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| Community Budget Issue Requests - Tracking Id #1852 |
| Non Custododial Parent Work Readiness |
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| Requester: |
Lisa Rice |
Organization: |
Brevard Workforce Development Board Inc. |
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| Project Title: |
Non Custododial Parent Work Readiness |
Date Submitted |
1/11/2006 5:30:38 PM |
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| Sponsors: |
Posey |
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| Statewide Interest: |
| The inability to collect child support payments from non-custodial parents is a major problem for the State of Florida. The inability to collect these dollars creates great hardships for custodial parents and their children and in many cases leading to long term social problems.
If the custodial parent claims to not have the resources to make his or her support payment there is little the State can do. Obviously a fine cannot be paid and imprisonment for debt is prohibited under Article 1, Section 11 of the Florida Constitution.
In many of the cases it is clear that the person in violation for non payment of child support simply cannot due to lack of employment. Case workers in the field report that for every one who cannot pay there is the equal number who can but don't and are working the system to avoid payment.
Pinellas County began as the pilot program. The program remains strongly endorsed by local judges, the Department of Revenue, and the Clerk of the Courts.
The program generated $4.84 of revenue to the State, as recorded by the Department of Revenue, for every $1.00 spent for the program. Over the past three years NCEP has spent an average of 26.5 cents ($ .265) for each dollar ($1.00) collected by the Department of Revenue.
Child support dollars collected continue to exceed program operating costs by a substantial margin, with $5.6 million collected over costs since the beginning of the program.
Long-term work habits are being generated, as 75% of all program generated child support collections posted by the Department of Revenue are now coming from clients who are no longer in the program, but continue to pay their child support.
Noncustodial parents in NCEP are more involved with their children. More than 60% of participants report that their relationship with their children and the custodial parent have improved since being in the program, with the most common visitation arrangement being one to two times per week.
The proposed Brevard County Non-Custodial Parent (NCP) Program will model the Pinellas county program and will be administered by BWDB and comprised of community based partnerships with the Department of Revenue, Brevard Clerk of Courts, Brevard Job Link Career Centers, Faith Based Organizations (FBO's) and Brevard County Judicial System.
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| Recipient: |
Brevard Workforce Development Board Inc. |
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Contact: |
Lisa Rice |
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597 Haverty Court, Suite 40 |
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Contact Phone: |
(321) 504-2060 |
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Rockledge 32955 |
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Contact email: |
lrice@job-link |
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| Counties: |
Brevard |
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| Gov't Entity: |
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Private Organization (Profit/Not for Profit): |
Yes |
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| Project Description: |
| This program provides opportunities for NCP customers to obtain job skills and training to become self-sufficient to support their families. In addition, the NCP Program, through the use of contracted Faith Based Organizations (FBO's), will provide parenting and life skills training to enable the NCP customer with social skills to deal with life in a constructive and functional manner. In promoting the development of critical employment and social skills, the NCP customer in turn will be better able to participate productively within society, in respects to employment, family and community life.
Program Objectives
� Assist unemployed or under-employed non-custodial parents with finding and keeping a job in the private sector;
� Help non-custodial parents establish a pattern of regular child support payments and thus increase the amount of court-ordered child support collected (increased payment on orders);
� Motivate participants to accept their parental responsibilities and increase their interaction with their children; while
� Strengthening the local Child Support System.
Program services (which will be discussed in detail in our program approach) are as follows:
� Coordination with the Department of Revenue, Brevard County Court System, local FBO's, Brevard Job Link Career Centers and Brevard Workforce Development Board (BWDB);
� Counseling on obtaining additional life-skills through training;
� Successful completion: employed and paying child support payments for at least 6 continuous months;
� Intensive case management and vocational and educational assessment;
� Job Search and employability skills training;
� Job placement with focus on work first and upward mobility within the job;
� Frequent monitoring of progress at the job site;
� Encourage absent parent to strengthen their relationship with their children by identifying barriers to visitation and support to overcome or eliminate those barriers; as well as
� Educating parents on parenting issues and spending quality time with their children.
Supportive services are defined as those services or activities provided either directly to, or on behalf of, job seekers which are necessary to reduce or eradicate barriers to obtaining or retaining employment. BWDB adheres to certain principles which should guide decisions regarding supportive services and the NCP Program. The service strategy to deliver the support services in NCP's in the program includes the following:
Aptitude/Work Readiness Assessments - conducted during initial contact activities a complete assessment of the overall knowledge, skills, and abilities and career aptitude of the customer is obtained. Additionally, barriers to work readiness will be identified with referral to appropriate counseling and community services as needed by the participant. These assessments and other applicable assessments will provide the basis for the Individual Service Strategy (ISS), which clearly identifies short and long-term goals and any training or supportive services needed to accomplish those goals.
Career Counseling - Individual counseling including Career Coach, Peer Counselors, (previous NCP's identified by BWDB), advisors from the local community college, other employment agencies, and FBO's will be used extensively. This service will be conducted after the NCP is enrolled and will be an important part of the first week of the program. The Career Coach will assist NCP's through the process of obtaining support services as needed, developing their ISS, and working toward successful completion of the program.
Job Development - Career Coaches will work with local employers toward incentives, such as the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), an incentive for employers to hire individuals from targeted groups and the Federal Bonding Program that serves as a tool to secure the job placement of ex-offenders and other high-risk applicants. This is part of our strategy to reduce the need for support services as the faster the NCP is employed, the less need they will have for additional services.
Small Business Development Assistance - Individualized attention and training provided by local agencies and individuals that will invest in the client to prepare them to operate and manage their own business. Some NCP's may be better suited to self-employment, this provides a mechanism for meeting that desire and incorporates support services for the NCP as they start up the business.
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| Is this a project related to a federal or state declared disaster? |
No |
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| Measurable Outcome Anticipated: |
| The NCP program will possess specific outcome measurements for the duration of the grant period.
� 50% increase in the amount of child support paid by each participant within 6 months after they are enrolled in the NCP Program compared to the year prior to enrollment
� 65% of program participants will be employed within 6 months of enrollment, and of that 65%, 50% will still be employed 6 months after they exit the program.
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| Amount requested from the State for this project this year: |
$200,000 |
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| Total cost of the project: |
$200,000 |
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| Request has been made to fund: |
Operations |
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| What type of match exists for this project? |
Local |
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Cash Amount |
$12,000 |
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In-kind Amount |
$33,000 |
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| Was this project previously funded by the state? |
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No |
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| Is future-year funding likely to be requested? |
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Yes |
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Amount: |
$75,000 |
To Fund: |
Operations |
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| Was this project included in an Agency's Budget Request? |
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No |
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| Was this project included in the Governor's Recommended Budget? |
No |
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| Is there a documented need for this project? |
Yes |
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Documentation: |
Dept. of Revenue indicates 13,959 child support cases with $103,401,852 owed in arrears. |
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| Was this project request heard before a publicly noticed meeting of a body of elected officials (municipal, county, or state)? |
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No |
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| Is this a water project as described in Section 403.885, Laws of Florida? |
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No |
