the 
grant. Use of the penalty at intake is now "rare" due to complaints from a 
welfare advocacy group about the penalty s use. The site implemented a 
procedure which offers mothers an opportunity to sign a "Declaration" about 
the putative father under penalty of perjury. This procedure is now required 
State-wide. 
Blood Tests 
Blood is drawn at the Child Support offce. CSE pays for the tests initially 
and later collects from the putative father on any judgment for repayment of 
those costs. 
Method of Adjudication: 
If a man wishing to admit paternity comes to the CSE office, staff can 
computer-generate a summons/complaint, file it and serve him right there. 
They also explain his rights and responsibilities with. his signed verification the 
information was given to him. 
The man is given the choice to wait 30 days or formally admit paternity then. 
If he agrees to do it then, he signs and receives a stipulated judgment which is 
generated from the automated system. The attorney signs it, the document is 
fied, and a judge signs to finalize the paternity establishment.  If a man is served with a summons/complaint and formally denies paternity, 
If the tests do not 
then blood tests are ordered and a hearing date is set. 
exclude him, he can either admit paternity or proceed to trial. If the man 
does not answer the complaint, a default judgment of paternity is rendered. 
CSE is able to fie legal documents (summons/complaint, default judgments 
stipulations) quickly because an on-site CSE supervsor has been trained as a 
deputy county clerk. 
PROGRA ADMISTRTION 
CSE Administration: County 
Case Management: 
The site has an automated cae management system that can identify, track 
age and obtain information for paternity cases as they are processed. 
Document generation is completely automated. Changing from a manual 
system to an automated one over several years was a key improvement. 
Conversion of paper files to an automated . data base was scheduled for 
completion by summer 1989. 
Staffng 
Caseworkers are now generalists and handle all phases of the process. The 
speciplization caused downtime. As a case moved through 
Director believed 
the process it "would go to the bottom of the stack" in the next phase or 
would go nowhere if the responsible staff member was out of the offce. 
Contract for Servces 
ABC Legal Services to serve summons/complaints. 
Genetic Design for blood analysis. 
CONTACf FOR MORE INORMATION 
Ms. Edwina Young, Director 
Family Support Bureau 
District Attorney s Offce 
291 Tenth Street 
, CA 
San Francisco 94103 
Telephone: (415) 553-4286  SANA BARAR COUN (SANA BARAR), CALIFORN 
DEMOGRAIDCS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births: 127 683 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births : 1 007 
(estimated) 
1988 County Population  343, 100 
CSE Caseload Description 
The caseload is approximately 60% AFDC. The custodial parents' age range 
is late teens to early 20's. Racial composition is about evenly divided between 
white and hispanic. 
PATERN  PROC 
ESTABLISHMNT 
Method of Intake 
AFC 
and CSE are not co-located. At all 3 intake sites CSE now 
AFC 
coordinates with  staff to conduct intake intervews on the same day. 
CSE has the primary responsibilty for collecting information on the putative 
father. Prior to mid-1989, the site had 1 offce which did a follow-up intake 
intervew weeks after ,AFC's. CSE- staff believed AFC 
did not consistently 
obtain the information needed and that CSE obtained better information 
about the putative father from the same day intervew. 
For informing clients about available servces, the County uses an audio-visual 
presentation of which the benefits of paternty establishment is a segment. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation 
Mothers must talk to CSE before their AFDC application is approved. Non
cooperation at CSE intake or later means removal of the mother from the 
grant. A required State-wide procedure offers mothers an opportunity to sign 
a "Declaration" about the putative father under penalty of perjury. 
Blood Tests 
Blood is drawn at a local pathology laboratory. The CSE program initially 
pays for the tests, and later seeks a judgment for reimbursement against the 
putative father -- for all 3 tests if he is proven the father, for just his own if 
he is not. 
Method of Adjudication 
The mother, as noted, completes a "Declaration" naming the putative father. 
This declaration support a default judgment and/or CSE's pursuit of paternity 
establishment without the mother  The 
s presence if she leaves the area. 
putative father, once located, is served with a summons and complaint. If he 
does not respond to it, a default judgment is sought based on evidence and 
allegations made in the complaint.  If the putative father voluntarily admits paternity, he signs a stipulation of 
paternity. Although a court appearance is not needed to obtain an order, the 
father is routinely scheduled to appear in court at which time the judge 
reviews his rights with him. This appearance simplifies enforcement 
subsequent to entry of the order. 
If the putative father responds to the summons and complaint, but denies 
paternity, blood tests are ordered. If he stil denies paternity after the blood 
tests do not exclude him, there is a trial before a judge and/or jury. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration: County 
Case Management 
Case tracking and quality controls are manual: 6Oday case reviews for actions 
taken and actions needed, individual case control sheets, daily caseworker log 
sheets summaried by supervsors, supervsory review of all caseworker 
initiated legal actions, and wrtten standards describing caseworker 
responsibilties. Every 6 months supervsors review 10 percent of each 
caseworker s case load to ensure compliance with the 6Oday review procedures 
and to identify additional training needs. Each day Family Support Officers 
must identify 10 cases that have had no action/review in the last 60 days and 
update the case. 
take the necessary action to 
In 1986 the site conducted a "default project . The prior year they had 
inventoried the entire caseload to determine the status of individual cases and 
actions. needed to complete them. As a result, they identified cases in which 
the putative father had been served, but no other action was taken. After 
notifyng the court and the public of their intention, the CSE staff processed a 
10 working days. 
backlog of 450 default caes in 
Staffing 
Staff is assigned to either the welfare or non-welfare team. Within the teams 
casewor,kers specialize in enforcement, intake/locate, or establishment. 
