THE URBAN INSTITUTE
2100 M STREET, NW / WASHINGTON DC 20037
USING THE INTERNET TO PROVIDE
ETHNIC AND CULTURALLY DIVERSE POPULATIONS
WITH HIGH-QUALITY CHILD SUPPORT INFORMATION:
THE CASE OF THE BEEHIVE
Laudan Aron
Rosa Maria Castañeda
Robin Koralek
The Urban Institute
With
The One Economy Corporation
FEBRUARY 2006
This report was prepared for the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), Administration for
Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Special Improvement
Project (SIP) Grant No. 90F10061/01. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be
attributed to OCSE, the One Economy Corporation, the Urban Institute, or their trustees or funders.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to thank Frank Farjardo, our Project Officer at OCSE, for his careful
guidance and support throughout this project; Katherine Lotspeich, Outreach Specialist, Office
of Citizenship, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (formerly with the Urban Institute) for
her work on the early stages of this project; and Elaine Sorensen of the Urban Institute for her
helpful review and comments.
We are also grateful to the focus group participants and other community partners in
Washington, DC and Portland, Oregon for their important contributions to the success of this
project.
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USING THE INTERNET TO PROVIDE ETHNIC AND CULTURALLY DIVERSE POPULATIONS
WITH HIGH-QUALITY CHILD SUPPORT INFORMATION:
THE CASE OF THE BEEHIVE
At the heart of the nation’s child support enforcement system are children and families.
In its
2005-2009 Strategic Plan, the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) explains that
“child support is no longer primarily a welfare reimbursement, revenue-producing device for the
Federal and State governments; it is a family-first program, intended to ensure families’ selfsufficiency by making child support a more reliable source of income” (U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services 2005, p.1, emphasis added). Among OCSE’s guiding principles are
that child support services are most effective when cultural differences are respected, and child
support enforcement programs have an obligation to provide public education and outreach to all
families in need. Specific strategies OCSE has identified include customizing their approach to
service delivery by, for example, “deliver(ing) culturally-appropriate services to clients who are
tribal members or members of minority groups, … address(ing) perceived obstacles to payment,
including access to children, matters of procedural justice, and affordability of orders, and …
“develop(ing) targeted, specific initiatives to deal with special populations” (U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services 2005).
Consistent with these goals, the Urban Institute partnered with the One Economy Corporation in
applying for a special improvement project (SIP) grant from OCSE to develop high-quality
online child support information specifically developed for families in low-income and ethnic
and culturally diverse communities. This grant was awarded and used to prepare three sets of
bilingual web pages (one national and two local) that are now available to millions of Americans
across the country, and can also be used as models for other local and national sites (see next
pages for “screen shots”). The main “products” of this grant are the new child support web
pages, which can be viewed live at www.thebeehive.org (see Appendices A & B for screen
shots). This report provides the history and background for this project, describes the work
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completed under the SIP grant, presents interesting findings not apparent on the website itself,
and discusses lessons learned for similar future efforts.
I. BACKGROUND
The need for accurate, high-quality Internet-based information is becoming increasingly clear.
Demographic trends in the United States, along with ever evolving technological changes are
fuelling the need for relevant, accessible Internet content for groups that have been traditionally
disenfranchised or otherwise disconnected from the social and economic mainstream. Child
support is no exception. Record high immigration throughout the 1990s has resulted in the
largest immigrant population in U.S. history—an estimated 34.5 million immigrants in 2002.
Urban Institute research has found that one out of every five children in the U.S. is the child of
an immigrant and 93 percent of these children are born in the U.S., which makes them U.S.
citizens (Capps et al. 2005). These broad demographic shifts have clear implications for the
child support eligible population: almost one in every ten Hispanic/Latino adults is a custodial
parent and nearly 60 percent of Hispanic/Latino custodial parents are foreign-born. The number
of Asian custodial parents is projected to increase by over 80 percent before 2009 (Johnson and
O’Brien-Strain 2000).
This growth in ethnic and culturally diverse populations is coupled with dispersal trends to “new
destination” areas rather than the traditional immigrant receiving states of California, Florida,
Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas (Capps et al. 2002). These new settlement patterns
mean that providing services to diverse populations has become a new concern for some states
—including state child support enforcement, or “IV-D,” agencies—that do not have extensive
experience working with ethnic and culturally diverse communities. Qualitative studies
supported by OCSE in the late 1990s revealed a number of information and service delivery gaps
among custodial parents in key Hispanic/Latino communities. Among the areas in need of
improvement are: basic information about enforcement laws and provisions, better access to
OCSE services, Spanish language materials, and information assuring applicants that cooperating
with the child support enforcement program will not affect their immigration status (U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services 2000).
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Along with these changes in the demographic profile of child support eligible families, Internet
use among low-income Americans, immigrants, and other culturally diverse communities is
growing. An estimated 68.1 percent of Americans use the Internet (Fallows 2005), and some
research suggests that the fastest growing group of Internet users is low-income single-mother
households (a 29 percent increase between 1998-2001, Richer 2003), a group of clear interest to
OCSE and others in the child support community. Over the past four years, the number of
Americans with annual family incomes of less than $25,000 using the Internet more than
doubled from 7.8 million to 16.7 million (Children’s Partnership 2002). Of households with
annual incomes below $15,000, 61 percent of those who access the Internet do so at home, 21
percent do so at another person’s home, and 17 percent do so at work (Madden 2003). Other
low-income Internet users access the Internet at libraries, community centers, and schools.
Hispanic/Latino use of the Internet is also on the rise. The One Economy Corporation reports
that the number of Hispanic/Latinos using the Internet is growing at a faster rate (26 percent)
than that of whites (19 percent) or Asians (21 percent).
