OCSE WASTES FUNDS ON GIVEAWAY ITEMS

According to documents obtained from the Office of Child Support Enforcement, since 2010 OCSE has spent over $30,000.00 for promotional items such as pens, keychain flash lights, clips and plastic goodie bags to be given away mainly at the Arkansas State Fair.

Why does the OCSE need to waste tax funds for promotional items?  Couldn’t these funds be better used applied towards additional positions?  A large number of complaints were recently featured on several Facebook pages of local television stations and featured in on-air newscasts about lack off and extremely poor service by OCSE (see previous posts).

From emails obtained it appears that when DFA Deputy Director Tim Leathers saw all the OCSE swag at the Arkansas State Fair in 2012, he did not recall approving their purchase (DFA procedures require an approval letter from him for such items).  Subsequent emails indicate that the required approval for 2012 purchases was not given prior to the purchase of the items even though this had been an issue in 2011.  Additionally the keychain flashlights were junk and fell apart easily posing a possible choking hazard to children.  Twana Porter, Manager of Communications and Outreach for OCSE,  was so concerned about the cheap quality flashlights she purchased being a possible choking hazard, that she told Sharon Pojar, the purchasing supervisor at the time, she “will not be using them for our outreach activities”.  When Porter was contacted by this blog about what happened to the unusable flashlights, she refused to answer or comment.  The question of what happened to the flashlights that cost $2,275.00 remains unanswered at the time this post was published.

Also in 2012, Pojar asked other OCSE employees “Can we refuse the keylites? We do not fell [sic] they are a save [sic] item to dispense to the public”.  In another email Pojar berated the performance of a subordinate, Chad Bland, who apparently failed to follow established procedure regarding purchase orders which appears to have resulted in errors in orders.

A previous post revealed that the OCSE NPOWR! program spent almost a million dollars and has a failure rate of over 75%. The NPOWR! Program spent close to $5,000.00 for stationary and envelopes alone.  In the real world the NPOWR! Program would have been shut down long ago as the services it purports to offer are already being provided by the Department of Workforce Services and it is a failed program.

How long will the people of Arkansas and their elected officials allow this agency to continue in this manner?  It’s long past time for a change in leadership at the Department of Finance & Administration and the Office of Child Support Enforcement.

2012 Documentation

2013 Documentation

2014 Documentation

OCSE Disbursements

Emails about promotional items - Part 1

Emails about promotional items - Part 2

Emails about promotional items - Part 3

Sharon Pojar email about flashlights

Sharon Pojar email berating Chad Bland

Emails about approval letter for purchases

Twana Porter emails about flashlights

SEARCY OCSE REFUSES TO REVIEW PAYMENT RECORD WITH NON-CUSTODIAL PARENT

On October 30, 2014, Pam Lunsford, Child Support Supervisor I at the Searcy OCSE refused to review child support payment history with a non-custodial parent telling him that a recent judgment obtained by OCSE "makes anything before it invalid".

The judgment obtained by OCSE in fact "validates" the payment history which allowed OCSE to obtain a judgment for alleged missed payments. Lunsford's obsurd utterance is unfortunatley a typical response of an OCSE worker.

When confronted with possible errors made by OCSE, instead of admitting the mistake or trying to resolve the matter professionally, Lunsford refuses to answer a simple question saying "We can't give you an answer you will understand" insinuating the non-custodial is stupid.

Gary Tackett, OCSE Field Manager, looms over non-custodial parent.

Searcy OCSE video link

Lunsford gets our vote for best Grumpy Cat imitation

COMPLAINTS ABOUND ABOUT OCSE IN FACEBOOK POST

Numerous individuals voiced complaints in a post made on the Facebook page of the CBS Little Rock affilate KTHV today.

Last month the ABC Little Rock affiliate KATV ran stories and had several Facebook posts regarding complaints about the Arkansas Office of Child Support Enforcement.

Hopefully, the newly elected Governor will clean house at the OCSE to ensure that the agency is rid of its incompetent leadership and ineffective, wasteful programs.

KTHV Facebook page

UPDATE TO JULY 31, 2014 POST

An email chain between Dan McDonald and his DFA bosses reveals that McDonald and others liked the photo of McDonald bearing it all used on a flyer promoting this blog.

Click to view document

OCSE DIRECTOR MAKES OUTRAGEOUS STATEMENTS

In a video produced for the questionable NPOWR! program, OCSE Director Dan McDonald claims that single parent homes are causing children to live in poverty and that noncustodial parents that are unemployed and cannot make child support payments are not deadbeat parents, but deadbroke parents because they are uneducated and emotionally broke. Perhaps "Deacon" McDonald needs to step down as Director and step behind the pulpit.

Click to watch the OCSE video

OCSE WASTES FUNDS ON INEFFECTIVE PROGRAM

The Office of Child Support Enforcement’s NPOWR! Program has cost taxpayers almost a million dollars, mostly in employee salaries, since 2008.  The 90 day program has a failure rate of over 75% but OCSE still wastes taxpayer’s money in a failed duplicative program.  According to OCSE the NPOWR! Program is “a partnership with the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) that offers noncustodial parents employments placement and readiness services”.

In fact the NPOWR! Program is nothing more than a boondoggle and a gross waste of state employee salaries that could be used to fund other needed positions.  If a noncustodial parent received unemployment benefits prior to being “accepted” into the NPOWR! Program, they have already used the exact same DWS services that the NPOWR! Program utilizes.  The only benefit for the noncustodial parent is that the OCSE defers punitive options such as driver’s license suspension, for the 90 day period, but OCSE could do that without the NPOWR! Program if they so desired.

This is another reason Dan McDonald should be fired and perhaps  Richard Weiss, the Director of the Department of Finance & Administration, and Tim Leathers, the Deputy Director, should be removed for allowing this terrible waste of taxpayer funds to exist in their agency.

Watch the Video Production that cost you $10,000.00

OCSE NPOWR! employees and salaries

Examples of OCSE wasteful spending

NPOWR! Monthly Reports

NPOWR! expenses

THOUSANDS AIR COMPLAINTS ABOUT OCSE

Little Rock television station KATV aired stories on October 30, 2014 and October 31, 2014 in which thousands of Arkansans detailed complaints about the Arkansas Office of Child Support Enforcement.

The majority of complaints concererned caseworkers and the apparent lack of training, nonexistant interpersonal skills and extremely poor customer service. Many called for OCSE Director Dan McDonald to be fired.

There is pressure from the Federal government for state child support agencies to take on visitation issues.  There are merits to this movement as the child support agency is looking out for the interest of the children, not the parents.  The Arkansas Office of Child Support Enforcement needs new leadership to fix the current problems with the agency and prepare to meet the challenges of the future.

KATV Facebook Post

http://www.katv.com/story/27171555/child-support-six-parents-six-ideas

http://www.katv.com/story/27164525/child-support

KATV / OCSE Emails