Deadbeat parents will have a harder time avoiding paying child support once the V.I. Justice Department installs a new computer system in its Paternity and Child Support Division.
After five years of frustration with a non-functional automated child support enforcement system, which almost caused the territory to lose critical public assistance funding, the Paternity and Child Support Division is set to bring a state-of-the-art tracking and collection system on line, according to V.I. Attorney General Iver Stridiron.
The initial system, Stridiron said, was installed in 1995 and consistently failed to meet the requirements for federal certification. When Gov. Charles Turnbull took office in early 1999, he was immediately confronted with Paternity and Child Support’s dilemma. The Virgin Islands received notification from the federal Department of Health and Human Services that if it did not begin to meet requirements of the Family Support Act, federal funding would dry up.
"Disapproval of the state plan would have resulted in the cessation of all federal child support funding, as well as the Temporary Aid to Needy Families program," Turnbull said.
Last June, the Paternity and Child Support Division issued requests for proposals to replace the old system and in August awarded a contract to CONVANSYS. Stridiron said the new system will support the establishment of legal obligations for absent parents to pay child support and monitors payments of the obligations.
The system will also help the Justice Department and other state child support agencies identify and locate absent parents not only in the Virgin Islands but across the country.
Turnbull and Stridiron said they are confident that the new system will be fully implemented and certified by the federal government later this year.
Stridiron said the system being designed for the territory by CONVANSYS is similar to one used in Hawaii.
"CONVANSYS will take the Hawaiian system and tailor it to the Virgin Islands’ statuary scheme," he said. "This process began in early January 2001 and has resulted in a very detailed analysis documenting all necessary changes."