Milwaukee County DHHS seeks new child support staff, cites federal match and outreach expansion

The Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services on April 8 asked the County Personnel Committee to authorize creation of several child support positions and to abolish two existing assistant positions, citing growing caseloads, expanded community outreach and a federal reimbursement match that covers most program costs.

A DHHS child support representative told the committee the department requested creation of 1.0 FTE legal counsel (child support), 1.0 FTE clerical assistant and 4.0 FTE child support specialists while abolishing 2.0 FTE child support assistant positions. The committee recommended the items for adoption on separate motions, each approved 5-0.

The request is tied to several program changes and outreach efforts, the presenter said. DHHS described the office’s work as a Title IV-D child support program that establishes paternity, obtains support orders and enforces those orders; enforcement commonly uses wage assignment, liens, federal tax intercept and other tools. The presenter said the office is performance funded and receives a 66% federal match on qualifying child-support costs, which the department said is central to its budget assumptions.

Nut graf: The personnel requests are meant to reduce caseworker workloads, expand community-based service options and support increased court and outreach activity. Committee members pressed for details about enforcement, funding risk and how the new positions would change service delivery.

DHHS said the legal division includes about 22 full-time staff and 13 attorneys who appear in court; the department described recent increases in attorney court time that limit attorneys’ ability to develop case facts, prompting the legal-counsel request. The presenter described new and ongoing projects that require additional staff: a prison project to help incarcerated parents address child-support obligations, a federal "FIRE" family-focused grant for relationship and economic-stability programs, a King Center satellite office and planned satellite service points at W-2 offices and libraries to meet participants locally.

On caseloads, the presenter said the department supports thousands of IV-D cases and is seeking to reduce the average caseload per full-time employee (FTE) toward a stated target of roughly 8,083 cases per FTE. The presenter also said the financial unit runs all county child-support orders through the central case database and that the department seeks four additional child-support specialists for post-judgment case management.

Supervisors asked several operational questions during the presentation. Supervisor Wasserman pressed for clarity on terms and enforcement practices; the DHHS representative said the office does not use pejorative labels and distinguishes between inability to pay and unwillingness to pay. The presenter said the office held 2,573 contempt hearings the previous year, and that actual jail commitments for nonpayment are rare and used only after other sanctions and remedies are exhausted.

Several supervisors raised concern about funding stability. The presenter said the department’s budget relies on a state General Purpose Revenue allocation plus the federal 66% match; if that federal match were removed, the presenter said the child-support program and many positions statewide would face major shortfalls. The presenter said the county had received additional state funds two years earlier and had planned the current staffing additions with that state funding and the expected federal match.

The committee recorded the following formal actions: on the motion by Supervisor Martin, item number 2 (personnel changes described above, file 225202) was recommended for adoption, 5 ayes, 0 nos; on the motion by Supervisor Johnson Jr., item number 3 (a related DHHS personnel file, file 25-276) was also recommended for adoption, 5 ayes, 0 nos.

Ending: DHHS told the committee it will continue to expand community access points and will provide follow-up information about implementation. Committee members said they will monitor the program’s funding assumptions and asked that the department notify the board if federal reimbursement levels change.