By Kim Kerns, Administrative Assistant to Office of Child Support (OCS) Director; and Julie Vandenboom, OCS Program Re-engineering Specialist
In December 2020, Michigan requested a waiver from the
federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) to allow the use of IV-D
funds to pilot and evaluate an employment program for child support payers. The
program, called Learn, Earn, and Provide (LEAP), is a collaboration between the
Michigan Office of Child Support (OCS) and the Department of Labor and Economic
Opportunity (LEO). The waiver was granted for a two-year period which began
during the first fiscal quarter that funds were spent for the pilot.
Section 1115 waivers allow states to evaluate innovative approaches that differ from what is required by federal statute and can give states considerable flexibility in how they run their programs. In July 2019, OCSE issued IM-19-04 encouraging states and tribes to request section 1115 demonstration waivers to fund employment programs for child support payers.
LEAP is a child support compliance and employment service
pilot program for unemployed or underemployed payers who are struggling to pay
child support. It began in four counties in southwest Michigan (Branch,
Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and St. Joseph) and is expanding soon to Muskegon
County. OCS worked collaboratively with
Michigan Works! and Friend of the Court offices to offer an alternative to
enforcement actions for payers having difficulty meeting the terms of their
child support orders. The project, funded by LEO general funds and an 1115
waiver allowing IV-D matching funds to be drawn for employment services, was
created to address the challenges that low-income parents face finding
employment and paying child support.
Pilot counties began making referrals to LEAP in March 2021.
COVID-19-related safety measures have resulted in child
support enforcement officers having little to no contact with child support
payers, which initially made it difficult to generate referrals to the LEAP
program. FOC offices placed flyers
in their courthouses and mailed them to eligible child support payers. All
enforcement officers and referees have been educated about the pilot program.
In some counties, FOC staff have provided lists of potential LEAP participants
to Michigan Works! staff to provide outreach. Michigan Works! staff have also
found LEAP participants while conducting their other outreach work,
particularly at events for Michigan’s new “Clean Slate” expungement laws.
Parents who are unable to pay child support due to
unemployment or underemployment can participate in LEAP voluntarily, or FOC
offices can order parents to take part. Parents who are actively taking part in
LEAP services will see enforcement actions lifted (e.g., driver’s licenses that
have been suspended for non-payment of support may be reinstated), child
support orders reviewed and potentially modified, and financial incentives received
when they reach certain milestones in the program. Parents who have been
referred to LEAP and do not follow through with active participation will be at
risk of having enforcement actions reinstated and possible additional enforcement
actions taken.
After the FOC makes the referral to LEAP, Michigan Works!
career coaches have the complicated job of being a support person, an advisor,
a supervisor, and a monitor for LEAP participants. They try to build a
relationship and stay connected with LEAP participants by:
- Quickly scheduling parents to take part in relevant workforce activities after the assessment process;
- Obtaining contact information for the parent (including a secondary contact number) and review it for accuracy each time they meet;
- Providing the parent with their direct phone number so that the parent has ready access to them;
- Maintaining frequent (e.g., weekly) telephone and in-person contact;
- Establishing a fixed meeting time and place;
- Considering meeting online if in-person contact is difficult;
- Asking questions, listening, showing interest in participants’ circumstances, empathizing and reassuring;
- Sharing experiences with participants to build a relationship; and,
- Adopting a position of concern and avoiding making judgements.
LEAP participants average 4.7 workforce-related barriers when
they enter the pilot program. The most common barriers are criminal records and
lack of transportation, education, appropriate clothing, and access to technology.
Seven months into the program, 36 noncustodial parents were
actively taking part in LEAP. Of the 36 active participants, 30 percent have
gained employment, 13.3 percent are attending training, 36.7 percent are in
active job/training search and 20 percent are collaborating with Michigan
Works! to remove barriers to employment.
One particularly successful LEAP participant, referred by the
Calhoun County FOC, has been able to collaborate with Michigan Works! career
coaches to obtain an apartment, clothing, healthcare, dental care, and a cell
phone. He has applied for expungement of criminal charges and has gained
employment paying $18 per hour with opportunity for advancement.
Michigan hopes to use the LEAP pilot to learn what works and
what does not work when assisting payers who are eager to support their
families and meet their obligations, but may not yet have the tools necessary
to do so. The barriers identified and surmounted within the LEAP program will
inform the Michigan child support program’s future endeavors in this space.
Kim Kerns has worked for OCS since 2014. She is the
Administrative Assistant to the Director of OCS.
