 If you don't want the Child Support Enforcement Agency to profit from welfare fraud, join us. |
Marriage Advocates know that the Child Support Enformement Agency (CSEA) receives two percent (2%) of every child support order they handle.
Is the CSEA withholding information about criminal welfare fraud because the CSEA would rather collect their two percent processing fee for forcing child support, rather than report welfare fraud?
Join us! |
Open Letter to Cuyahoga County, Cleveland Ohio
Paul Moser, Training Department
Cuyahoga County Employment & Family Services
1641 Payne Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44114
September 30, 2009
Dear Mr. Moser,
I understand you have responsibility for the training of Cuyahoga Support Enforcement Agency (CSEA) Case Workers. It appears that Case Workers in the agency are collaborating with those who commit welfare fraud (knowingly or unknowingly). The CSEA receives two percent (2%) from every child support order. Is the CSEA withholding information about criminal welfare fraud because the CSEA would rather collect their two percent processing fee for forcing child support, rather than report welfare fraud?
The CSEA is required to issue a child support order for an income-earning parent if the other parent is receiving Ohio works first or Medicaid (OAC 5101:12-45(D)). But the parent who applied for Ohio Works First, Food Stamps or Medicaid may well have committed welfare fraud if she or he is married to the incoming-earning parent.
After a few phone calls to various offices of Employment and Family Services, I learned that it is a common practice for the CSEA to issue child support orders against married, income-earning spouses, in situations where the other spouse is simply choosing to withdraw from marital home and has made any arrangement whatsoever to have a second address besides the marital home. In order to receive Ohio Works First public assistance, the abandoning spouse can omit pertinent financial information - for example, the fact that the income-earning spouse is supplying necessaries including groceries, house payments for the marital home, or payments for auto loan, auto insurance and medical insurance for the spouse and children.
At the administrative hearing for child support, the income-earning family provider would naturally bring these financial facts to the attention of the CSEA Case Worker. One would hope that CSEA Case Workers would have at least a minimal knowledge of the rules regarding eligibility requirements for the Ohio Works First, Food Assistance and Medical Assistance. Case Worker could use facts exhibited by income-earning family provider to notify the administrators of the Ohio Works First Program that there was either an error, or a fraudulent application for public assistance. One choosing to withdraw from their own marital home is not eligible for public assistance for needy families. But the CSEA Case Workers sound like they ignore such financial facts, and instead use the financial information to create a child support order.
You would have an interest in Cuyahoga County Job and Family Services upholding their lawful responsibility to report welfare fraud. Failure to report a crime is a misdemeanor of the fourth degree (ORC 2921.22). If recipients of public assistance fail to notify a county department of recipient's true financial status, this shall be regarded as prima-facie evidence of intent to defraud (ORC 5107.12). Both parents in a marriage are part of the family's "assistance group"(ORC 5107.02).
If an abandoning spouse who chooses to withdraw from the marital home simply submits an application requesting CSEA's assistance in establishing a support order, the Case Worker should know that the CSEA has no authority to issue support order. The CSEA must file a court action to establish a child support order when the parents of the child are still married and a court has not identified a residential parent or custodian (OAC 5101:12-45(E)(2)(e)).
I can appreciate the importance of the Ohio Job and Family Service's task of holding parents accountable to their duty to support their spouse and children. However, wherein there is no fault-based cause for one spouse to abandon the marital life, and the other spouse is not neglecting their duty, it is not reasonable for my fellow tax payers to be burdened by supporting the abandoner, nor is there a lawful basis for a child support order by the CSEA (ORC 3103.03(C)).
Sincerely,
Bai Macfarlane
cc:
Jim Viviani, Director, Cuyahoga Support Enforcement Agency
Joseph Gauntner, Director, County Employment & Family Services
Division of Investigation, Fraud Hotline, Cuyahoga County Employment & Family Services
Jimmy Dimora, Cuyahoga Board of County Commissioners
Office of Research Assessment & Accountability, Ohio Department Job & Family Services