Establishment offcers have been trained by the legal staff to handle routine 
defaults and voluntary stipulations. There is also an ombudsman to handle 
diffcult clients or sensitive cases. Oerical workers schedule blood testing, 
view the blood draw and process legal documents. 
Contract for Servces: None. 
CONTACf FOR MORE INORMTION 
Ms. Maureen Fann, Division Chief 
Santa Barbara Family Support Division 
1114 State Street, Room 308 
Santa Barbara, CA 93101 
Telephone: (805) 5682328  CA 
DEIWAR
NEW 
COUN  (WGTON), 
DEMOGRAIDCS 
1986 State OUt of Wedlock Births: 2,621 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births: not available 
1988 County Population: 435,300 
CSE Caseload Description 
AF; 
AFC 
The cae load is 90%  the 10% non- has a weekly income of 
approxiately $180. The custodial parents' average age ranges from 17 to 24. 
Racial composition is 50% black and 50% white. 
PROC
PATERN  ESABLISHMNT 
Method of Intake: 
CSE intake workers are located in the AFDC offce. AFDC collects some 
CSE does a follow-up intervew that same 
information on the putative father. 
day which is their preference. 
To improve intake and to change their perceptions, AFDC workers were 
AFC 
trained on how to view clients differently: to see  as something 
temporary, the client as competent, and paternity establishment as helping the 
client. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation: 
At intake, AFC assistance is not approved until the mother completes an 
intervew with CSE. Later non-cooperation means removal of the mother 
from the grant. 
Blood Tests 
Blood is drawn at the Family Court. CSE pays for the test initially, but, if the 
man is proven the father, then he must pay. 
Method of Adjudication 
The putative father is served with a summons and complaint. If he does not 
respond after two servces, and possibly a bench warrant for his arrest, a 
default judgment of paternity is entered. 
At this site, voluntary paternity acknowledgements must occur in Family 
Court. If the man wishes to admit paternity, a court Mediator explains his 
rights to him and negotiates a support amount, thus completing the case. If 
he agrees to paternty but not to a support amount, a court Master conducts a

final negotiation. No court appearance before a judge is necessary in either 
case.  Putative fathers who deny paternity have a hearing with a Mediator who 
A default judgment is possible if he fails to appear for 
schedules blood tests. 
the test. If the bloo test has not excluded him, the putative father is given 
opportnity to voluntari admit paternity. If he doesn t, the Master will 
hear witnesses and make a decision on paternity and support amount. The 
man may request a trial before a judge if he will not accept the Master 
decision. Delaware does not allow jury trials in paternity cases. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration: State 
Case Management 
CSE uses an automated system which identifies caes which need paternity 
establishment, alert staff when specific case action is required or overdue 
counts the number of paternity establishment cases they have. at any specific 
time and generates needed documents. 
Staffng 
CSE workers are specialized by welfare or non-welfare which improves their 
expertise. CSE has a specialized locate unit that is responsible for tracking 
absent parents if the intake unit cannot obtain the needed information. They 
also have separate units for intake and enforcement. 
They hired 4 additional attorneys in 1986 which increased their case 
processing and smoothed out the adjudications. 
Contract for Servces 
Process servers to serve legal notice. 
Family Court to provide the servces of Mediators and Masters (hearing 
offcers ). 
State Justice Department to intervew and select attorneys for CSE legal 
caseworL Pay for the attorneys is part of the CSE budget. The Justice 
Department retains firing authority. 
CONTACf FOR MORE INORMTION 
Ms. Barbara Paulin, OCSE Director 
Offce of Child Support Enforcement 
1901 DuPont Highway 
Post Offce Box 904 
New Catle, Delaware 19720 
Telephone: (302) 421-8356  FUTON COUN (ATLA), GEORGIA 
DEMOGRAmCS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births: 26 701 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births: 9 877 
( estimated) 
1988 County Population: 640 800 
CSE Caseload Description 
AFC 
The caseload is 80%  and is predominantly black.  The custodial 
parents range in age from 18 to 25. 
PATERN FSABLISHMNT PROC 
Method of Intake 
AFC 
and CSE are not co-located. AFDC gathers some information about 
the putative father with CSE routinely doing a follow-up intervew, either in 
the office or by telephone. CSE has also obtained information from 
questionnaires sent by mail. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation 
Removal of the mother from the AFDC grant and designation of a new grant 
payee. CSE will close non-AFDC cases after 30 days. 
Blood Tests 
Blood is drawn at the Child Support office by appointment. Payment is often 
split by CSE and the putative father. CSE may pay all the cost if the man is 
excluded. CSE's payment depends on the availability of matching funds. 
