By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

IN FISCAL year 2005, Guam ranked 48th among 54 states and territories in terms of collecting child support payments in arrears, the Office of the Public Auditor reported.
Of Guam’s 5,873 cases with arrearages, only 2,956 were making payments toward the total support owed, OPA said.
The Attorney General’s Office reported total arrearages of $94.8 million in FY 2005, but OPA found in its latest child support audit that the total support amount due and the number of cases reported were not accurate.
Of 15 cases totaling $3 million from the September 2006 arrearage listing, OPA noted the following:
• Undistributed collections are support payments made by non-custodial parents, but not distributed due to the inability to locate recipients;
• The $6.5 million is comprised of $5 million in undistributed collections and $1.5 million in unclaimed checks. Unclaimed checks are those issued by the AGO, but deemed undeliverable or remain un-cashed and returned to the government of Guam and listed as still outstanding per the bank statements as of the end of a fiscal year;
• Twelve cases in the AGO’s Absent Parent Automated System Information, or APASI, had arrearage balances differing from those in the detail listing, a variance of $1.3 million; and
• Interest charges were not being applied to all cases in arrears.
According to the Administration for Children and Families’ Web site, the national average of full-time employees to caseload is one to 266.5. But in September 2005, the AGO averaged 292 cases per full-time employee or 10 percent more than the national average.
In addition, OPA noted no supporting documentation for welfare reimbursement checks. The AGO issued 36 checks totaling $3 million as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, reimbursement but could not provide supporting documentation to justify the amount.
The AGO relies on the APASI to calculate monthly TANF reimbursements, but the public auditor found that the APASI was not capable of providing such supporting detail report.
Thus, OPA was unable to quantify the amounts owed by non-custodial parents to reimburse the federal government for TANF and verify the accuracy of the monthly payments to offset TANF support to custodial parents.
Furthermore, OPA said disbursement of child support collection information was not timely transmitted.
During the period covered by OPA’s review, the Department of Administration was unable to reconcile monthly child support bank statements to the child support cash and liability accounts because check disbursement information from the AGO was not timely.