The proliferation of Internet use among single-mother households and minorities suggests that
current or potential users of child support enforcement services may access web-based resources
about child support. Already, more than 60 percent of Internet users in the U.S. go to at least one
federal site each year to find out about programs and services (Barr 2003). Of these, about one
million visitors per month visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
pages for information about programs and instructions on how to access services (Barr 2003).
Many also visit state-level government websites for information on resources in their
communities. Providing information that is locally relevant, accessible, and readable to this new
population remains a serious challenge. In one study by the Children’s Partnership, these issues
were named the “new frontier of the digital divide” (Children’s Partnership 2002).
The need for accessible, reliable bilingual information is great. More than half (51 percent) of
the U.S. foreign-born population has limited English proficiency and 61 percent of limited
English speakers speak Spanish. Service delivery to limited English speakers poses a challenge
to IV-D caseworkers, and OCSE has identified language access issues as a barrier to
7
participation among Hispanic/Latino families. Previous research conducted by the Urban
Institute has identified a lack of foreign-language materials as a major barrier to accessing public
benefits generally (Holcomb et al. 2003), and the One Economy Corporation estimates that 87
percent of the material on the Internet is written in English.
The development of high-quality, bilingual child support information that is designed to be
accessible to low-income and LEP Americans, and other individuals from ethnic and culturally
diverse groups will fill an important gap on the Internet. As the Children’s Partnership recently
observed:
As the number of low-income Internet users continues to rise, so does the urgency to find
and create content and tools that meet their needs. Millions of hard-working people are
looking online for educational, employment, and other resources to better their own lives
as well as those of their families and communities. What they find online will determine
whether the digital ladder of opportunity extends to all Americans, or further
disadvantages those already left out. (Children’s Partnership 2003, p. 9)
The sections that follow describe the steps as part of this project, the final products, and some
lessons learned for the field.
II. PURPOSE & METHODS
The goals of this project— to develop high-quality online child support information for
ethnically and culturally diverse populations—required both substantive expertise on child
support issues, the IV-D program, and immigrant and other culturally diverse communities, as
well as technical expertise with website design and online content development (especially for
ethnically and culturally diverse communities). Through their partnership, the Urban Institute
and One Economy Corporation brought expertise in all of these areas to this project.
The Urban Institute’s role in this partnership was to examine existing research on the
opportunities and barriers that ethnic and culturally diverse populations face in the nation’s child
support enforcement program, use this research to identify existing accurate, high-quality
information (supplementing this information where needed), conduct focus groups and key
informant interviews in the two communities for which local Beehive child support pages would
8
be developed (Washington, DC and Portland, Oregon), and solicit information and feedback
about this overall task from the broader child support community. The Urban Institute is known
nationally for its objective and nonpartisan research and educational outreach on social,
economic, and governance problems facing the nation, and is well known for its work on child
support policy, economic support of low-income families, and immigration studies.
The Urban Institute’s partner, the One Economy Corporation, is a national nonprofit with a
mission of bringing access to technology to low-income Americans. One Economy was
responsible for the production, translation, and posting of the child support content developed as
part of this project (both national and customized for two local communities), and will maintain
these pages in the future. The child support content has been incorporated into One Economy’s
user-friendly, bilingual website, “The Beehive” (www.thebeehive.org). Given that about 45
million Americans are currently isolated from resources that can connect them to the social and
economic mainstream, One Economy uses the Beehive website to help end economic isolation,
build assets, and raise the standard of living of millions of lower-income Americans across the
country (see the following page for a screen shot of the Beehive’s “Family” section). The
Beehive receives as many as 200,000 visits every month, about a quarter of which are to the
Spanish Beehive.
The Beehive addresses the four main deficiencies in current online content's relevance for people
in low-income and other underserved communities (Children’s Partnership 2002, 2003): literacy
barriers, language barriers, lack of cultural diversity, and lack of local information. The Beehive
addresses all of these, by providing content that is multilingual, easy to read, easy to learn, easy
to use, and tolerant of errors:
1. Multilingual. Many Beehive users do not use English as their primary language. For that
reason, all content (national and local) is written in both English and Spanish, with
significant content also available in Russian, Haitian Creole, and Urdu. One Economy
only uses human translators and employs three full- and part-time staff devoted to the
Spanish language alone. Spanish translation is written generically so as to appeal to the
largest range of Spanish speakers.
2. Easy to Read. Beehive users with literacy barriers will benefit from text that is presented
in plain language. The Beehive is written at a sixth-grade literacy level and uses short
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sentences and paragraphs delivered in a friendly, matter-of-fact tone. The Beehive also
uses pictures, charts, and audio files where appropriate to help those people who learn
better through seeing or hearing rather than reading. Editorial staff uses the FleschKincaid Grade Level Index method to technically determine a grade-level of their
writing, but also employ their own sense of what is easy to understand—limiting lingo
and jargon wherever possible, while never talking down to readers. One Economy
consults literacy experts to help inform their editorial staff on how to best communicate
complex concepts more simply.
3. Easy to Learn. The Beehive helps first-time users feel comfortable navigating the site
and makes learning fun. With little or no training, new visitors are able to find
information and complete tasks in the easiest way possible. The site uses a consistent
navigation throughout the site, common linking paradigms and, where possible and
appropriate, presents content in a step-wise fashion.
4. Easy to Use. The Beehive is designed with an intuitive interface with predictable
features and navigation. Minimal thought or guesswork is required on the part of the
user. Editors write in a fashion that anticipates users’ needs, but also gives users a
limited number of choices where appropriate.
