Wednesday, September 17, 1997 Governor Secretary |
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The new statewide, computerized child support collection system is working for the children of Wisconsin.
After 10 months of statewide operation (through July 31), the Kids Information Data System (KIDS), has collected $84 million more than at the same time last year. Over a full year, that projects to an additional $100 million - a 15 percent increase over the $703,000,000 collected last year.
"The KIDS child support collection system is doing what it was intended to do - help parents meet their obligations so their children are not forced into poverty," said Linda Stewart, secretary of the Department of Workforce Development, which oversees the system in cooperation with county agencies.
Stewart also announced that the automated computer collection system will be taken off-line Oct. 1 and Oct. 2 so that new collection capabilities for W-2 clients can be added. This one-time upgrade will result in some child support payments being delayed for up to three days. The patience of affected families is appreciated.
The federally mandated KIDS system sends out uniform monthly billing statements, very much like a credit card company, to 230,000 parents who have court orders to pay child support. The statewide system also makes it easier to coordinate payments to children in one county from a parent in another county - or state.