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Penn State receives more than $10 million to train for child support enforcement By Celena E. Kusch
	According to a 2001 report by the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement, more than $83 billion in unpaid child support is due to almost 20 million children nationwide. Across all states, only 42 percent of these children receive one or more payments and only 25 percent receive the entire amount due from the adults who have responsibility for child support.   In order to increase the amount of child support payments collected and distributed to families, the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, Bureau of Child Support Enforcement, has awarded Penn State a three-year $10.85 million contract to create the Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement Training Institute (PACSETI). This institute will provide instruction and training on Pennsylvania’s Title IV-D Child Support Enforcement Program to staff and administrators from state and county child support enforcement agencies.   Dr. Jennifer Mastrofski, associate professor of administration of justice for the Penn State Justice and Safety Institute, explained, “Developing standardized training for personnel working in the child-support enforcement field within Pennsylvania has been a long-term goal of state agency personnel and local administrators. The opportunity for the Penn State Justice and Safety Institute to establish the Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement Training Institute builds on a 20-year   history of collaboration in training child-support enforcement personnel through the Domestic Relations Association of Pennsylvania.”   The objective of the institute is to support Pennsylvania’s efforts to enforce and secure financial and medical resources for children and youth who are entitled to receive child support. Initial training courses scheduled to launch this fall will involve approximately 2,400 administrative, professional, legal and front-line staff from across the Commonwealth. Following the initial training offerings, more than 500 child support enforcement staff will participate in the institute annually.   The new Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement Training Institute at Penn State will be co-directed by Mastrofski and Roy H. McCullagh, director of Penn State’s Workforce Development Resource Center. Dr. Wesley E. Donahue, director of Penn State Management Development Programs and Services, will collaborate by developing the curriculum for the institute’s training initiative. Don Zettlemoyer, director of the Justice and Safety Institute, serves as project principal.   According to Zettlemoyer, the Child Support Enforcement Training Institute will develop the curriculum and provide logistical support, including the assignment of faculty to teach programs at locations throughout the state. The institute is a collaborative effort involving the Penn State Justice and Safety Institute, the Workforce Development Resource Center, Management Development Programs and Services and Outreach Information Systems.   Dr. Patricia A. Book, associate vice president for outreach and executive director of the Division of Continuing Education, said, “This is an opportunity for Penn State to serve the Commonwealth through the University’s multiple delivery systems, using a multidisciplinary approach to provide continuing professional education statewide. It is an excellent example of Penn State’s outreach capabilities and our commitment to serving the needs of the Commonwealth.”   The interdisciplinary foundation of the institute will help faculty meet the Commonwealth’s diverse training needs.   “There is significant variation across counties and persons who work in those counties, in terms of background and on-the-job training,” Mastrofski noted. “All new personnel in child support enforcement will soon be required to take a basic training course within six months of being hired. This requirement will ensure that all new employees have the same basic knowledge about relevant state and federal legislation, policies and statewide database systems to maximize job performance. Ultimately, this knowledge will translate into increased efficiencies in the system that secures child support for families who are entitled to it.”   The two-week, basic new-hire training will cover case initiation, family members location, enforcement, paternity establishment, interstate and intrastate issues, financials and information on the Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement System, a statewide computer system that processes and maintains databases on all child-support enforcement activities.   In addition, the Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement System will develop a one-week refresher course for personnel hired before the new-hire training requirement was enacted. The institute is also charged with the development of judicial training, new policy training, training at professional conferences and specialized training modules for advanced and supervisory staff.   Faculty from the partnering units, as well as new faculty in the Child Support Enforcement Training Institute, will deliver the statewide training programs at University Park and permanent Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement System facilities in Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Conshohocken. Plans also include the development of Web-based training modules. An outreach program of the College of the Liberal Arts, Justice and Safety Institute, Workforce Development Resource Center, Management Development Programs and Services and Outreach Information Systems
© 2002 Outreach Communications,   Outreach & Cooperative Extension,   The Pennsylvania State University phone: (814) 865-8108,   fax: (814) 863-2765,   e-mail: outreachnews@outreach.psu.edu