5. Tolerant of Errors. As relatively “newbies” online, Beehive users are particularly prone
to accidental clicks and wrong turns as they seek information on the site. For that reason,
the site provides many easy opportunities for returning to higher-level navigation and
correcting errors, and provides multiple paths to key information.
In general, the Beehive is designed to be both relevant and culturally sensitive to low-income
families and Americans in ethnic and culturally diverse communities. By focusing on what
matters most to them—health, jobs, money, education, and family—the Beehive helps
individuals make better-informed health decisions and access financial services, homeownership
opportunities, educational resources, jobs, government services, and now child support services.
The site provides people with information, anticipates how they will need to use that information
to improve their situation, and provides them with the tools to do so. Never covering the entire
universe of topics in these areas, the Beehive focuses mainly on what will impact peoples’ lives
most significantly. Photos are also widely used throughout the site to help users feel at home on
the site. Images of people are the most common, and the Beehive uses photos of people that
reflect its audience so that visitors can “see themselves” on the site.
Among the specific steps taken to develop the child support sections of the Beehive were the
following:
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Identified and reviewed existing reliable, "user-friendly" child support materials (both online
and paper);
Solicited resources and examples of high-quality web-based child support information from
various groups of interest (OCSE staff and ListServs®, state IV-D Directors, conference
attendees, etc.);
Urban Institute provided One Economy with preliminary content for child support web page
development;
One Economy beta-launched (internal launch) initial child support web pages, which were
then reviewed by the Urban Institute, OCSE, and local sites;
Urban Institute conducted focus groups with consumers in two local communities of interest
(Washington, DC and Portland, OR);
Urban Institute conducted telephone interviews with child support staff and advocates from
local communities;
•
The Urban Institute and One Economy presented the content and solicited feedback from
participants at two conferences—at a session dedicated to this project entitled “Bi-lingual
Web-Based Child Support Enforcement Information” at the annual OCSE Hispanic Forum,
and at a workshop entitled “Effective Methods for Providing CSE Services to Culturally
Diverse, Immigrant and Limited English Speaking Customers” at the annual OCSE National
Training Conference.
One Economy revised web pages based on focus group findings, Urban Institute review, and
other feedback; and
New child support sections of the Beehive were promoted through the Beehive’s front page
(see following pages), OCSE’s ListServ®, and usage was tracked and analyzed by One
Economy.1
III. PRODUCT & FINDINGS
The main products of this task are the “Child Support” web pages found through the main
Family and Money sections of the Beehive at www.thebeehive.org (see Appendix A for screen
shots of the National Site and Appendix B for screen shots of the Washington, DC and Portland,
1
One Economy also sends out a weekly newsletter called The Buzz to all subscribers of its free Beehive email
accounts. Currently on hiatus for technical reasons, this newsletter that goes out to over 20,000 subscribers and is
used to keep Beehive users current on new content being added and other time-sensitive content (e.g., the EITC
content during tax season or information about the flu in the winter). Any user that has a “BeeMail” account
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(Beehive’s free email) or that signs up on the Beehive’s home page receives the newsletter and can opt out of it at
any time. When The Buzz is next issued, the new child support pages will be highlighted.
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Oregon Beehive sites). The child support pages are also featured under “Related Links”
throughout many other parts of the Beehive site, including:
Health: For Women: OB/GYN
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Health/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.2.119.158&Loca
l=1&Lang=1)
Health: Pregnancy & Parenting: Caring for Your Baby
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Health/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.2.160.246&Loca
l=1&Lang=1)
Health: Pregnancy & Parenting: Caring for Your Baby: Support for Parents
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Health/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.2.160.246.260&
Local=1&Lang=1)
Health: Pregnancy & Parenting: Caring for Your Baby: Government Assistance
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Health/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.2.160.246.259&
Local=1&Lang=1)
Health: For Parents: Talking to Your Child
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Health/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.2.24.516&Local
=1&Lang=1)
Health: For Parents: Talking to Your Child: Physical Abuse
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Health/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.2.24.516.520&L
ocal=1&Lang=1)
Money: Budgeting: Managing Cash
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Money/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.194.196.199&L
ocal=1&Lang=1)
Money: Paying Bills & Taxes: Get Thousands Back in Taxes: What Are You Doing with
Your Money: Find Out if You Qualify for Another Government Program
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Money/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.194.387.6745.6
759.6773&Local=1&Lang=1)
Family: Raising Your Children
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.726&Local
=1&Lang=1)
Family: Raising Your Children: Single Parent Support
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.726.728&L
ocal=1&Lang=1)
Family: Raising Your Children: General Parenting Support
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.726.727&L
ocal=1&Lang=1)
Consistent with their full integration into the Beehive, the child support pages also include many
links to other portions of the site. These include:
Family: Child Support: What is Child Support?: Things Non-Custodial Parents Can Do
Beyond Sending Checks
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.1479.
4602.4517&Local=1&Lang=1) LINKED TO Money: Paying Bills & Taxes: Tips for Paying
Bills
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Family: Child Support: Information for Non-Custodial Parents
(http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.4569)
LINKED TO Money: Budgeting
On any given page in the Beehive, users can click back and forth between the English and
Spanish versions of the site by clicking on a link at the top of the page. In addition to its national
site, the local Beehives in Washington, DC and Portland, Oregon have subsections entitled DC
Child Support Resources and Portland Child Support Resources that provide users with
information about how to contact and make an appointment with their local IV-D office, or
contact “other local organizations providing guidance and support.” In line with its cultural
sensitivity, the images on the local DC site portray families that are (or might be seen to be)
Latin American, while the images for Portland’s site portray families of Asian origin (see
Appendix B for some screen shots of these local Beehive sites).
