BISMARCK -- Instead of just getting a bigger hammer in its efforts to boost child support payments from wayward parents, the North Dakota Child Support Enforcement Division has found a way to entice some to earn more money.
The program, called the Parental Responsibility Initiative for the Development of Employment, or PRIDE, is so successful it is likely to be extended beyond its pilot counties and become a statewide effort, the state child support director said.
The two-year-old program has resulted in increased child support payments from nearly 150 non-custodial parents, helped trim spending in the state public assistance programs, and may even be improving children's relationships with their parents, said Director Mike Schwindt.
PRIDE is also is being recognized by the Council of State Governments' Midwestern office, which named it one of 10 finalists for its 2007 Innovations Award.
The first regional child support office to start the program was Dickinson, in 2005. Grand Forks' regional office then asked to have it and joined in 2006.
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In the program, parents who owe past-due child support and who are identified as having trouble finding or keeping jobs are referred to a Job Service caseworker who helps them find a job or a better job.
Schwindt said the very first person in the program in the Dickinson area volunteered for the program. But child support officials don't just wait for people who are willing.
"The referrals come from the courts, so there is some leverage there," said Heather Steffl, spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services, which oversees the Child Support Enforcement Division.
Schwindt said the average monthly payment by those in the program has risen from $68 per month before they were referred to $128 per month. He said 147 people have been n the program since it started in Dickinson in April 2005, and 60 to 70 people are in it at any one time. As parents obtain and keep better jobs, they "graduate" out of the program.
When families are not getting the child support payments they're owed, they often end up relying on public assistance such as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, so when child support payments increase, those families are less of a burden on the public treasury, Schwindt said.
He reports that benefits go beyond the financial. Schwindt said the agency is seeing anecdotal evidence that once the non-custodial parents begin making more money and catching up on child support, they are also having more involvement with their children.
"I'm very hopeful this will go statewide, because it looks like it works," he said.
Schwindt has had other innovative ideas that did not catch on. In the 2007 session, he proposed a bill to allow child support enforcement workers to help custodial and non-custodial parents iron out disputes. He told lawmakers that his agency has documented constant issues among parents who disagree on such things as visitation, how child support payments are being spent and whether the support is too high or too low.
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The Legislature didn't think it was a good idea and killed the bill.
This is not the first time a North Dakota initiative has been lauded by the Council of State Governments' innovations award program. Several years ago the Higher Education Roundtable won top honors.
Cole works for Forum
Communications Co., which owns The Jamestown Sun
