PA Dwight Scroggins
Buchanan County is one of only four jurisdictions in Missouri that handle child-support matters from start to finish.
“We’re still nearly unique in the way we approach it,” Mr Scroggins said. “The primary thing is we are a Level-A office, which means we do pretty much everything, from the time that we open the case and establish who the biological parents are, who is responsible for the support of the child, until that child is emanicipated.
“That case pretty much stays in our office and we pretty much do everything and anything that needs to be done on that case.”
“There are only three other offices in the state that are Level-A. Most of the others are Level-B or Level-C, and basically a lot of what we do gets done by a state office. When they need a specific function done, they send it out to a prosecutor’s office in that particular county.”
Mr Scroggins says his office is able to collect on about 57% of the cases that go into arrears and require criminal court proceedings. That compares to the statewide average of about 47%. Scroggins says their caseload stays fairly steady, with more than 5,000 cases open each year. About 600 of those each year wind up in criminal court.
Federal and state audits show the Buchanan County child-support unit achieving 100% ratings on four of the six categories investigated. Buchanan County achieved 90% ratings on the other two categories. A 70% rating is described as passing.
Mr Scroggins says increased collection totals are a direct reflection of an improving economy.
“Our collections go up when people have a full-time job, and they can do a wage assignment to allow their child support to be taken directly from their paychecks,” he said.
“We had a very healthy increase in the amount of money collected last year, and that is directly related to more people being employed, and more people starting to have longterm, permanent employment, versus moving around, catching odd jobs, and working two or three or four part-time jobs trying to make ends meet.”