Problems with the Georgia Office of Child Support Services (OCSS)

As most of us know there are more government agencies than we can name, many of which seem from the outside view, to be nothing more than opportunities for employment of un or under qualified individuals, who are good at pushing paper and passing the buck. (I thoroughly expect to get slammed for that comment, so go for it!) One such agency, as far as this author is concerned, is the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services (OCSS). It was this author's naive understanding that this agency was formed to provide help for individuals seeking the court ordered child support to which they were entitled from deadbeat parents. How silly! The following is the litany of bureaucracy and ineptness that this writer has recently witnessed with one case in particular.

The Georgia Court ordered child support to be paid starting immediately. No child support was forthcoming for nearly a year. The Georgia Office Of Child Support Services was contacted and their response was that they would have to send a letter. It took about two weeks for the letter to get out, then they waited 30 days for a response. No response, so they sent another letter stating that support must be forthcoming or driver's license would be suspended. Deadbeat paid $130.00 out of thousands owed and, according to the "rules," this staved off any further action by the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services for at least another 30 days. Another thirty days and still no more money is paid. Contact the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services. They will send another letter. Here we go around the mulberry bush. On the 30^th day, according to a letter received from the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services, the deadbeat completes a form to have the child support deducted from each paycheck, so no action can be taken. "This process can take up to 6 weeks," according to the letter.

So, let's do some math, beginning from the first call to the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services: 2 weeks to get the first letter out + 30 days to wait a response + plus another 2 weeks for another letter to go out + another 30 days to wait a response = 88 days = $130.00 (court order is for $424.00 per month total of monthly support and payment on arrears). Now we have another 30 days to wait and see if any support is paid + 2 weeks to get the letter out + 30 days to wait a response + 6 weeks for the process to complete, if another pay deduction form is completed = 116 days = $0.00. 116 + 88 = 204 days. Almost 7 months! Whoop tee do! Another letter received from Georgia Office Of Child Support Services stating that the deadbeat has completed a payroll deduction form. It will take up to 6 weeks to process.

Of course, no payment is forthcoming, so we take another walk around the block. Call the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services. Seems they have no record of the document arranging for withholding from the deadbeat's paycheck. "We'll send him a letter." A call to the region's director's office stating that it seems quite odd that there is suddenly no form and that there is the possibility that the deadbeat has friends in the department, given his previous employment history and local relationships. Response: "We'll look into it." Dear saints preserve us. No wonder so many single parents are so p****d off! Another 2 weeks, plus 30 days, plus another 2 weeks, plus another 30 days = 88 days + 204 days = 292 days. Whoa! $75.00 came in, so deadbeat is attempting to comply, so he has another 30 days before anyone can do anything. Results of the "we'll look into it"? We don't know what happened, but we have sent another letter. 292 days = $205.00. Well, anyone should be able to budget caring for a child on what...$0.70 a day!

Well thanks for all the help oh great Georgia Office Of Child Support Services, established to ensure children receive the support they are entitled to and the care that support provides. It is now time to get a lawyer, provided the custodial parent can afford one, because if you wait for the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services to do anything the kid will be grown and have children of his or her own. Oh, and once the child reaches age 18, good luck in trying to acquire any of that back support. It's no longer a priority-as if it every was?

Did this do any good? Well, it does seem at times to be an endless battle. Find a lawyer, the lawyer gets a bunch of money up front-that the custodial parent has to borrow from friends, family, loan sharks-the lawyer eventually files a motion with the court. Court has to serve the deadbeat with the motion papers-if they can find him or her. This particular deadbeat, who was at the time living with a local Sheriff's Department Deputy, could not be found to be serve. Hum? He didn't live there anymore. So time marched on without child support. Lawyer finally found a work address for the deadbeat and he was served at work-and immediately fired because his job did not allow for him to be in contempt of a court order. Finally, almost 60 days later, we can proceed. Oh, but you can't just go to court. You have to go to arbitration first. AND, if there wasn't enough insult and injury being done to the custodial parent, the custodial parent has to pay 50% of the arbitration fee. Needless to say, this was money wasted and a court date had to be set. Another 30 days roll by where a child has to go without, because his non-custodial parent is too lazy, vindictive or just plain mean to pay child support. We are talking years now since the original court order for support was issued.

The day in court arrives. Deadbeat is order to pay starting immediately. Is ordered to pay 50% of custodial parent's legal fees. Judge doesn't want to hear his excuses. Finally! Oh, no. Nothing has really happened. The system just begins to grind again and the deadbeat, who knows full well how to work the system, uses it to his advantage. No child support is forthcoming. Call the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services. They will send a letter; it will take two weeks, then 30 days for a response. Is this de ja vu? Oh, we get another one of those letters that state the deadbeat has arranged for withdrawals from his pay-it will take up to 6 weeks to process. Deadbeat has 30 days to pay the 50% legal fee to the custodial parent. Of course, he doesn't. Call the lawyer. "We'll have to send him a letter. He will have 30 days to respond. If he doesn't, we can petition the court..."

What is wrong with this picture? This system is flawed in a big way. The custodial parent has to work really hard to get the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services to do anything and even then there is no guarantee they will do anything. Is the system corrupt or just inept?

