NCSEA is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 Leadership Awards. These awards were presented at the Leadership Symposium, and recognize outstanding contributions of individuals and/or organizations to the child support program through extraordinary management, leadership, collaboration, and messaging.
Recipients of the NCSEA Leadership Awards reflect and embody the mission and values of NCSEA; enhancing the financial, medical and emotional support parents provide for their children and increasing public awareness of the child support program’s contribution to the best interests of the families and children served. The accomplishments of award winners serve to inspire current and future child support leaders, professionals and program collaborators, further advancing and improving the child support program’s mission and goals.
Outstanding Leadership Award
Wally McClure
IV-D Director
Washington State Division of Child Support
Wally joined the child support program in 1988, and was named IV-D Director in 2011. During his time with the Washington Division of Child Support, he supervised and managed various units and departments, from Policy to IT. In nominating Wally, David Stillman, Assistant Secretary of the Washington State Economic Services Administration, wrote:
“Wally has worked in Child Support for 30 years and led the transformation of Child Support from a regulatory and enforcement environment to a parent and child focus. He has promoted more effective child support enforcement by enlisting his staff, advocates, and stakeholders to create new strategies that go beyond the traditional approaches and focus on creating programs with real results….Wally strengthened the program by sharing his vision that assisting the whole family is the best possible foundation for fulfilling every child’s potential. Wally McClure’s dedication and commitment to the child support system have paved the way for a paradigm shift in how conduct child support enforcement is conducted in Washington State. This change required rethinking cultural beliefs from merely enforcing collections to focusing equally on the well-being of children and families by looking at the needs of the whole family….This change in thinking and acting led Washington to reach a first-ever milestone of collecting 70% of current child support obligations – a milestone that became a reality because Wally took chances, looked at the bigger picture, collaborated with people who could help, and considered multiple points of view to help families and children thrive.”
Emerging Leadership Award
Courtney Morris
Child Support Services Program Manager
Arizona Division of Child Support Services
Courtney is the Regional Program Manager for Specialized Services and Community Initiatives for the State of Arizona. She started in 2001 as an intern and was hired that same year as a caseworker. She has worked in various units, with many years working Intergovernmental Enforcement in particular. Prior to her current role, she was a unit supervisor for one of the Intergovernmental units. Courtney was nominated by Jonell Sullivan of Arizona Child Support Services, who wrote:
“Courtney invested early on in her promotion with each supervisor and discovered opportunities for improvement, and committed herself to intentional mentorship of the supervisors in the areas she serves, because of her knowledge as a child support case manager she has been able to identify barriers and issues and plan for resolution while training supervisors to also problem solve and seek resolution. The results of this hands on leadership are areas that are more effective today than they have been in a long time. I reached out to Courtney’s team and asked if they would like to provide comment assist with this nomination. I thought I was going to get one statement saying she was ok and things were fine, but within minutes I was flooded with compliments for her leadership from her peers and team.”
Collaboration and Innovative Partnership Award
Georgia Parental Accountability Court Program
Georgia Division of Child Support Services
The Parental Accountability Court Program (PAC), began in Georgia in 2009 with two pilot programs. The program now operates in 38 of 49 judicial circuits throughout the state. The program is the result of the Governor’s Council on Criminal Justice Reform and cooperative partnerships between the Georgia Department of Human Services (DHS), Division of Child Support Services (DCSS), multiple judicial circuits and the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC). The PAC seeks to reduce the number of Georgians who are incarcerated for nonpayment of child support by helping parents eliminate barriers to financially supporting their children. Through judicial oversight and intense one-on-one case management, Parental Accountability Courts across the state work to address underlying issues that keep parents from fulfilling their legal child support obligations. PAC Coordinators connect participants to existing community resources.
The program uses community resources and judicial oversight to address barriers that keep parents from meeting their support obligations. Members of the PAC team include the Judge, Special Assistant Attorney General (SAAG) or Assistant District Attorney, PAC Coordinator from the Georgia DHS, DCSS, DCSS local Office Manager, and representative(s) from the Community Service Board.
Since 2012, the PAC program has helped 4,758 noncustodial parents who were at risk of incarceration avoid jail time and provide much needed support to 7,513 of Georgia’s children. Program participants paid an estimated $5.3 million in support, which, in return, has saved the state millions in incarceration costs. According to the report provided by the Research Division of the Judicial Council/Administrative Office of the Courts, demonstrated there was a 79% increase in child support payments when non-custodial parents participate. Additional evidence of success was also cited by success stories from the field, with an increase in education and job training, as well as employment.
Program Awareness Award
Give Your Child the DadVantage
Michigan Office of Child Support
Michigan’s Give Your Child the DadVAntage was designed to raise awareness about the importance of paternity establishment and educate unmarried parents in advance of their child’s birth. The goal was to prepare unmarried parents in the State of Michigan, ages 18 to 49, to establish paternity after the baby is born. A secondary target audience was prenatal care providers, birthing hospitals, WIC and other community health providers.
The outreach campaign involved multi-media outlets including Google AdWords, interactive online Google display, and email. The tagline, Give your child the DadVantage was created, and the agency partnered for the first time with a marketing firm to use new digital marketing tools never before used in the program. The campaign also combined online marketing with materials that were available in doctors’ offices where pregnant women go for services.
Michigan’s paternity establishment numbers increased by 2.23% in the 9 months following the campaign, with the largest — and one of the lowest performing counties — improving by 6%. Additional metrics citing successful efforts in Google Adwords, Interactive Online Display, and emails verified the program’s success.
Kathy Duggan Award
Mary Ann Wellbank
Vice President of Marketing
YoungWilliams
This award is named for the late Kathy Duggan, former Executive Director of NCSEA, and goes to an individual who best typifies the dedication and ideals she brought to our organization.
Mary Ann has been an NCSEA member for more than twenty years, serving in a number of leadership positions for including President, Secretary, CSQ Chair and is currently Co-Chair of the Corporate Partnership Comm. She was honored with an NCSEA honorary life membership in 2008. She is the former IV-D Director of the state of Montana, and a recipient of the OCSE Commissioner’s Award for Distinguished Service. Mary Ann was a member of NCSEA Delegation as Official Observer to the Special Commission on the International Recovery of Child Support in The Hague, Amsterdam. She now serves as Vice President of Marketing for YoungWilliams.
Congratulations to our NCSEA scholarship recipients:
New Leadership Scholarship Recipient:
Ashley Ledbetter
Program Consultant, Louisiana Support Enforcement Services
Judge Ross Scholarship Recipient:
Jennifer Koffman
Contempt Specialist, Crawford County (PA) Domestic Relations Section