Method of Adjudication 
First, a form letter, advising the man of the paternity allegation and his rights 
is sent. He may voluntarily admit paternity at this time, or he may first 
request blood tests, and then voluntarily acknowledge paternity after the 
results are known. 
The father can sign a paternity statement to acknowledge paternity only. This 
statement is notarized by an agent and requires a subsequent court 
appearance to set child support. The man may execute a "consent order 
(signed by a superior court judge) or an "administrative consent order" (signed 
by a fair hearings officer) to both acknowledge paternity and set child support. 
Neither requires a court appearance by the father; the methods for enforcing 
the support order, however, are different. The majority of paternities are 
established by voluntary procedures which were implemented in recent years. 
If the putative father does not respond to the form letter
, the sheriff legally 
serves him in person. At this point also, he . may voluntarily acknowledge  paternity. Only the attorneys attend the preliminary hearing to discuss what 
further actions are needed , completion of interrogatories. Once these 
, e.g.
preliminary actions are completed, a court date is set, at which time, the 
putative father may deny the allegation. The judge orders blood tests and 
subsequently makes a paternity determination.  he putative father 
Failure of 
to appear for set hearings or blood tests results in a default judgment of 
paternity. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration: State 
Case Management 
Cae management is a combination manuaVautomated system. There is an 
automated data base of case information, but site personnel must also 
maintain paper fies for information the automated system does not capture as 
well as for backup. Case tracking is partly a manual procedure performed by 
the caseworkers and partly an automated procedure which tracks a series of 
case action codes. The system can do some automated document generation. 
Staffing 
CSE staff are specialized by function: intake, obligation (includes ' locate and 
voluntary acknowledgement), enforcement, legal (for contested cases), 
URESA, and probation (for women who claim abandonment). 
The site improved staffing effectiveness and the locate function by upgrading 
clerical position to a "locate agent". Then they were able to hire additional 
locators from a pool of more qualified people. They 
also have a specialized 
position of a blood test agent which has enabled them to save time in 
completing the tests. 
Contract for Servces 
District Attorney s office to provide assistant DA' s for paternity establishment 
cases. Special Assistant to the Attorney General for legal servces involving 
some cases where the putative father does not respond to CSE notification 
letters. 
Equifax Credit Bureau for location information on putative fathers. 
CONTACf FOR MORE INORMATION 
Ms. Helen Kearns, Regional Manager  Mr. Russell Eastman, Manager 
Office of Child Support Recovery  College Park Office 
878 Peachtree Street, Room 529  Offce of Child Support Recovery 
, GA 
Atlanta 30309  1568 Wilingham Dr., Suite G 
Telephone: (404) 894-4121  College Park, GA 30337 
Telephone: (404) 669-3444  IlOIS 
COK COUN (alCAGO), 
DEMOGRAflCS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births: 47 843 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births:  26,304 
estimated) 
1988 County Population: 5,284,300 
CSE Caseload Description 
AFC. 
The majority of the caeload is  The average age of the custodial 
parents is mid-20' s. Most clients are black although the his panic case 
population is increasing. 
PROC 
PATERN ESABLISHM 
Method of Intake 
AFC and CSE are not co-located. AFC collects some information on the 
putative father; CSE routinely does a follow-up intervew 3 to 4 weeks later. 
The site has 5 pilot project offces where CSE workers are co-located with 
AFC and intervew mothers the same day they apply for AFC. 
AFC 
Responses indicated that CSE believes  gathers useful information that 
is not passed on to CSE The site has proposed, with Federal approval 
AFC and CSE to share a 
pending, a system change which would allow 
common client/responsible relative data base. 
The site, funded by DHHS, is also piloting Project Advance which targets the 
needs of young mothers. At least once a week a family support specialist 
intervews the mothers at the pilot offces after the mothers have participated 
in a workshop to discuss what child support is and the advantages of paternity 
participants 
establishment. Although findings are preliminary, the workshop 
seem to view the process as less adversarial, are better prepared for the 
intake intervew, and are more willng to cooperate. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation 
Removal of the mother from the grant. 
Blood Tests 
000 
Beginning in 1988 when their funding for blood testing increased from $90 
to $200,00, CSE paid for more tests intially, and then. tried to collect from 
whomever requested the test. Because "discovery could begin sooner, 
timeliness and numbers of settlements improved. Effective October 1989 the 
site changed blood testing from a Cook County hospital to an agreement with 
representatives were informed they could order blood 
Genetic Design. Legal 
tests in all contested cases at the time of the first hearing.  Method of Adjudication 
State law requires that paternty establishments must occur in court. First, a 
summons is sent telling the putative father to appear in court with proof of 
employment/ages. If he appears, he is read his rights and questioned 
regarding the paternity allegation. If he does wish to admit paternity, court 
staff intervew him and set a support amount. The judge then signs the order. 
Procedures for a contested case are the same until the putative father denies 
paternity. Then, a blood test is ordered, a public defender is assigned to 
represent the father, interrogatories/depositions are done and the case is ready 
for court. The putative father may admit paternity after the blood test results 
or he may request a jury trial. During this process, if he misses two court 
dates, a warrant for his arrest is issued. 