The actual information on all the child support pages is written in simple, non-threatening
language and is designed to appeal equally to custodial and non-custodial parents. The theme of
the information is that child support is not just about money, it’s about supporting children
economically and in other ways, and giving them the best start in life. It also guides users
through each step in the child support process: establishing paternity, obtaining a child support
order, and finally, collecting child support. Readers are directed to national and in the case of
DC and Portland, local resources that include both the IV-D agency and other advocacy and
community-based agencies. As the web pages themselves (and the screenshots in this report)
demonstrate, the layout is simple and inviting; the stock photos are selected for their diversity,
appeal, and user-representation; and there are multiple links throughout that allow individuals to
read sections that most interest them and then come back to core pages and proceed through the
sequence of steps. On the right hand side of each screen are various links that may be of interest
to specific sub-groups of users such as non-custodial parents specifically or parents concerned
about abuse from the other parent.
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Presentations at National Conferences
Preliminary feedback on the child support pages has been very positive. Child support officials
and administrators at the OCSE Hispanic Forum (September 2005) and National Training
Conference (October 2005) were very pleased with the site, noting what an original contribution
it was to their presence on the web. Some offered to link to the new content from their state’s
Child Support website. Overall audience members said that the tone of the website was very
inviting to both custodial and non-custodial parents. The feedback also helped us better
understand how the site might get used: several people asked whether and how pages could be
easily printed so that staff could distribute them to clients or clients themselves could print out
information (something that would be especially useful to those accessing the information from a
public location such as a library). Another participant noted that the Glossary of Terms link was
only available in English, but since that time we have identified a similar Glossary of Spanish
Terms and included a link to this on the Spanish portion of the site. The final version of the
website also reflects participants’ request for more diversity in the images shown across the
various child support pages of Beehive.
Participants in the OCSE Hispanic Forum in October 2005 discussed the many challenges
involved in translating the term “child support” into Spanish. Audience members pointed out
that Hispanic/Latino communities from different countries or in different parts of the country
would not necessarily recognize one translation of the term, and some argued passionately for
one term over another. In the end, they all agreed that different words are used in Spanish for
“child support,” including the one term chosen for the Beehive Spanish pages—“manutencion de
niños.” Later at the same conference though, a working group recommended that there not be
one single Spanish term for “child support” nationwide, and that individual states and localities
seek the advice of their Hispanic and other culturally diverse residents in choosing which if
several terms to use. While the Spanish child support web pages on the Beehive site will
continue to use the original term, “manutencion de niños,” the very top of the Spanish child
support page makes mention of the other terms often used to describe child support in Spanish
(e.g., sustento o mntenimiento de niños, o apoyo de niños).
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Focus Groups and Interviews
Focus groups with child support-eligible, immigrant consumers in Washington, DC and Portland,
Oregon and interviews with IV-D staff and community-based advocates proved to be very
helpful in understanding how members of ethnically and culturally diverse communities might
benefit from Internet-based child support information such as that provided through Beehive.
Focus groups in particular, through open-ended questions in a group setting, can elicit both
general reflections and detailed experiences of the participants. Compared to other methods,
focus groups also work best when the population of interest has limited literacy or may be
reluctant to be interviewed on their own. This is certainly the case here. Half of the immigrant
populations in Portland and Washington, DC have arrived in the last decade: 53 percent of
Portland’s immigrants and 51 percent of immigrants in Washington, DC settled after 1990. First
and second-generation immigrants are more likely to have limited English proficiency (LEP),
have lower incomes, and be in need of services. This population is also likely to be skeptical of
one-on-one interviews regarding a government program for fear of how the information may
impact their own or their children’s immigrant status.
The focus groups (and key stakeholder interviews) explored a set of themes, including how
immigrants and other low-income communities view child support, the U.S. child support
enforcement system, government agencies generally, and the Internet as a source of information;
as well as how immigrants and key stakeholders may make use of the new child support pages
on the Beehive website. Among the topics explored more in-depth were issues regarding
barriers to services, including:
Child support knowledge and information gaps;
Misconceptions about the costs and benefits of pursuing paternity establishment and child
support;
Access and logistical issues (getting to a IV-D office, completing forms, etc.)
Language access issues;
Fears concerning immigration status; and
More normative and cultural issues, such as the social desirability of having economic
support from a former spouse or partner established within a legal framework.
The focus group discussions also covered how often the participants used computers (and what
they used them for). We also gave participants “a tour” of the website, and when possible, had
them navigate the site themselves during the focus group session. Participants were
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subsequently asked to react in general to the site as well as to specific pages (see Appendix C for
a copy of the Focus Group Discussion Guide used for this project).
One focus group was conducted in each of the two sites with local child support pages—Portland
and Washington. In each city, a local non-profit organization known for providing a broad range
of social and legal services to immigrant communities helped us recruit participants from among
their clients; these were Ayuda (www.ayudainc.org) in Washington, DC and the Immigrant and
Refugee Community Organization or IRCO (www.irco.org) in Portland. The DC focus group
was conducted in Spanish by a Spanish-speaking researcher closely involved with the project.
The Portland discussion relied on an outside translator since all of the participants were
Vietnamese and many had limited English skills.
