Tribes seek state tools for child support

By Clifton Adcock
Tulsa World, Okla.
(MCT)

When the father of Vera LeClair's 8-year-old son told the Ponca Nation tribal court judge that he would be getting money back from his federal income tax return and would use it to pay back child support, LeClair believed that money would be coming soon.

A few months later, she found out that he had gotten the check, cashed it and spent the money.

''He shouldn't even have gotten that money," LeClair said. "They keep telling him the same thing. You have to pay her this much and every time we go back to court, but he never brought a payment. They didn't even try to garnishee his income tax check."

What LeClair didn't know was that she would be one of many who has gotten caught in part of the legal limbo that exists between the state and the tribes in child support enforcement.

Currently, the eight tribes that have child support programs are in negotiations on contracts that would allow the state to perform intercepts of IRS and state tax refunds for noncustodial parents who owe child support money. Under federal law, only states can make tax refund intercepts.

Though some tribes do have memorandums of understanding with the state allowing them to work together to obtain tax refund intercepts, not all tribes have such agreements, including the Ponca Nation, tribal child support officials say.

''It's an enforcement tool and it's real important," said Deborah Yates, director of the Comanche Nation's child support program and president of the National Tribal Child Support Association.

''Unfortunately, a lot of the noncustodial parents only pay with their income tax return, and in their mind, that's how they pay their child support. That's an enforcement tool we don't have access to."

Mixed access

Another issue being negotiated are the tribes' access to state information, several tribal child support officials said. Again, none of the tribes have formal agreements with the state, but five tribes -- the Chickasaws, Cherokees, Kaws, Modocs and Osages -- have memorandums of understanding allowing them access to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services' computer system to locate custodial and noncustodial parents. Two others, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Ponca Nation, have view-only access to the data, and one, the Comanche Nation, has no access to the system, Yates said.

The lack of a legally binding contract on both income tax return intercepts and data access may mean that the state as well as the tribes are out of compliance with federal regulations governing tribal child support programs, Yates said.

''They basically are logged onto the state system almost like a state office, and they are able to do that although there is no agreement in place, and it's starting to get a little sticky," Yates said. "It's like if you rent from someone but there's really not a signed lease agreement, then it's risky for the landlord and tenant, and that's the kind of situation the tribes are in."

The federal child support enforcement commissioner is aware of the situation in Oklahoma and is allowing the state and tribes to work through the issue, so the program's funding is probably not in jeopardy, Yates said.

The tribal child support programs are authorized under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

''Even though the federal government has allowed for tribes to operate a child support program, the playing field is not completely level," said Greg Kidder, director of the Osage Nation child support program. "The states have the access, they have access to Social Security information, and right now tribes are shut out on that. It's nothing on the tribe's end, it's that we don't have that component through legislation that allows access to Social Security information."

Resolution sought

Most of the tribes involved in the matter say they hope it is resolved soon.

''At this time, the Cherokee Nation Office of Child Support Enforcement and the State of Oklahoma continue to work together toward a final agreement," said Angel Smith, director of Cherokee Nation's child support program. "CNOCSE remains pleased with the benefit to all clients produced by the strong working relationship of the state, tribal and federal offices."

The state, too, is hoping for a quick resolution.

''We in the state child support program in Oklahoma applaud the efforts of our tribal partners to further the resources available to families," said Gary Dart, division director for Oklahoma Child Support Services. "If we can form a web of partnerships throughout our state, families can hope to see a seamless network of professionals working together to ensure reliable support for our children no matter where they live."

The IRS is working to come up with a legislative fix to the situation, though that fix would likely require Congress to amend the tax code, Yates said.

''Because of jurisdictional boundaries, they couldn't serve parties to a child support case if they were on Indian land," Yates said. "It was difficult to impossible because of jurisdiction. That's why tribal child support is a critical player in all of this because we know who our citizens are, we know how to locate them, we can go on Indian land. It should be a dream partnership, and it can be, and I believe it will be. We just have to iron out some of the wrinkles."

Tribes have advantages to enforce child support

Although the income tax intercepts of parents who owe child support may be up in the air for tribes at the moment, tribal child support programs do offer some things that the state cannot, such as in-kind payment methods, said Anna Primeaux, Ponca Nation child support director.

''A lot of our Native people, there's different things they can do that have monetary value," Primeaux said. "For instance, maybe Joe can't get a job, maybe there are things that are stopping him from working, but he might be able to work on the (custodial parent's) car and get her car running to get her to work. We can establish a monetary value on him working on that car. We can get a dollar amount and deduct that off his support with the custodial parent's consent. The state doesn't do that."

In addition, tribal child support programs offer a more personal element to the process, and employees are mostly American Indian, and can relate to American Indian family issues better, said Marcy Moore, director of Creek Nation's child support program.

''I think we're more customer friendly, I think we have closer dealings with the applicants and their issues," Moore said. "We don't have the same caseload as the state does so that we can spend more time on each case. We're available. You can call our office at any time and talk to somebody."

Both Moore and Primeaux said they hope the law is changed to allow tribes the same tools as state programs.