A key improvement was to increase their legal staff and courts to three full 
day courtrooms and four suburban courtrooms. Also staff from CSE and the 
State Attorney s Offce brief individual judges on the specific requirements and 
problems of child support enforcement law. In July 1989, CSE began a pilot 
project with the Ilinois Task Force on Child Support for expedited paternity 
adjudication at the court servng the Project Advance participants. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration: State 
Case Management 
Cae management is a combination manual/automated system. Case 
information, tracking and appointments are automated. After data entry of 
legal actions, generation of certain legal documents is automated. 
Staffng 
CSE paternity establishment staff are not specialized. An improvement was 
to increase their intake and legal staffs. The benefits were quicker case 
processing, backlog reduction and better servce to the mother since CSE legal 
staff was available to meet her before court 
Contract for Servces 
Cook County State Attorney s offce to serve as legal representative of the 
CSE offce and the Sheriffs offce for legal servce. 
CONTACf FOR MORE INORMTION 
Mr. Charles Kirian, Chief 
Division of Child Support Enforcement 
Ilinois Department of Public Aid 
32 W. Randolph, 9th Floor 
, IL 601 
Chcago
Telephone: (312) 793-3291  MAON COUN (INIAAPUS), INIAA 
DEMOGRAIlCS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births: 16,657 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births: 4 894 
estimated) 
1988 County Population: 791 
CSE Caseload Description 
AFC 
The case load is 80%  with custodial parents under age 25. Racial 
composition is 50% white and 50% black. 
PATERN ESABLISHMNT PROC 
Method of Intake: 
AFC and CSE are not co-located. AFC collects some information on the 
putative father. CSE reported that its staff frequently has to re-do the 
AFC 
intervew because the information from  is incomplete or inaccurate. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation 
Removal of the mother from the grant. 
Blood Tests 
Blood is drawn at a local laboratory. The site uses 4 different labs for blood 
analysis depending on what needs to be performed and what price the lab 
offers. 
AFC pays for the tests initially for welfare cases. If the putative father is 
proven the father, the site tries to collect costs from him. A successful 
practice has been to issue contempt citations for his failure to reimburse 
AFC. 
Method of Adjudication
Begig 
in 1986 the site established paternity and support orders without a 
court appearance by using a "consent decree." Handled by paralegals, a 
consent decree formalies prior agreements between the parties regarding 
, and 
paternity, visitation, support amount, wage withholding, medical insurance
name change. The Deputy Prosecutor reviews/files decree with the court 
where a judge  process improved their timeliness and eliminated 
signs it. This 
the judicial backlog. 
Volunta paternity court is held for men who acknowledge paternty but do 
not agree on support amounts or other issues. Final decisions are made by a 
judge. Putative fathers who do not admit paternity are legally served with a 
summons, and blood tests are scheduled. If bloo analysis includes him, and  trial date is set. They always use DNA tests for 
he stil denies paternity, a 
tried caes. 
They do not have a default judgment "per se . If a man doesn t respond to 
the summons, they cannot issue a default judgment. However, if he has 
appeared in court once, the court may determine paternity in his absence. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration: State 
Case Management: 
Case management is a combined manual/automated system. Pleadings and 
managers or attorneys; Case tracking 
court caes are reviewed manually by 
data and review for required actions is computer generated with manual 
follow-up by the staff. 
Staffng 
Paternity teams, composed of functional specialists, handle cases from intake 
through adjudication. Respondents believe the client gains a sense of 
continuity and familarty with the CSE workers. Site respondents also believe 
it increases the effciency, program knowledge and accountabilty of the 
workers. 
A blood test consultant, acting as a liaison between the blood laboratories and 
CSE clients, coordinates appointments and negotiates payment. Paralegals are 
trained to prepare legal documents, thus giving the Deputy Prosecutor more 
time for adjudication.

Contract for Servces: None. 
CONTACf FOR MORE INORMTION 
Mr. John Owens, Administrator 
Child Support Division 
143 Eat Market Street 
, IN 
Indianapolis 46204 
Telephone: (317) 263-6191  MAYU 
OOUN, 
PRICE GEORGE'S 
DEMOGRAHI 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births:  198 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births: not available 
1988 County Population: 701, 
CSE Caseload Description 
The caseload is 30% AFC and 90% employed. The custodial parents' age 
range is 17 to 28. Racial composition is 80% black and 20% white/hispanic. 
PROC 
PATERN ESABLISHMNT 
Method of Intake 
AFC and CSE are not co-located. For non-AFC cases, CSE has the sole 
responsibilty for collecting information on the putative fathers. For welfare 
cases, however, AFC is the primary information gatherer. CSE reported 
AFC 
that follow-up intervews were necessary because  does not consistently 
obtain the needed information. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation 
Removal of the mother from the grant and designation of a new grant payee. 
CSE has the authority to apply the penalty. 
Blood Tests 
Blood is drawn in the Court building. CSE pays for all blood tests initially. 
the putative father if 
They then seek reimbursement from the parents: from 
AFC 
the tests did not exclude him; from the mother for non- cases if the 
putative father was excluded. 
The site contracts for blood testing through open bidding. The contract 
for other servces such as the availability 
lengts were shortened and provided 
of exprt testimony at no additional charge. Test costs decreased from $550 
to $185.

