By Nathan Leaf
Enquirer Columbus Bureau

COLUMBUS - Child support advocates on Tuesday accused the state of shortchanging thousands of Ohio families whose support payments were improperly withheld.

The allegations came after state child support officials said they have refunded $12.4 million and said that amount represented about 75 percent of what's owed to Ohio's single parent families. That's far less than a total $38 million members an advocacy group, the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support, estimate is owed.

Following a tour of the state's new child support processing facility in Columbus, Joe Pilat, director of the Ohio Office of Child Support, said the amount to be repaid was lowered after audits found many families included in the original estimate were not entitled to refunds.

The new facility is part of a plan that will shift the task of handling child support checks from Bank One to Affiliated Computer Services (ACS). The Washington, D.C.-based firm was awarded the contract in August in an attempt to improve the state's distribution system.

"We've done a lot to flush error out of this process, " said John Polk, a vice president at the company. The company officially takes over the distribution of support checks on Dec. 27.

While child support advocates are glad to see Bank One's replacement, they still contend the state is trying to avoid paying needy families everything they are owed.

"The $12 million is a woefully low underpayment," said Carrie Davis, Ohio Coordinator for the Association for Children for Enforcement of Support. She said the state's auditing process is flawed.

That means families lose out on money because there is no way for them to know if they are being shortchanged.

"In this process there is no safety valve," Ms. Davis said. "(Families) do not have any recourse to determine if the state is disbursing the right amount of money."

In 2001, Gov. Bob Taft promised to pay back thousands of Ohioans after former state officials admitted to withholding child support checks from families receiving welfare, even after the U.S. Supreme court banned the practice in 1997. In August families finally started receiving their checks.

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Spokesman Jon Allen disagreed with Ms. Davis. He said the refunds are being carried out correctly and families are receiving the right amounts.

"Families absolutely have recourse," he said. "Even families that don't get any money can appeal (to the state)."

Of the nearly 90,000 child support cases that have been reviewed, he said only 354 appeals have been filed.

The repayment process is nearly complete in the Cincinnati area. Hamilton County Jobs and Family Services Spokeswoman Laurie Petrie said 99 percent of the cases have been reviewed with 5,466 checks worth nearly $1.6 million sent to families.