Child support in Broward County and throughout the state of Florida has fallen behind due to a new $5,000,000.00 computer system that is behind schedule.
One of the more important problems deals with automation. Receiving information from computer systems of other state agencies was not fully automated to handle unemployment and other benefits that are deducted from support payments. The child-support computer system cannot always determine how much should be deducted, so those support payments get stalled indefinitely, adding to the $28 million in undistributed payments.
Another problem with the current system is security. More than 50 former Department of Revenue employees could access the system for up to several months after they were no longer employed. Changes were in place to fix the security problems
Address changes are also a big problem in the state of Florida. The system is designed to automate address changes, so the department has difficulty accepting them over the phone from parents. State auditors have criticized the department for accepting address changes only from official sources, such as the Postal Service, and not from parents.
Last but not least, technology has created a big problem for our state. Switching to a new computer system contributed to the inability to distribute money to support-receiving parents. Florida is sitting on $28 million in child support payments because it says it can not find the parents who are owed the money. Missing information and inaccurate addresses are also to blame.