Since the Beehive is designed to be accessible to low- and moderate-income immigrants, we set
out to and were successful in recruiting focus group participants that were all first-generation
immigrants with children. Ten participated in the DC focus group, and 12 in Portland. The
participants ranged in length of time in the U.S. from 1 to 12 years. All had between one and
five children, mostly under 18 years of age. Only one participant (in Portland) was male and a
non-custodial father. Participants ranged in age from early twenties to sixties, though the
majority were in their twenties and thirties.
Participants in both focus groups feel that the most important thing they want from non-custodial
parents is for them to spend time with their children. Many said that they ask this constantly of
the non-custodial parents. As one woman put it, “I need now that as my kids growing up, and
they’re boys, that he spends time with them and talks to them man to man.” Another woman
expressed it this way: “I’d like for the father, even though we’re separate, to be the father—to for
example help them with homework, take them to school, attend school functions; that he
wouldn’t leave that to me just because I have custody.” As a result, both groups of parents are
most drawn to the child support pages on Beehive that feature the roles and responsibilities of
parents beyond financial support (“It’s Not Just About Money” and “Things Non-Custodial
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Parents Can Do Beyond Sending Checks”),2 and the images showing mothers and fathers
together with their children, or of fathers embracing children.
There was considerable variation in the child support characteristics of the focus group
participants, yielding feedback from persons not (yet) involved with the IV-D program as well as
those at various stages of pursuing child support. Only two women in the Portland group and
three in the DC group are currently receiving child support that is required by the state; and two
of these receive payments irregularly. Most of the other participants do not receive child support
at all or receive informal financial support from their children’s fathers only occasionally. Only
one woman said she receives medical support as required by the child support order.
Among those not receiving financial support consistently, almost all are interested in filing a
child support order, but have not pursued it because they do not know how to go about it. Those
most interested in pursuing child support navigated immediately to the website page outlining
the steps needed to collect child support—“How Do You Collect Child Support?”—and then
followed the links there for each of the three steps. They appreciated that this information was
accessible from the main child support page:
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3NoRight.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477&Local=
1&Lang=1. Also of great interest to the most motivated participants is information about who to
contact and where to go locally to get more information or file for an order. A few women had
discussed child support with a government “case worker” but were not sure whether they had
spoken with IV-D staff or brought the right forms or documents. Most women in the Portland
group said they would first go either to IRCO staff they knew or to their government “case
worker” with any questions about child support benefits. These participants said that they liked
being able to find practical information like links to local child support offices and instructions
on what to bring to their first appointment.
The situation among the DC participants was more complicated because many of the women are
survivors of domestic violence and are involved with the judicial system. Many said they have a
2
See these pages at http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.1479.4602
and http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.1479.4517, respectively.
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court-appointed lawyer helping them with their divorce or separation, and these lawyers are also
dealing with some issues related to child support. The main challenges for these women are
overcoming feelings of intimidation by a court system they do not understand, understanding
their rights with respect to what they can ask for and expect in terms of child support, and
learning whether (and how) pursuing child support might affect their own, their children’s, or
their children’s father’s immigration status. As one woman commented, “The lawyers are
supposed to represent you, but they’re the ones who intimidate you,” and she added, “They say,
‘You have to accept this… because if not the judge is going to say no’.” These women found the
website pages describing “How Support is Calculated,” “What to Do If the Other Parent May Be
Abusive,” and “Child Support and Immigration Status” to be especially useful. Two women
said, and others agreed, that having a reliable source of information like the Beehive website to
refer to makes them feel more in control when dealing with their former or current partners,
benefits case workers, and even the lawyers and judges they see regularly. “Information is what
we need,” she said, “[because] our biggest problem is feeling confused and intimidated…”
Finally, several participants remained skeptical that the child support office does not share
information regarding their immigrant status with immigration officials. While they believe the
information relayed on the website is the law, they continue to think that information gets shared
between child support and other government agencies. Their fear is that they may eventually be
named a “public charge” and this would cause a delay or rejection of their application for
residency. One of the women also feared that if she applied for child support her husband would
be deported. Another woman said she knew of mothers whose husbands (or ex-husbands) had
threatened them with reporting their immigrant status or the benefits they received.
All of the focus group participants relayed enthusiasm for the new Beehive child support pages
and most said that this would be an accessible way to learn about child support benefits. They
especially liked being able to look up information that answers their questions directly, and being
able to navigate through the site at their own pace. Thus instead of picking up bits of
information from different sources, they can get a clear picture of what the child support
enforcement system can and cannot do to help them. Most said that they have access to a
computer and to the Internet, though it is more difficult for some than others. They also
21
mentioned different points of access: some use computers at work and can access the Internet
from there, a few have Internet access at home, while others said they could access the Internet at
either IRCO or Ayuda computer labs or the local library. About a third of the participants said
that they do not have computer or Internet navigational skills, and would need a friend, family
member, or staff person to help them. It was not clear from the focus groups how many
participants are unable to read at all or have such low literacy skills that they cannot read at the
6th –grade level that the Beehive uses. So while the Internet may not be the most easily
accessible medium for many, once focus group participants were introduced to the Beehive
website, they were clearly interested in seeking out child support information from this source in
the future.
IV-D staff and advocates working with (potential) child support enforcement clients were also
very supportive of the child support sections of the Beehive, commenting that they “were
impressed with the thorough, yet simplified [description of the] child support process.” They
also remarked how easy the Beehive is to navigate and how it includes lots of information,
noting in particular the sections for victims of domestic violence and tax issues. But these same
advocates also shared that before many (immigrant and refugee) clients are able to take
advantage of websites such as the Beehive, the clients need to learn the very basics of computer
use, such as how to use a keyboard and mouse. Once they have these basic skills though, they
are more likely to visit the Beehive on their own, and can use computers at community centers to
access the site. Advocates and other community center staff can also help them navigate the site
and answer questions. Language issues remain a key “barrier” for these populations: DC-based
advocates commented on the importance of promoting the Beehive through local Spanishlanguage media outlets and through community leaders, while Portland-based advocates
mentioned wishing child support information on the Beehive could be available in the languages
most commonly used by their specific clients, Vietnamese and Russian.
