Attorney General Denise George. (Photo of the government house 2019)

The combination of the pandemicA lack of staff and an outdated database have led to this a number of lagging cases within the Department of Paternity and Child Benefit to prevent custody parents and their children from receiving their judicial assistance.

But that backlog will be fixed, Attorney General Denise George told lawmakers on Monday.

During a meeting of the Senate Homeland Security, Justice and Public Security Committee Monday, Senator Alma Francis Heyliger said her office had been inundated with frustrated mothers and guardians who are unable to support children.

“This is an ongoing conversation,” said Heyliger. “I literally had a mother with three daughters about a week ago and she’s been trying to get money from her father for the past few years. Apparently every time he works and people know where he works, she goes and reports the information to the agency, but she doesn’t get traction. And these stories are endless in our church. “

Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George said the department is aware of the community’s complaints and has been working to resolve the issue since she was appointed attorney general.

“When I got on board from the start … the paternity and child support department was severely understaffed.” Said George. “What we are doing to address the situation is that we have reorganized and looked for funding. Right now we are in a place where the 33rd legislature has been able to provide certain funding and we have used that funding to build the necessary human resources that we need. ”

The 33rd legislature allocated $ 680,000 to recruit the necessary staff within the division.

“Up until a month ago we only had one investigator in the paternity and child support division,” said George, but another four have been hired and “they will start investigating the arrears immediately.”

The department has also hired case workers, case administrators and account managers, 15 in total, to help with cases, George said. And all of these employees were hired “with the intention of correcting the backlog and the shortage. All of these cases will finally be able to effectively get the attention they need, and we will be able to enforce and collect them effectively, which I fully believe the children of the Virgin Islands and their families fully to earn. “

The department is also in the process of re-platforming the Territorial Automated Reporting System for childcare. George said, “This will greatly increase the efficiency, accuracy and timely processing of cases, and allow him to achieve his ultimate goal of providing his clients with real-time access to their cases using more innovative technology such as a computer application or portal to gain access . “

Although the division faced several challenges, because the division was able to recruit special agents for both St. Thomas and St. Croix, George said, “We have begun aggressively collecting all outstanding arrears, including redistributing those that have not been distributed Medium. ”

The division has raised over $ 3.3 million so far this year between the many cases the division handles – 4,752 in the St. Croix District and 3,676 in the St. Thomas / St. John District.

Although the issue has not been fully resolved and the department will require additional staff, George said the steps taken so far “bring us closer to clearing the residue and see a substantial improvement in providing the improved services to the children and families of VI” .

Sens. Steven Payne Sr., Novella Francis Jr., Dwayne DeGraff, Kenneth Gittens, Alma Francis Heyliger, and Franklin Johnson attended the hearing. Senator Javan James Sr. was absent.