D.A. Planning Computer for Child Support

Facing the loss of millions of dollars from the federal government and mounting pressure from legislators and women’s groups, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office will begin accepting bids on a $16-million computer system to improve its child-support collection rate, officials said Friday.

Greg Thompson, chief deputy district attorney, said the system will send bills out to delinquent parents and allow family support workers to monitor cases more closely. Private consultants will be hired to oversee the implementation of the system, which will be funded almost entirely by the federal government.

“This agreement (between the federal government and the county) is the most significant event in the history of child support,” Thompson said during a public hearing in Los Angeles before the state Senate’s budget and fiscal review subcommittee. “No other county has gotten funding from the federal government in more than eight years. It recognizes Los Angeles (as if it were a) state, and it should. Our child-support caseload is larger than 37 states.”

Thompson pointed out that the district attorney’s current caseload of 300,000 increases by 6,000 cases monthly. However, its collection rate is nearly the worst in the state.

A report earlier this year by the state legislative analyst ranked Los Angeles County 57th among the state’s 58 counties, prompting legislators to take a hard look at the county’s record.

Last month, leaders of the county’s Child Support Task Force, a coalition of women’s groups, assailed Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner for not responding to three out of four women who seek his help in collecting child support. They also complained that only one woman in seven ever gets a penny of what is owed.

The state, however, has not done much better.

Ranks 34th

California ranks 34th among the nation’s 54 states and territories in collecting money, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The department has threatened to withhold $23 million from California if its collection rate does not improve by January.

If the state loses the money, officials said each county will assume a portion. Los Angeles County, they said, could lose as much as 25% to 40% of the total.

“Hopefully we can avoid all that,” Thompson said. “I think if we show (the federal government) that we are on our way to improving the collection, we will not be sanctioned.”

He said the new computer system, which is scheduled to begin operating by summer, will enble the county to double its collection rate over five years.

Betty Norwind, chairwoman of the task force, was not so optimistic.

“The computers certainly will help, but there also needs to be a plan on how they will be used and, from our view, the district attorney has not set up such a plan,” she said. “It’s like building a house with no architect or contractor.”