
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 27, 1990                   TAG: 9004270378
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SOCIAL SERVICES IMPROVEMENTS AVOID PENALTY

Because of improvements in its child-support program, the Virginia Department of Social Services will avoid losing about $1 million in federal money, state officials said Thursday.

Federal officials had threatened Virginia with the penalty after a 1985 audit showed the state's child-support program was failing in its basic duties.

The state flunked Virginia in four areas - proving fatherhood of children born out of wedlock, establishing child-support obligations, distributing support checks and intercepting unemployment benefits of child-support dodgers.

But now, after a recent follow-up audit, federal welfare officials say Virginia is meeting the requirements in all areas.

Since widespread complaints about the agency boiled to the surface in 1986, the state has done a housecleaning at the agency - reorganizing, adding staff and hiring a new director, Harry Wiggins.

Wiggins and other welfare officials say they still have a long way to go, but they have made big strides in many areas. For instance, the agency proved fatherhood in 8,471 cases in 1989 - better than four times its success rate in 1986.

by CNB