The Alabama Child Support Association held its annual training conference October 9-12 in South Alabama. The theme for this year’s conference was “Celebrate Alabama – our people and culture”. A remarkable list of distinguished faculty addressed staff from DHR, District Attorney’s child support offices, and private attorneys.
From cutting edge best practices on early intervention to Alabama’s Location, Enforcement, and Collections System (ALECS) use for District Attorney (DA) staff, workshops and plenary sessions offered an abundance of useful information to all in attendance. In addition to the informative sessions, conference participants were treated to a motivational presentation lead by some of DHR’s Child Support Staff.
Commissioner Page Walley shared words of encouragement and expressed appreciation to all of the Child Support team for their hard work and their success in collecting $294 million in child support this year.
On the final evening of the conference, a “Mardi Gras” banquet was held in honor of this year’s award recipients.
From nominations submitted by their peers, the Alabama Child Support Association presented the following awards in recognition of an extraordinary commitment to the Child Support Program. There are 3 categories based on caseload size for each award.
Supervisor of the Year was awarded in two categories based on county size. The award for Category I was presented to Emily Brooks of Marshall County. The Category III award was presented to Janet Trammell of Jefferson County.
Clerical Worker of the Year award was presented to Lois L. Chapman of Choctaw County.
David Curtis Child Support Worker of the Year award was presented to Sheryl Clark of Winston County.
Gordon Bailey Attorney of the Year award was presented to Joe Cassady, Jr. of Geneva County.
The Program Advocate Award is presented each year to an individual working in or with the Child Support Program who goes above and beyond the call of duty to assist county child support staff in their daily work. The Program Advocate Award was presented to Diane Lindsey of Child Support Accounting.
The Judge of the Year is presented to the most outstanding judge/referee responsible for IV-D cases and was presented to Referee Harry Montgomery of Lawrence County.
The John Hulett Memorial Lifetime Achievement is awarded to a person in any employment category who has made the most outstanding lifetime contribution to Alabama’s Child Support Enforcement Program. This award was presented to Marie M. Garner of Jefferson County.
Margaret Mayfield of Lee County was presented with a plaque as the Alabama Child Support Association President.
Faye Nelson, Director of the Child Support Enforcement Division presented certificates to the counties showing the greatest percentage increase in each of the 5 performance areas. Counties recognized for this achievement for 2007 were:
Paternity Establishment
(Category I) Coosa County 6.10%
(Category II) Autauga County 7.0%
(Category III) Calhoun County 4.61%
Obligation Establishment
(Category I) Franklin County 4.54%
(Category II) Autauga County 3.68%
(Category III) Montgomery County 3.62%
Current Support Collected
(Category I) Washington County 3.82%
(Category II) Marshall County 3.37%
(Category III) Morgan County 3.14%
Cases with Arrears Collection
(Category I) Henry County 6.78%
(Category II) Dekalb County 4.94%
(Category III) Houston County 5.08%
Total Collections
(Category I) Barbour County 13.24%
(Category II) Covington County 7.32%
(Category III) Baldwin County 9.97%
The Child Support Enforcement Division ultimately desires for every county to reach or surpass 90% in both paternity and obligation establishment and to reach or surpass 60% in both current support collections and cases with a collection on arrears.
In 2006, an award was established to recognize six counties who have reached this impressive goal. We are excited to add the following counties to the list of recipients of the Division Directors Award for Superior Overall Performance by a County Child Support Program and declared “Child Support Super Stars”: Colbert, Geneva, Greene, Lamar, Limestone, Marengo.