Finally, because they are familiar, trustworthy, knowledgeable, and speak the same language,
clients often turn to their advocates and caseworkers to ask about child support and other benefits
(especially if applying for the benefits involves the government in any way or if the client is
concerned about his/her legal status). Individuals get information from many different sources—
22
friends and family, government caseworkers, lawyers, community leaders and advocates—and
having an objective, stable, “outside” resource such as the Beehive can help people sort through
the questions and misinformation that often arise. Advocates themselves need access to current,
accurate information and often use the Internet themselves to research services and benefits, and
websites such as Beehive can clearly help them in this work. Advocates have also commented
that as more and more clients apply for child support, many become frustrated with how long it
takes for the support to come through. These are not challenges associated with the Beehive
specifically, and as more and more traditionally underserved individuals learn about the benefits
of seeking child support and pursue such support, one can expect a growth in “complaints” about
the slowness of the process or other frustrations with the IV-D system generally.
“Traffic” on the New Child Support Pages
One Economy has run analyses on how often the child support pages of Beehive have been
accessed and used since its inception (see the “Beehive Child Support Section Traffic Report”
and the “Next Page Flow Report” in Appendix D to this document). Between September 2005
and February 2006, there were 5,024 page views of the Beehive’s child support section and just
over 600 unique monthly visitors. The top 10 child support pages visited (in order) are:
Main Child Support Page at
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3NoRight.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477&
Local=1&Lang=1
Step 3: Collect Child Support at
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.149
5.1510
How Do You Collect Child Support? at
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.149
5&Local=1&Lang=1
Step 2: Get a Child Support Order at
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.149
5.1506&Local=1&Lang=1
What is Child Support? at
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.147
9
Step 1: Establish Paternity at
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.149
5.1501
23
Information for the Non-Custodial Parent at
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.456
9&Local=1&Lang=1
National Child Support Resources at
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.151
1.1514
What To Do If the Other Parent May be Physically Abusive at
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.149
5.2440
It’s Not Just About Money at
http://www.thebeehive.org/Templates/Family/Level3Image.aspx?PageId=1.528.1477.147
9.4602&Local=1&Lang=1
This report on the traffic across the Beehive child support pages confirms what we heard from
the focus group participants, that visitors to the Beehive are primarily interested in learning about
the specific steps involved in securing child support. Interestingly, many viewers start at the last
step (collecting child support) and then move backwards through “Step 2” (get a child support
order) and then “Step 1” (establish paternity). Also important to many are precautions to take
when there may be abuse, and how child support involved much more than just taking financial
responsibility. A “next page flow” report shows that people who visit the child support pages
navigate mainly to the background information on child support (19 percent) and more detailed
information on how to collect support (14 percent). One indication of how well the child support
pages fit in with other Beehive content is that almost 9 percent of visitors to the child support
pages navigate back other Beehive pages, looking at other family matters that matter to them,
including budgeting for a family and tips about raising healthy children. About five percent of
visitors are looking for information specific to non-custodial parents.
IV. CONCLUSIONS & LESSONS LEARNED
Our experiences on this project confirms existing research on the great need for "live" Internet
content that is accurate, relevant, and accessible to people in ethnic and culturally diverse
communities. Consumers, advocates, and federal and local program administrators all responded
to the websites produced under this grant from OCSE with great enthusiasm and support. Based
on this project, expanding child support content such as that provided through the Beehive to
24
other local communities (and for other government services/benefits) would certainly be of great
interest and benefit. However, other efforts to develop similar web pages should keep the
following in mind:
Program knowledge needs to be supplemented with technical expertise in website design
development, and it helps to have a visible "home base" on the Internet (such as the
Beehive);
Translating online content into languages other than English can present challenges since
there may not be consensus on what terms are best (recall some of the feedback we
received about how the term "child support" should be translated into Spanish);
Simplifying complex and bureaucratic government programs into terms and steps that are
readily understood and yet still accurate is also a key element of creating a successful
website, and resources and attention should be devoted to this step;
Recognize at the outset that the site cannot (and should not) cover all situations
individuals face;
Provide the audience with opportunities to contact and ask questions directly from both
local IV-D offices, as well as more “independent” advocates, attorneys, and communitybased service providers.
25
REFERENCES
Barr S (2003). “Government Website Guidelines Created With Designers, Users in Mind,”
(October 27): The Washington Post, Washington, DC.
Capps R, ME Fix, and J Passel (2002) “The Dispersal of Immigrants in the 1990s,” Washington,
DC: The Urban Institute.
Capps R et al. (2005) “The Health and Well-Being of Young Children of Immigrants”
Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
Children’s Partnership (2002) New Website Provides Resources for Empowering Poor
Communities (Press Release), Santa Monica, CA: The Children’s Partnership.
Children’s Partnership (2003) The Search for High-Quality Online Content for Low-Income and
Underserved Communities: Evaluating and Producing What’s Needed, Santa Monica,
CA: The Children’s Partnership.
Children’s Partnership (2002) Online Content for Low-Income and Underserved Americans: An
Issue Brief, Santa Monica, CA: The Children’s Partnership.
Fallows D (2005) How Women and Men Use the Internet. Washington, DC: Pew Internet and
American Life Project.
