It cost the consumers, the customers, the families that are entitled to child support. McGee says work that should be computerized is done by hand. Congress has required states to better automate their tracking and collection systems but 10 states have failed to comply with the federal automation requirements and will pay penalties as a result. Last year, the state and the company scrapped the contract and sued each other. John Monahan is the number two person at the U.S. Administration for Children and Families, which certifies the state computer systems.
Automation is an essential element of effective child support enforcement.
The failure to automate the child support enforcement process can have serious consequences for people in the system. In California, if a parent receiving child support moves across a count line, which right here could literally mean moving from a house in Ventura County next door to a house in LA County, the case won't automatically be transferred because the computer systems in the two counties don't speak to each other. That's exactly what happened in the case of Sheila Richardson. She moved with her daughter, Ashley, and her son from Sacramento to Los Angeles County in 1992. I applied for child support through LA County's district attorney office, and each time I would call to find out how - the status of my case, they would say, oh, we need you to complete this form again, or these forms again, because we don't have them, or your file got lost.