17.A OCSE 157 Incentive and Penatly Data Elements

Appendix 17.A – OCSS 157 Incentive and Penalty Data Elements

Purpose:

The following are the data elements provided by states in the federal OCSS – 157 Child Support Enforcement Annual Data Report audited by the federal OCSS to ensure the data submitted by each state exceeds the federal data reliability standard of ninety-five percent (95%) for purposes of awarding incentives or assessing penalties.

The performance measures associated with the OCSS -157 Report are:

• Paternity 

• Paternity Establishment; 

• Order Establishment; 

• Current Collections; and 

• Arrears Collections.

• Paternity Establishment -Statewide

Line 8 – Children in the State Born Out-of-Wedlock During the Current Year

• Report the total number of children in the state who were born out-of-wedlock during the year. Report the information for the current reporting year. This may include children born out-of-wedlock in another state who are living in the reporting state.

Line 8a - Children in the State Born Out-of-Wedlock During the Prior Year

• Report the total number of children in the state who were born out-of-wedlock during the prior year. Report the information for the prior reporting year. This may include children born out-of-wedlock in another state who are living in the reporting state.

Line 9 – Children in the State with Paternity Established or Acknowledged During the Year

• Report the number of minor children in the state who were born out-of-wedlock for whom paternity has been established or acknowledged during the year.

Paternity Establishment – IV-D1

Line 5 – Children in IV-D Cases Open at the End of the Current Federal Fiscal Year Who Were Born Out-of-Wedlock

• Report the number of children in the IV-D caseload, in cases open at the end of the current Federal Fiscal Year, who were born out-of-wedlock. Report the information for the current reporting year.

Line 5a - Children in IV-D Cases Open at the End of the Prior Federal Fiscal Year Who Were Born Out-of-Wedlock

• Report the number of children in the IV-D caseload in cases open at the end of the prior Federal Fiscal Year who were born out-of-wedlock. Report the information for the prior reporting fiscal year.

Line 6 - Children in IV-D Cases Open During or at the End of the Fiscal Year With Paternity Established or Acknowledged 

• Report the number of children born out-of-wedlock in the IV-D caseload in cases open at the end of the Federal Fiscal Year who have paternity established or acknowledged. States have the option of including paternities established or acknowledged for cases that closed during the Federal Fiscal Year. Paternity does not have to have been established by the IV-D agency.

Order Establishment

Line 1 – Cases Open at the end of the Fiscal Year

• Report the number of IV-D cases open on the last day of the fiscal year. Include cases open at end of the fiscal year as a result of requests for assistance received from other states, tribal IV-D programs, or foreign countries with a Federal-level or state-level agreement with the reporting state, tribe, or country. Include open cases that were referred to another state, tribal IV-D program, or foreign country.  Do not include tribal and international cases reported on Line 3.

Line 2 – Cases Open at the end of the Fiscal Year with Support Orders Established

• Report the number of IV-D cases open on the last day of the fiscal year that have support orders established. Cases reported on Line 2 are a subset of and should have been included on Line 1. Include cases with orders entered prior to the case becoming a IV-D case, as well as cases with orders established by the IV-D agency. Include judgments for arrears, regardless of whether there is a payment schedule or an order for ongoing support. Do not include judgments under state laws that create a debt owed to the state by the non-custodial parent for public assistance paid for that parent's child or children (laws of general obligation).

Current Support

Line 24 – Total Amount of Current Support Due for the Fiscal Year

• Report the total amount of current support due for the fiscal year for all IV-D cases. Include total voluntary collections as amounts due. Do not include current amounts due on arrears. Future payments shall also be included, if they are reported on Line 25.

Line 25 – Total Amount of Support Distributed as Current Support During the Fiscal Year

• Report the total amount of support distributed as current support during the fiscal year for all IV-D cases. Voluntary payments are considered current support and shall be reported here, even though there is no order to require payment. If a state recovers costs or fees from a child support collection, the state shall report the total amount of the collection rather than the net amount sent to the family. All other fees, such as tax offset, application, and genetic testing fees, may not be included in the amounts for this line. Interest payments also may not be reported on this line.

Arrears Collections

Line 28 – Cases with Arrears Due During the Fiscal Year

• Report the number of cases with arrears due during the fiscal year. Include cases closed during the fiscal year with arrearages.

Line 29 – Cases Paying Toward Arrears During the Fiscal Year

• Report the number of cases that made at least one payment toward arrears during the fiscal year. Report the total number of IV-D cases in which payments of past-due child support were received during the fiscal year, and part or all of the payments were distributed to the family to which the past-due child support was owed (or, if all past-due child support owed to the family was, at the time of receipt, subject to an assignment to the state, part or all of the payments were retained by the state).

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1There are two choices to calculate the Paternity Establishment Percentage (PEP) – (1) IV-D and (2) Statewide.