Johnson HP & M O’Brien-Strain (2000) Getting to Know the Future Customers of the Office of
Child Support: Projections Report for 2004 and 2009. Burlingame, CA: Acumen LLC.
Holcomb P et al. (2003) “The Application Process for TANF, Food Stamps, Medicaid, and
SCHIP: Issues for Agencies and Applicants, Including Immigrants and Limited English
Speakers,” Washington, DC: The Urban Institute.
Madden M (2003) America’s Online Pursuits: The Changing Picture of Who’s Online and What
They Do, Washington, DC: Pew Internet and American Life Project.
Richer E (2003) “The Safety ‘Net’: Online Access to Benefits for Working Families,”
Washington, DC: The Center for Law and Social Policy.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2000) Administration for Children and
Families, Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), An OCSE Guide for
Hispanic/Latino Customer Service, Washington, DC: Office of Child Support
Enforcement.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2005) Administration for Children and
Families, Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), National Child Support
Enforcement: Strategic Plan 2005-2009, Washington, DC: Office of Child Support
Enforcement.
26
APPENDIX A
THE BEEHIVE’S CHILD SUPPORT PAGES (ENGLISH AND SPANISH, NATIONAL)
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
APPENDIX B
THE BEEHIVE’S CHILD SUPPORT PAGES (WASHINGTON, DC & PORTLAND, OREGON)
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
APPENDIX C
FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
76
Child Support Information through the Internet
Focus Group Protocol
Introduction
Thank you very much for agreeing to participate in this focus group. Your participation is very
important to this study. I’m __________ and this is __________. I work for the Urban Institute,
an organization located in Washington, DC that studies social services programs and makes
recommendations to improve them. ____________ works for One Economy Corporation—an
organization that develops helpful website information for individuals and families on topics
such as money, jobs, health, family, and schools.
We are working together on a project to understand what kinds of information and supports
families such as yours need to help support their children. We are especially interested in
understanding the kinds of financial and other support you need from your children’s fathers (or
other parent). We are also interested in hearing from you about computers, and how you learn
about different services in your community.
Focus groups may be new to many and perhaps all of you—so let me make a few general points
about what to expect. As the facilitator, I just ask the questions and moderate the discussion.
What’s really important is for all of you to speak up and participate so that we can have a lively
and informative discussion. There are no right or wrong answers to the questions we ask.
It is important that only one person at a time speak so that we can all follow what each of you
says. There may be times during the discussion where I need to interrupt—either to ask you to
explain what you have just said more clearly, or to move on to the next question to keep us on
time. Again, this happens just to make sure that everyone has a chance to answer each of the
questions, and that we understand what each person says. In the past, most people have told us
they enjoy these focus groups very much because it gives them a chance to share their
experiences and hear about other’s experiences.
I also want to let you know that we are taping and taking notes during this session. We do this
because otherwise we will not be able to remember everything that was said today. I want to
reassure you that we do these things only so that we can accurately remember what we learn here
today. We will not include your names in anything we write or talk about, and will be careful
that your names are in no way associated with anything that is said here today. Does anybody
have any objections to taping this discussion?
Your participation here is voluntary and you may decide not to answer any question if you wish.
We want to stress that your participation is not required and will not affect services you receive
in any way. Again, there are no right and wrong answers.
77
This discussion will last about 1 to 1 ½ hours and we will not be taking any formal breaks. But,
please feel free to get up at any time to stretch, use the restroom, or help yourselves to light
refreshments.
Once again, we are very pleased to have you here today. Are there any questions before we get
started?
Focus Group Questions
INTRODUCTIONS
Let’s begin our discussion by introducing ourselves… please tell us:
•
•
•
Your first name
I know some or most of you are immigrants; please say how long you’ve been in the country
And the number and ages of your children
CHILD SUPPORT
1. What kinds of assistance do you need from your children’s father/s to help you raise your
kids—either financial assistance or forms of assistance?
Do any of you receive any financial or other support from your children’s fathers?
Types of assistance (cash, clothes, rent, diapers, etc.)?
Frequency of assistance?
Regularity (reliability) of assistance?
Formal or informal?
Who is eligible?
2. If you needed help in getting this support, how would you go about getting help? From
whom? Where?
3. Have any of you ever received help from a government agency in getting child support for
your child(ren)?
Do you know other people who have?
Could you share a little about your/their experiences?
How did you/they learn about child support?
How easy/difficult was it to get help? What was most challenging?
How long did it take to start getting support payments?
78
4. What are the main things you need help with-- that child support could be helpful for?
Financial help for children
Help paying bills
Medical insurance for children
5. Are there reasons why someone would choose not to get help with child support?
The other parent is already providing support
Don’t know how or where to get help
Too much hassle to get help
Prior experiences at the child support or welfare office
Other friends’/relatives’ experiences at the child support/welfare office
The workers don’t speak my language
Cultural beliefs
Concerns about how receiving child support will affect welfare or other
benefits/assistance
Concerns about how the other parent will react
Concerns about the CIS (INS) being notified/immigration status
6. What would make you more likely to get help with child support from a government agency?
More information? What kind of information you think you might need to think about
getting child support?
Offices nearby? Etc?
Clear, more accessible information?
USE OF TECHNOLOGY
I’d like to change topics now and ask you about computers…
1. I know that some of you may have used computers before, and some may not have. That’s
okay. First, let’s talk about how often you use computers and what you use them for.
How many of you use a computer—either at home, at work, or somewhere else (e.g.,
school, library, etc.)? Do you currently have access to a computer? How often do you it?
What do you use the computer for? Do you use it mostly for personal use or for work?
e-mail
Internet
games
personal finances, organization, etc.
