Hurricanes, flooding, wildfires, mudslides, tornadoes, blizzards, and even a polar vortex have all occurred within the past year, destroying homes, businesses, and lives; and impacting power, connectivity, mail delivery, and other services for a significant time. In this issue we spotlight the U.S. Virgin Islands Paternity and Child Support Division’s experience dealing with hurricanes Irma and Maria. Even if your program isn’t located on the coast, a flood plain, or tornado alley, I encourage you to assess how well prepared your agency is to handle any incident that could severely impact operations. The Ready.Gov website has information to help you prepare for many types of emergencies.
Within the Administration for Children and Families, there are 13 program offices, and OCSE is one of only five that have mission essential functions. We are working with ACF’s Office of Human Services, Emergency Preparedness, and Response (OHSEPR) to ensure that ACF’s and our Continuity of Operations Plans are accurate. We will test the plans later this year during an HHS exercise. In regular meetings with OHSEPR, we are reviewing lessons learned from previous emergency events, some of which may help inform your assessment.
Preparedness
Communication is essential when services are impacted by an emergency. The telephone tree is no longer going to cut it. You need an emergency notification app that all employees, leaderships, and administrators have downloaded. Child support staff are among the most dedicated professionals, and they will try to get to work, despite possible dangers, unless notified otherwise.
Customer notification is also critical. The demand for services increases proportionally to the severity of the disaster. You must be able to reassure customers, including employers and other partners, that child support services will continue or, if they won’t, provide realistic expectations regarding the delays they will experience. At the very least, update your website and customer service number immediately. An emergency notification app that customers can download is also a consideration. Local news media is always an option, although subject to power outage.
Response
Continuity of operations is the desired response to a disaster. To ensure continued service delivery when an emergency event disrupts normal activities, consider the technology updates you can make now. Electronic document imaging and cloud storage can eliminate the volume of paper files. Debit cards and direct deposit can eliminate those remaining paper checks. If your offices or buildings do not yet have wireless connectivity, I strongly encourage you to make that investment. While it won’t be an absolute guarantee of redundancy during an emergency, it will increase the likelihood. When combined with a virtual private network, alternative work locations also become an option for continuity of operations. For our part, we keep the Federal Parent Locator Service running no matter what happens. And funding is available and allowable for these preparations as part of your normal operating budget.
Parents who need our services will also be in need of many other services during a disaster. Your response plan can include providing information and resources for parents to access other services. Consider reviewing the resource lists you have today to ensure they include the Federal Emergency Management Agency , American Red Cross , and other emergency response services in your community. The Disaster Distress Helpline , operated by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, is available 24/7 with trained crisis counselors at 1-800-985-5990 or by texting TalkWithUs to 66746.
Recovery
When we see the structural impacts caused by a disaster event, the tangible, physical need to rebuild is obvious. Less visible are the range of losses experienced by families, and even by staff. Those collateral consequences for parents in your caseload can include lost jobs, housing, transportation, child care, or health insurance; and missed payments, arrears accrual, and disrupted parenting time arrangements.
Recovery for them may be solely focused on quickly securing a new source of income. Consider compiling a list of the industries — construction, health care, home repair — that flourish following an emergency event. Go the next step and reach out to those specific companies in your community to make them aware that parents who owe child support may be good temporary hires if there is ever a need. Review your arrears management policies at the same time. Consider the option to delay repayment of arrears for a few months after finding a new job to allow more disposable income for personal disaster recovery, such as car repairs or new housing.
If your agency has weathered a storm, please consider sharing your experience with others by submitting an article to the Child Support Report editor or convening several colleagues for a conference panel. The child support program’s contributions to the economic and emotional well-being of families are more important than ever during a time of crisis.
This blog gives the commissioner a forum to communicate directly with child support professionals and other stakeholders about relevant topics. The Commissioner’s Voice is reprinted from the February 2019 Child Support Report newsletter (PDF).