Friday, January 08, 2010
A DETAILED REPORT ON THE STATUS OF THE SC CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM
On February 24, 2009 we wrote:
On February 24, 2009 we wrote:
We do not know whether DSS has yet presented the South Carolina with "a detailed report on the status of the Child Support Enforcement System including actions currently being undertaken to become compliant with federal government requirements; the cost required to meet minimum federal guidelines; total funds spent so far on the system; the amount of fines assessed by the federal government associated with non-compliance; how much has been spent to satisfy actions taken by the state judicial system; and how much has been spent related to actions taken by any other entity which may have altered the amount required for meeting minimum federal guidelines." However, we remind everyone that this report was supposed to have been submitted to the General Assembly by August 31, 2008.
To our embarrassment we recently learned that the South Carolina Department of Social Service provided the General Assembly with Response to Proviso 26.25 of the FY 2008-2009 Appropriations Act almost six months prior to our post. In our defense, however, we requested a copy of this document both from members of the South Carolina General Assembly and some high ranking employees of the South Carolina Department of Social Services and they did not even acknowledge its existence.
We do not know why DSS would not provide a copy of the requested document. Nor do we know why the General Assembly and the media do not appear to be concerned about this ongoing problem. However, careful readers will note that, to date, the State of South Carolina has spent over $34,000,000 in development costs on this system and been fined over $63,000,000 with no end in sight and no real time frame for installing the program. Moreover, DSS's response to the General Assembly is both incomplete and evasive. More important, DSS's latest update to the General Assembly indicates that the State of South Carolina has been fined an additional $9,000,000 (total over $72,000,000) and has spent an additional $6,000,000 on the system. And it is now anticipated that the system will still not be ready until September of 2011.
Labels: Computerized Child Support System, Federal Fines, Problems at DSS