79
writing reports and other documents for work
2. Have any of you participated in training on a computer? What kind? Where? As part of
your job?
Some of you mentioned that you use the Internet. (Does everyone know what the Internet
is?) How often? Do you ever look for information or browse around the Internet? What are
the top three reasons you use the Internet? (Note: substitute “computer” if you don’t have
Internet users)
finding information/research
news
listening to/downloading music
schoolwork
shopping
Where is the computer you use to get onto the Internet?
home
library
friend’s or neighbor’s house
community center
Internet café
school
church, temple, mosque, or other religious organization
work
How re liable do you think information is that you get over a computer? Do you feel you
can “trust” or believe everything?
How comfortable are you using the Internet/computer?
What do you like best about using the Internet/computer?
What is most difficult about using the Internet/computer?
Do any of you find it confusing or intimidating?
NOW, I’M GOING TO TAKE A FEW MINUTES TO WALK YOU THROUGH A WEBSITE ON CHILD SUPPORT
WE’VE DEVELOPED.
WE’RE GOING TO MOVE TO SIT IN FRONT OF COMPUTERS. WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING
HARD OR COMPLICATED. AND ROB (AND SOME OTHER STAFF) IS GOING TO HELP YOU GET ON.
I WOULD REALLY LIKE TO GET YOUR REACTION TO THE INFORMATION WE PRESENT SO WE CAN
MAKE THE WEBSITE BETTER.
80
Before we get started… have any of you ever heard of or used a website called Beehive.org?
(Count show of hands)
PUT BEEHIVE.ORG SIGN UP
I’ll get on and lead you through it:
1. What do you see?
2. Does anybody have an initial reaction to the website? This can be about anything…the
pictures, the colors we use, the type of information we provide…
a. What do you like most?
b. What do you like least?
Any initial questions?
3. Do you think you would you go back to look over this website on your own? Why or why
not?
4. Would any of you use this site to find out about getting help with child support from your
local government agency?
5. How many of you would recommend that a friend who needs help with getting child support
use this site? Why or why not?
6. What would make you more likely to use this website?
Translation in my own language
More pictures that look like me
Additional information on…
7. What else would you like to see on this web page? This is your chance to suggest anything
that you think we forgot…
8. Before we wrap up, do you have any final thoughts you would like to share with us about
anything we have talked about today?
*****
Thank you again for your participation today. The information that you shared with us will help
us improve our website.
Before you leave, we would like you to sign this form acknowledging that your participation has
been voluntary and that you have received a small payment from us to thank you for your time.
81
APPENDIX D
Website Traffic Reports
82
The Beehive Child Support Section Traffic Report
September 1, 2005 - February 26, 2006
Page
Views
Top 15 Most Popular Pages
ENGLISH PAGES
Child Support
Step 3: Collect Child Support
How Do You Collect Child Support?
Step 2: Get a Child Support Order
What Is Child Support?
Step 1: Establish Paternity
Information for the Non-Custodial Parent
Support for Parents of Children with Special Needs
National Child Support Resources
What to Do If the Other Parent May Be Physically Abusive
It's Not Just About Money
How to Find the Non-Custodial Parent
Things Non-Custodial Parents Can Do Beyond Sending Checks
National Child Support Organizations
Other Child Support Questions
Average
Time
Monthly
Unique Spent on
Visits Visitors
Page
1,244
502
305
288
236
231
188
168
155
123
113
93
83
78
74
699
372
160
150
109
129
105
106
85
67
67
50
56
52
42
648
209
149
143
96
123
97
98
71
61
60
50
54
47
35
0.58
1.64
0.5
1.32
0.53
1.05
1.04
2.05
0.45
0.63
0.64
0.71
0.73
1.88
1.05
185
98
46
39
39
34
33
31
91
31
23
15
15
12
13
12
73
23
16
13
10
8
8
9
1.11
0.43
0.32
1.09
0.37
0.54
1.46
0.56
25
24
23
17
13
10
6
9
10
9
7
5
6
2
7
7
7
4
3
3
2
1.26
0.81
0.38
2.34
0.9
1.05
1.13
5,024
2,797
2,396
SPANISH PAGES
La Manutención de Menores
¿Qué es la Manutención de Menores?
¿Cómo Cobrar la Manutención de Menores?
Paso 1: Establezca la Paternidad
Recursos Nacionales para la Manutención de los Menores
No Sólo se Trata de Dinero
Información para el Padre que no Tiene Custodia
Cómo se Calcula y qué Incluye el Pago de Manutención de Menores
Cómo Afecta la Manutención de Menores a Otros Beneficios del
Gobierno
Cambie las Órdenes de Manutención de Menores y Apoyo Médico
El Derecho de los Padres a Visitar a sus Hijos
Organizaciones Nacionales para la Manutención de los Menores
Cómo Encontrar al Padre de Familia que no Tiene Custodia
Otras Preguntas sobre la Manutención de los Menores
Cómo Encontrar al Padre que no Tiene Custodia
Totals for Site
83
Company: One Economy
URL: thebeehive.org
Site: Beehive Main
Next Page Flow Report
Reporting Date: Thu. 1 Sep. 2005 - Tue. 28 Feb. 2006
Filter: All Paths
© 1997-2005 by Omniture, Inc. Patents Pending.
Selected Page: Child Support
2nd level branches: 10
3rd level branches: 5
Omniture Headquarters:
550 East Timpanogos Circle
Orem, Utah 84097
801.722.7000 Tel
801.722.7001 Fax
877.722.7088 or 801.722.0139 Sup