The first one is about understaffed child support offices. I read in a 2006 report that Indiana has 953 child support employees. One hundred of those are in the Child Support Bureau. The other 853 are split up among the counties. The number of child support cases in 2006 was 355,757. That means, on average, each caseworker was responsible for over 400 cases. I have also read in more recent reports (2008) that the number of cases has increased while the number of child support employees has remained the same.
Our laws state when a person does not pay support, the caseworker is to send a late notice. That parent then has 30 days to comply or the enforcement process is started. Many people complain that caseworkers are not doing this. They do not start enforcement until the custodial parent calls them, which could be a few weeks or several months without support. Many people also complain about rude caseworkers, never getting to talk to the caseworker, or they say, "Why should I have to do their job for them?"
If one caseworker has over 400 active cases, how can that caseworker possibly do their job efficiently? Rude caseworkers? I am sure if I had over 400 parents calling me all day complaining I would probably get a little rude, too. Answering phone calls? If that caseworker is on the phone all day with parents, how can they possibly get anything accomplished? And what about getting a hearing for your case? I read that in some counties it can take six to nine months before a hearing is scheduled due to the backlog of cases. Parents, please be more understanding of what these caseworkers have to deal with everyday. They are working hard for us and receive little appreciation in return.
The answers seem simple enough, but I can assure you they are not. Hiring more staff and updating the computer system will help tremendously, right? The problem is the state only allocates a certain amount of money to the child support division. Maybe a better answer would be for the state to cut spending in wasteful areas to provide money where it is needed in others.
To the Indiana child support division, if I am wrong about any of this, please correct me. The purpose of my petition is not to imply that I have all of the answers. It is to show our congressmen all of the different issues we have to deal with every day and offer suggestions. My petition is not a list of demands. It is a tool to get the attention we need from our government. Whether you are a custodial parent or non-custodial parent, if you have any child support or visitation problem, please send me an e-mail about it. The more stories our congressmen, senators, and president read, the better they will understand all of the problems we face. I cannot ask them to fix the problems if they do not know what the problems are. You may contact me at 79trm@comcast.net