information
Method of Adjudication 
Default judgments are not permissible. Putative fathers are fist notified of
the allegation by a letter sent through the mail.  about 
It includes 
If he wishes, the putative father may 
voluntary consent and the court date. 
voluntarily acknowledge paternity at the CSE offce without a court 
appearance or at the first hearing (arraignment). He may sign a short form 
(admitting paternty only) or a long form (admitting paternity/agreeing to 
support). The father s rights are explained verbally and are printed on the 
form he signs. His acknowledgement is then entered into the court records.  If the putative father does not respond to the letter or appear for the 
arraignent, he is served with a summons (if he cannot be served, the case is 
summons, a warrant is issued for his 
returned to locate). If he ignores the 
arrest. As soon as he denies paternity, bloo is drawn immediately in the 
Court building and he is notifed of the next court date. After the results are 
received, the judge rules on the findings. A putative father can request a jury 
trial, but few do. For AFC cases, if the putative father denies paternity and 
the mother does not appear at the hearing, the case is continued. CSE will 
sanction the mother for non-cooperation and try to convice her to appear 
with the child for the next hearing and blood test. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration: County 
Case Management 
The county CSE case management system is automated with the ability to 
track, age and identify needed actions for individual cases. 
Staffng 
Staff are specialized by function. The State CSE staff performs intake and 
locate. CountyCSE is concerned with confrontation, adjudication (including 
blood testing), support orders and URESA cases. In 1987 County CSE 
increased their staff by two case workers and one clerical which helped to 
reduce their backlog and to improve case processing time. 
AFDC has a Court Liaison Offcer who arranges transportation for clients 
with volunteer drivers so they will not miss their court hearings. A Blood Test 
Coordinator arranges test appointments and checks for biling errors. 
Contract for Servces 
Maryland Medical in Baltimore for blood analysis. 
Sheriffs Department for legal servce. 
INRMTION 
CONTACf FOR MORE 
Ms. Iris Mapp, Administrator  Ms. Meg Sollenberger, Exec. Director 
Dept. of Social Servces  Offce of CSE 
Child Support Enforcement  14701 Governor Oden Bowie Dr., Ste. 406 
6111 Ager Road  Upper Marlboro, MD 20772 
Hyattsville, MD 20782  Telephone: (301) 952-5453 
Telephone: (301) 952-4820 
Judge David Ross 
Courthouse 
Upper Marlboro, MD 20772 
Telephone: (301) 952-3896  WAYN OOUN (DETOIT, MIcmGAN 
DEMOGRAIDCS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births: 26 620 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births: 10 213 
( estimated) 
1988 County Population : 2 122,800 
CSE Caseload Description 
The majority of the caseload is AFDC with the custodial parents in their late 
teens to early 20's. Racial composition is 50% black, 50% white. 
PROC 
PATERN ESABUSHMNT 
Method of Intake 
AFDC collects no information on the putative father; CSE has the primary 
AFC 
responsibilty. CSE workers are located in each  offce. The mother 
initially intervewed by CSE the same day she applies for welfare benefits or 
at the second intervew when she brings in supplemental case information. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation 
Removal of mother from the grant and designation of a new grant payee. 
Blood Tests 
Blood is drawn at the Friends of the Court (FOC) building. CSE pays for 
blood tests on AFDC cases. If the putative father is capable of paying, they 
will seek reimbursement from him. 
Method of Adjudication 
The County is eIppowered to act as the AFC applicant s agent, so the 
mother never has to appear after the initial CSE intervew, except for blood 
mother is asked to telephone the putative father and to 
tests. At intake the 
paternity. Failng that, a letter 
request that he join her there to discuss 
he may then voluntarily 
notifng him of the allegation is sent. If he wishes, 
acknowledge paternity to a s.upport specialist in the CSE offce. Both parents 
sign an acknowledgement which is filed with probate court. No court 
appearance is necessa. Hospital admissions of paternty are also acceptable 
judgment. 
to enter a probate 
For putative fathers who stil have not responded, the next step is to forward 
the case to FOC . for legal action beginning with a notice of paternity action. 
The FOC automated system also schedules the case into the docket for every 
The putative father is advised in 
possible hearig/action with due dates. 
wrting of the preliminary hearing, the schedule and his option to admit 
paternity.  If the man wishes to deny paternity he appears at a preliminary hearing 
without a judge. He is advised of his rights and set up for blood tests. If he 
(hearg 
refuses a blood test, he confers with a referee  offcer) and possibly 
judge whose ruling is fial. Afer a blood test does not exclude him but he stil 
denies paternity, the cae is scheduled for trial. 
hearng and after "good servce
After failng to appear for a preliminary  " is 
achieved, a putative father, who does not appear at other mandated hearings 
will have a Default Order of Filation/Order for Support entered against him. 
This is also true for defendants who appear for the preliminary but miss 
subsequent hearings. A defendant cannot be defaulted, however, for failure to 
comply with an Order for Blood Testing, although he can be held in 
contempt. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration: State 
Case Management 
Case management is a combined manuaVautomated system. As noted above 
their automated FOC system will schedule cases for every possible action and 
produce legal documents. For tracking and aging paternity cases before they 
reach FOC, their process is primarily manual. The site is in a transition 
period, however, where they are building an automated database which will 
eventually support totally automated case management. 
