Compliance rates at some Program area offices were better than at other offices. We found the offices with lower caseloads per worker generally had better compliance rates. Caseloads also decreased during fiscal year 1998, which may have contributed to improvements in compliance. In addition, absent parents were located more often when efforts to locate them were timely.

• Program staff used appropriate resources to locate absent parents within 75 days for 69% of cases approved for first-time cash assistance that we tested. We examined 150 cases to determine if Program staff used 14 different locate resources and found 5 of the resources were seldom used. (page 8)

 
• Program staff did not follow procedures requiring requests for information from other states on absent parents residing outside Nevada in 42% (26 of 62) of applicable cases. Nevada's policy requires staff to initiate certain procedures within 20 days of a case being opened if the caseworker has information indicating an absent parent resides in another state. (page 10)

• Absent parents were located 67% of the time when information indicated they resided out of state and certain Program procedures to locate them were performed timely. Absent parents were located only 47% of the time when those procedures were not followed. (page 10)

• Program staff did not document timely requests to the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement for help in locating absent parents for 16 of 27 cases tested where the custodial parent indicated the absent parent lived in Nevada. The state's procedures require staff to initiate such a request within 35 days if the custodial parent indicates the absent parent lives in Nevada and the parent has not been located using local locate resources. (page 11)

 
• Initial management of child support cases improved significantly between the two time periods we reviewed. The cases in our sample averaged 17.5 days from approval of cash assistance to case opening. However, the Program reduced the average number of days from 25.7 to 9.3 from cases initiated before October 1997 to cases initiated after October 1997. (page 12)

 
• The Reno office's caseload averaged about 30% lower than the Las Vegas office's caseload during the 2-year period reviewed. The statewide caseload was almost 10% lower in March 1998 than in September 1996. Only the Elko office experienced a net increase in caseload during these two years. (page 15)

Recommendation
    Number                                                                                                                   Accepted         Rejected

1     Communicate to staff the importance of requesting
        State Parent Locator Service checks and
        Federal Parent Locator Service checks within
        time frames required by the Support Enforcement
        Manual...................................................................                                                     X

2     Analyze allocation of existing staff to determine if
        improvements in the timeliness of locate actions
        can be achieved....................................................                                                     X
 

                                                                                            TOTALS                                 2                         0