YoungWilliams Wins Contract for Southwest Kansas

The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) awarded YoungWilliams a contract to provide child support enforcement services for the 16th, 20th, 25th, and 26th Judicial Districts covering twenty-five southwest Kansas counties. Operations will commence February 1, 2008. YoungWilliams is establishing offices in the cities of Dodge City, Great Bend, and Garden City to house twenty-four employees responsible for approximately 7,500 cases.

With this new contract, YoungWilliams will serve approximately one-fourth of the State’s enforcement caseload. YoungWilliams began its partnership with Kansas SRS in 2005 when the State retained YoungWilliams to provide enforcement services for seven Judicial Districts serving eighteen counties in eastern Kansas. YoungWilliams also provides customer service and exception processing services under subcontract with JP Morgan, the operator of the Kansas Payment Processing Center (KPC). The KPC is responsible for posting and distributing all child support collections received by the State. YoungWilliams handles approximately 1,000 incoming phone calls per day.

YoungWilliams Vice President Dennis Hoffman oversees all of YoungWilliams Kansas operations. A native of Kansas, he served fifteen years as the Director of Field Operations for the Kansas Child Support Enforcement program. “We are proud of our strong relationship with SRS and are committed to making a real difference for the families in southwest Kansas. Our background as a law firm and our national child support program expertise will allow us to bring new ideas and best practices to this part of the State,” Hoffman commented. The twenty-five counties have been operated by the CSE Program and one Court Trustee. In its Request for Proposal, SRS sought service providers with cost effective, innovative solutions that can “zealously represent the interests of the Program.”

Project Manager Gregg Pechanec is a former chief for the Southwest Child Support Enforcement Region and has approximately thirty years of child support experience. Gregg has some definite ideas for improving regional productivity and performance. “My personal goal is to significantly increase collections and place this region among the top performers in Kansas.”