Staffng 
CSE staff are generalists and are not specialized by function. 
Contract for Servces 
They have a cooperative agreement with the Friends of the Court to handle 
both establishment and enforcement procedures. If CSE does not obtain 
voluntary acknowledgement, the case is sent to Friends of the Court for 
additional location work, legal servce and paternity establishment. 
CONTACf FOR MORE INORMTION 
Mr. Fred Goddard, Area Manager 
Michigan Department of Social Servces 
Offce of Child Support

1200 6th Street, Suite 
Detroit, MI 48226 
Telephone: 
(313) 256-1320  MIOTA 
DAKOTA COUN (SOUT OF ST. PAUL), 
DEMOGRAIDCS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births: 10 721 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births: not available 
1988 County Population: 253,400 
CSE Caseload Description 
AFC. 
The caseload as of December 1, 1989 was 61%  The AFDC custodial 
parents are primarly in their early 20's with 30% to 40% of them working, at 
least part-time. The racial composition is 8085% white with some black 
hispanic and southeast Asian clients. 
PROC

PATERN ESABUSHM 
Method of Intake 
AFC and CSE are not co-located. AFC is the primary information 
gatherer on the putative father. CSE does a follow-up intervew when 
AFC 
needed, usuaUy by telephone. CSE reported that  does not consistently 
obtain aU the information needed. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation 
Mother is removed from the grant. A protective payee is assigned, and the 
site pays her bils in her behalf 
Blood Tests 
Blood is drawn at a local hospital. CSE pays for the blood tests initially. 
Sometimes, if the man is proven the father, CSE wiU try to collect from him, 
but usually the debt is forgiven. 
Method of Adjudication: 
Putative fathers who wish to admit paternity are informed verbally and in 
wrting by the paralegals (County Attorney s Offce) of their rights and 
documents. The parties 
responsibilties. Paralegals also prepare the necessary 
If they can agree to all 
subsequently meet with the assistant County Attorney. 
terms, including support, the father stipulates, and the judgment is entered 
appearance is not required. 
through the court. Court 
Putative fathers who do not admit paternty are legaUy served with a 
summons/complaint. No response to the complaint or appointment for blood 
tests leads to a default judgment. No response to requests for inormation 
Full but 
after the blood test is completed can lead to a summary judgment. 
Support orders for default and 
contesting responses require a hearing. 
specialied CSE staff. 
summary judgments are negotiated separately by  PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration: County 
Case Management 
Case management is a combined manual/automated system. CSE uses an 
automated database which contains case information and the site s collection 
mechanism. The database is used for statistical analysis of the caseload and 
cases is primarily a 
of the individual caseworkers. Tracking of paternty 
manual procedure performed by the caseworkers. 
Staffing 
The CSE staff is not specialized by function although the entire CSE staff 
including its contracted personnel, does have an effcient division of labor 
created by 2 key improvements. CSE does intake, location, routine child 
support orders and collections. The County Attorney handles all paternity 
work and more legally child support complicated cases. 
In 1987 two paralegals and one attorney were added to the County Attorney 
staff for a total of 2 paralegals and 3 attorneys. This staff spends the majority 
of their time on paternity establishment. Use of paralegals for routine 
paternity work freed up attorney time for more complex cases. Early in 1988 
the responsibility for negotiating support orders for certain case tyes was 
Numbers of completed 
moved from the County Attorney to the CSE offce. 
case actions and timeliness improved for both offces. 
Contract for Servces 
Ff 
Dakota County Attorney s Offce (3  attorneys and 2 paralegals) for CSE 
legal servces including paternity. 
Blood analysis for paternity establishment done by Genetic Design, North 
Carolina. 
for personal servce of summons/complaint to the 
County sheris offce 
putative fathers. 
CONTACf FOR MORE INORMTION 
Mr. Phil Dalseth  Ms. Diane Anderson 
Collections Servces Supervsor  Dakota County Attorney s Offce 
Dakota County Human Servces  1560 West Highway 55 
33 East Wentworth Avenue Ste.l66  Hastings MN 55033 
West St. Paul, MN 55118  Telephone: (612) 438-4438 
Telephone (612) 450-2628  PHIELHI 
PENSYLVAN 
DEMOGRAHICS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births: 39 298 
1986 City Out of Wedlock Births: 14 671 
(estimated) 
1988 City Population: 1,647 
CSE Caseload Description 
AFC 
The caseload is primarily  with custodial parents ranging in age from 16 
is 90% black with the other 10% being mostly 
to 40. Racial composition 
hispanic. 
PROC 
PATERN ESABUSHMNT 
Method of Intake 
AFC and CSE are not co-located. AFC collects some information on the 
CSE. Clents must see a 
putative father with routine follow-up intervews by 
AFC. 
CSE worker before they are approved for  Since approximately 2 500 
people apply for AFC servces per month, the initial CSE intervew is 
usually brief. 