Once the court orders support to be paid, it should be forthcoming without any intervention. However, since we live in the real world, not utopia, there should be a more effective and less bureaucratic system in place to ensure support payments are made. Once the court orders support, the individual should be required to supply the court with the name, address and contact number of his or her current employer. If he or she changes jobs during the period of court ordered support they should be required to notify the court of the new information or be fined or imprisoned for failure to comply. There should be a single letter of warning sent to the last known address of the parent ordered to pay support and to the last known employer address of the parent. If the individual does not respond, his or her wages should be immediately garnished by the State for the amount of child support and given to the custodial parent. Any Federal or State tax refunds due the deadbeat parent should be automatically seized and given to the custodial parent. If the parent ordered to pay support is no longer employed by the employer of record, a warrant should be issued for failure to provide the court with current information. Once the parent is located and a new job is identified, the parent should be required to establish a withholding from his pay with his employer from that point forward, since he or she has proved that he or she is unreliable. They are unemployed? Grab that unemployment check. Put them to work for the state. Make them perform community service. Don't let them walk away from their responsibility. Take a proactive approach instead of the passive insipid approaches currently in force.

The parents are the ones with the problems, whatever they are and whoever was at fault is a non-issue when it comes to child support. The child should not have to go without food, housing, clothing, medical treatment, prescriptions or school supplies because we have built a big machine that employs marginally capable people with a whole lot of attitude, very little respect and absolutely no sense of ownership for the problem. OK, I guess there may be some people in the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services who actually care about the people they "serve." Unfortunately, I haven't met them, talked with them or observed them. Someday when you don't have a whole lot to do, stop in at your local Georgia Office Of Child Support Services. Take a look around the lobby and a look at the people behind the desks. Is the air charged with antagonism? Does everyone look tired and unhappy? Do you see frustration, anger, tears?

It is not always easy to find phone numbers where you can talk to a person instead of an answering machine, where your message becomes just call number 2,242 and may or may not ever be returned. Go to the website in the reference URLs below. The Georgia Office Of Child Support Services is part of the Georgia Department of Human Resources (thus the abbreviation DHR on the envelopes you may see). Click on the customer service link. As of this writing, the first thing you will see on that page is a Contact Center Apology. They admit you may have received busy signals, dropped calls or other inconvenience in using the contact center number. If you look lower on the page you will see that you can contact them via the Internet. Do yourself a favor and use this option. First reason is that you don't have to wait on the phone or wait for a return phone call. You can immediately state your case and it becomes a permanent document within the system. No one can say you didn't call or speak to anyone. If you don't have a computer, go to the public library. If you need an email address, simply go to Yahoo and set one up. The librarian should be able to help you, if you don't understand how to use the Internet.

If you already have a case number, you can use the Constituent Services Portal link in the middle paragraph, just under the apology. You can email information through the link in the bottom middle paragraph, if you do not yet have a case number. You can find the number for your local office by using the local office link about half way down the middle of the page. Locating your specific region office can be tricky. I have found information using the office locator to be unreliable at times (probably something funky in the search data). If you can't find your region, just start calling regions and...if you get a human on the phone, ask them for the location and phone number for your local office. Do not let them tell you, "I don't know". Insist on an answer and request a supervisor or manager, if they give you any flack about "We don't have that number." Bologna! They can find it.

If you find yourself inside this bureaucracy, the worst thing you can do is give up. Do not suffer in silence. Make your presence know, daily if necessary. Unfortunately, until things change, if you want to get anything accomplished, you must be aggressive. If your local office is giving you the run around, find the phone number for the district or regional manager's office and insist on speaking with someone in authority, not just a desk jockey. If you receive a letter that says there will be payroll deductions for the child support, mark the 6 weeks on the calendar. If you don't receive money, call them again. Insist that they take responsibility for the paperwork they issue and the paperwork in and under their control.

Document every call writing down the day, the time and the individual to whom you spoke or the fact that you left a message. Keep a copy of every email correspondence and letter you send and receive. When you have something in black and white, it is harder for them to deny its existence.

Through all of this aggravation and the money problems and pressure this type of situation can cause, it is important to try to maintain your control and composure. Don't yell at them, don't curse at them, just be firm. "I want to speak to a supervisor or a manager." "Give me the number for your district or regional manager." Take every opportunity to remind them of the words from their website, "The Georgia Department of Human Resources, Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) helps children by enforcing parental responsibility to pay financial support."

This author has experienced both sides of the child support issue and it can be a very emotional issue, when one is in the thick of it. However, the system does seem to be designed to overly complicate a simple matter of compliance. The fact that parents sometimes use the system, as a means of punishing each other, may be one of the reasons the system has become so complex. The fact that so few couples stay together has created an explosion of child support cases. The system is burdened and the machinery is broken. It is time to take a look at the real objective of this organization (meeting the child's needs) and find ways to meet that objective in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of paperwork. This organization should be serving children, not parents, politicians or the "government machine."

As of this writing, there may be some needed changes under way. The Georgia Office Of Child Support Services is supposedly adding more staff and phone lines. In Clayton County, recently, police were going door-to-door arresting deadbeat dads. Maybe the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services is headed in a new direction. One can only hope improvements will come from the addition of staff and the changes in policy. Heaven help the child, if our tax dollars are simply feeding the cumbersome "machine" and throwing more un or under unskilled bodies at the problem. Here's hoping!

P.S. If for no other reason than to know you are not alone and that others may be in even worse circumstances than you are, check out the link for Most Wanted Evaders in the left hand column of the Georgia Office Of Child Support Services webpage. According to that page, John L. owed $95,225.00 in child support for 5 children as of 11/02/2007.