County Welfare, Child Support Collection Office Overpays Foster Parents Thousands - Blames Improper Records - Implications for Non Custodial Parents

Jefferson County, Alabama's welfare and child support collection agency has overpaid more than $410,000 to foster parents who no longer have children, with some overpayments going back eight years.

The Birmingham News reported today that one foster parent has received $20,381 for a child who has not been in state care since 1989. In another case, a foster parent got $1,832 from September through May for a child who had died.

The overpayments by the county Department of Human Resources were revealed in a state review of 524 foster children, In 91 cases, foster parents received too much money.

The county said it has stopped the overpayments, which averaged $4,509 a child. But foster parents who wrongly took money must either repay it or face possible prosecution for fraud, said Mary Lou Kevorkian, the county welfare director.

The state report blamed the overpayments on a lack of communication between county case workers and clerks and a misunderstanding of agency record-keeping. The county stopped making reviews aimed at tracking children in foster care.

Neither the State of Alabama nor the individual county agencies have a policy of refunding overpayments to non custodial parents that overpay their child support. Isn't it ironic that the county agency is ready to charge foster parents with fraud for receiving overpayments, but do not return child support overpayments collected from non custodial parents?

The same agency that cannot keep proper records, concerning foster care, maintains the child support records paid by non custodial parents. How accurate are the child support records? In claims of arrearage cases, that can result in imprisonment for debt, courts will only allow the misinformation and inaccurate records maintained by the individual collection agencies as evidence.

The collection agency is guilty of fraud for collecting too much child support and refusing to refund the overpayment? Fraud charges are not possible, because the crooks and criminals within the agency have immunity from prosecution. So much for being able to bring your grievance before the government for redress. Does anyone remember "redress of grievance" is suppose to be a constitutional right?