Two AFC offces are piloting a project where AFC workers are trained to 
conduct the entire intake intervew with the mother. Clients who are not 
authoried to receive AFDC and who do not wish to pursue child support 
once public aid is denied are not referred to the CSE offce. The quality of 
becomes faster and 
the information is improved as well. Case processing 
concentrates on paternity establishment tasks. The site hopes to expand this 
project. 
Penalty f r Non-Cooperation 
Removal of the mother from the grant. 
Locate 
, has investigators that locate 
Philadelphia, which also locates missing children
about 500 fathers a month. In addition to the links (many automated) to a 
wide variety of information sources, they also work, if required by the case 
neighborhood churches, bars and grocery stores to obtain information about 
the father. 
Blood Tests 
pays for the blood tests 
Blood is drawn at the Family Court building. CSE 
initially. If the putative father is proven the father, CSE will seek 
reimbursement from him.  In March 1989, the site negotiated a two-sample blood draw with one 
contractor to combat the problem of redraws when samples are lost or 
misplaced. Redraws caused time delays in cae adjudications. 
Method of Adjudication 
The putative father is informed of the paternity allegation either by certified 
mail or by legal servce. A pre-trial conference with a hearing offcer is 
mandatory. The putative father may admit paternity at this time by signing an 
acknowledgement form which becomes an approved order after a judge 
signature. A court appearance is not necessary for the father. 
If' the man fails to appear for the initial pre-trial conference, he is personally 
served with an Order to Appear for a 
rescheduled conference. His failure to 
appear a second time after successful personal servce may result in a warrant 
for his arrest. 
If he denies paternity at the conference, the putative father is advised of his 
rights and scheduled for blood tests. When the blood is drawn, he is served 
with a subpoena to appear in court on a specified date. The District Attorney 
pre-tries every case. The DA discusses blood test results and tries for a 
voluntary acknowledgement. Many cases are resolved before trial this way. 
, the case is tried before a judge or a jury if requested. If 
If this effort fails
the man fails to appear for trial, a default judgment is ordered. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration:  State 
Case Management 
Paternity caes are indexed manually with welfare cases separated from non-
welfare cases. Case tracking and aging are done manually. The enforcement 
part of the child support process is automated. Late notices, appointment 
letters, amounts owed and contempt letters are computer-generated. 
Staffing: 
CSE staff is specialized by function: intake, locate, pre-trial hearings and 
enforcement. Oerical workers are trained to process the paperwork for 
volunta 
acknowledgements and to prepare other needed forms. 
Contract for Servces: 
DA' s offce serves as the prosecutor in contested cases. 
Blood analysis is done by Genetic Design. 
The State contracts with the Family Cour of Philadelphia to do paternity 
establishment, support enforcement, collections and all other facets of the 
process.  CONTACf FOR MORE INORMTION 
Mr. Daniel F. Madonna, Esq. 
Asistant Chief

Domestic Relations Branch 
Court of Common Pleas 
1801 Vine Street 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 
Telephone: (215) 684262 
Ms. Mary Lou Baker, IV-D Director 
Court of Common Pleas 
160 Walnut Street, Room 1010 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 
Telephone: (215) 875-5602  TEEE

SHEY COUN (MHI), 
DEMOGRAHICS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births: 16,767 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births: 5 527 
( estimated) 
1988 County Population: 819 800 
CSE Caseload Description 
The majority of the caseload is AFDC. The custodial parents' age range is 
to 65 with most in the 20 to 42 range. Racial composition is 85% black and 
15% white. 
PATERN ESABLISHMNT PROC 
Method of Intake: 
CSE and AFC are not co-located. CSE reported that AFC is the primary 
information gatherer on the putative father with follow-up intervews by CSE 
AFC 
only when needed. CSE also reported, however, that  does not 
consistently obtain the needed information, such as the full name and address 
of the putative father. 
Some AFC workers are located in the hospitals to explain servces available 
to the mothers, including Child Support servces. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation: 
Removal of the mother from the grant and de ignation of a new grant payee. 
Location 
time project, a local newspaper published a list of men CSE was 
As a one-
tryng to locate for open but unworkable cases. Businessmen, individuals and 
relatives called in information that led to the location of absent fathers. The 
site respondent believed they had "moderate success" with it and said they 
may try it again. 
Blood Tests 
Blood is drawn at the Juvenile Court building. CSE program pays if the 
putative father is excluded or indigent. If he was not excluded, the putative 
father pays for the test; the site allows monthly installments as low as $10. In 
some non-AFC caes the mother pays. Local agencies bid for blood tests. 
Th 
lowered the cost from $60 to $240 and the elapsed time to receive 
results dropped from months to 2 weeks. 
Method of Adjudication 
Putative fathers are informed of the paternity allegation first by letters sent 
through the mail. CSE makes two attempts in this way. If a putative father  wishes to admit paternity voluntariy, he may do so at the Child Support office 
where he is advised of his rights verbally and in wrting by a CSE attorney. 
He signs a parental consent which is then notaried, and formally entered into 
the court records. A court appearance is unnecessar. He may also come to 
CSE to deny paternity; he is then served and given a court date. 
