What NOMADS does

Where does he work?

One of the most time consuming headaches caseworkers have to deal with in managing NOMADS cases is entering the place where the "non-custodial parent" works.

It's vital because many of those parents won't pay voluntarily so court orders are issued requiring their boss to deduct the monthly payment from the "deadbeat's" check.

But the name must be entered from the employers table in the NOMADS system. That list includes every employer registered with the Nevada Employment Security Department - thousands of them.

Problem one: The list is never up to date, so caseworkers frequently must call the state and ask that a new employer be added or that an address be changed.

But the big headache is that the place of employment must be entered by selecting it from that list. The worker can't type in the business name because automatic entry makes the business ID, address and other licensing information show up in a dozen places throughout the program.

So, if it isn't on the list or the address is wrong, the caseworker can't enter it, which means the deadbeat's check can't be garnished for child support.

Problem two: The list displays only the name of the business - no address or other identifying data. So if the parent works for a chain or franchise with multiple locations, the caseworker can't tell which is the right store to select.

They have to highlight each listing, then apply it to the case on the computer screen to see the actual address. If it's the wrong one, the caseworker calls up the employer table again and goes to the next entry on the list.

If the parent works, for example, for 7-Eleven in Las Vegas, that means going through a list of more than 50 stores, one at a time, until the correct address pops up.

"That is a problem," said State welfare's NOMADS chief Gary Stagliano. But he said the state hasn't yet figured out what to do about it. "We're working on it."

It's a serious problem when you consider that some of these people move every time the court order catches up with them.

Where to send the check

The federal list of state and county family support offices around the nation works the same way as the employer table.

It's important because, in most cases, the check doesn't go directly to the parent with the children but to the county family support office handling the case. A large percentage of custodial parents live in another city, county or state - many move to get away from their "ex" - so it's important that the payment is sent to the exact office.

If she lives, for example, in Sacramento, there are more than a dozen of those offices. But, like the employer table, the list doesn't say which office is which. Once again, the worker has to go through them one at a time until the right address pops up.

And then she moves

The final twist is that, when one of those parents moves to another jurisdiction, the office issuing the checks invariably finds out when the most recent check comes back. Obviously, it must be voided and reissued to the new office handling the case so the parent can get the money.

NOMADS doesn't allow that. Caseworkers say county workers have no authority to reissue the check to a different address so they have to ask the state NOMADS office to do it.