If a putative father does not respond to the fist letter(s), he is next served 
with a summons to appear on a specific date either by certified mail and/or 
person. Failure to appear can result, at the Court s discretion, in a warrant 
for his arrest or a default judgment of, paternity. When the putative father 
appears, but denies paternity, a blood test is immediately ordered and 
performed. Also, the man is then informed in wrting of his next court date 
and that failure to appear will mean a default judgment. If the tests do not 
exclude him, the putative father may request a jury or non-jury trial. 
The Court specializes in Chld Support caes, and thus, CSE does not have to 
compete with others for docket time. In addition, the site uses mediators in 
the CSE offce and 
referees for paternity hearings. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration: State 
Case Management 
At the time of the on-site visit, the system for trackig and aging paternity 
cases was totally manual. In June 1989, installation of an IBM System 36 
allowed them to begin some basic automated cae tracking. 
Staffing 
Caseworkers, mediators and supervsors are not specialized. Specialized staff 
are: 1) process servers who serve subpoenas, summons, make or assist in 
making arrests; 2) female call assistants who are used to work with non
cooperative mothers to obtain information; 3) a paternity coordinator that acts 
as a liaison between the attorneys and the court. 
Contract for Servces 
attorneys to handle paternity cases. 
Local hospitals for blood tests. Private 
They were selected by a staff attorney to assist in reducing case backlogs. 
They have also assisted in improving timeliness in case processing and in 
bureau for locate information 
providing better servce to the client. Credit 
sharing. 
INRMTION 
CONTACf FOR MORE 
Mr. Arhur Vaught

Director of Child Support Servces 
Juvenile Court of Memphis and Shelby County 
616 Adams Avenue 
, TN 
Memphis 38105 
Telephone: (901) 5288593  LA CI, 
LA COUN 
SALT  (SALT  UTAH 
DEMOGRAHICS 
1986 State Out of Wedlock Births:  575 
1986 County Out of Wedlock Births  988 
( estimated) 
1988 County Population:  720, 
CSE Caseload Description: 
AFC 
The cae load is approximately 75%  with the custodial parents between 
the ages of 16 and 25. The racial composition is about 80% white, 15% 
hispanic and small percentages of blacks and Asians.

PATE 
PROC 
ESABLISHMNT 
Method of Intake 
AFC and CSE are not co-located. AFC collects some information on the 
putative father with routine follow-up intervews conducted by CSE. CSE 
AFC 
does not consistently obtain the needed information. 
believes that 
CSE has tried to improve intake by designing the forms used by AFDC to 
intervew the mother regarding Child Support information. 
A woman, who says she doesn t know who the father is, is sometimes required 
by CSE to obtain sworn affdavits from people who will attest that the father 
is unknown to them or to her. 
Penalty for Non-Cooperation 
The mother is removed from the grant. In addition, she does not receive a 
AFC 
behalf. 
check; the  offce instead pays her bils in her 
Blood Tests 
Bloo is drawn at several local laboratories. CSE pays for the test initially 
and later seeks reimbursement from the putative father if he wasn t excluded 
AFC mother if the putative father was excluded. In early 
or from the non-
199 the site plans to have blood draws in the Salt Lake CSE offce. 
Method of Adjudication: 
The putative father is usually notified of the paternity allegation first by 
telephone and then by letter. If he wishes to voluntarily admit paternity, he 
can do so without a court appearance at the CSE offce. There he is advised 
of his rights and asked to sign a voluntary acknowledgement which generally 
includes a support amount. This acknowledgement is then reviewed and 
signed by the attorney and entered into the court records by a judge 
signature.  If the putative father does not respond to the telephone call or letter, he is 
summons. Failure to answer results in a default judgment of 
served with a 
paternity. When he responds with a denial, the Attorney General's offce 
orders blood tests which the putative father cannot refuse. If the blood tests 
have not excluded him, and he stil denies paternity, the case is tried, with a 
jury, if so requested. A father may sign a voluntary acknowledgement at any 
time during this process. 
PROGRA ADMISTTION 
CSE Administration:  State 
Case Management 
Cae management is a combined manual/automated system. Case narratives 
Case referrals 
some locate information and some forms are computeried. 
from AFC are manual, as is tracking for paternity cases. An improvement 
was revision of forms for greater standardiztion and simplicity. 
Staffing 
Paternity teams work only paternity establishment cases. There is some 
specializtion by function within the teams. Team members can provide 
backup for each other and stil provide expertise in certin program areas 
e.g., location. The site respondents believe this has increased effciency and 
timeliness of the workers. 
Teams that were successful with voluntary paternity acknowledgements trained 
less successful teams on intervewing techniques. The site was also able to 
hire additional locate staff. One worker does presentations to large 
companies in the area to explain the work of CSE and to solicit location 
information from company records. Their improvement goal was to increase 
voluntary acknowledgements, which they achieved. 
Contract for Servces 
They contract for blood analysis primarily with Genetic Design of North 
Carolina and Asociated Regional and University Pathologists in Utah. The 
file stipulations and to handle 
Attorney General's offce has the contract to 
contested cases. Constables provide legal servce to the putative fathers. 
OONTACf FOR MORE INORMTION 
Mr. Jim Kidder, Bureau Director 
State of Utah, Department of Social Servces 
120 North 200 West 
Salt Lake City, UT 84103 
Telephone: 
(801) 538-4412