Social Services reports spike in fraud referrals, increased collections and faster administrative hearings

Clay County Social Services presented a report on child-support, welfare fraud and collections at the April 28 commission meeting, detailing a marked increase in investigative referrals and new collection strategies.

Sandy, who leads fraud and collections work, said the fraud team opened 781 referrals in 2025 (up from 638 in 2024) and is pursuing over $72,000 in identified overpayments. She said prevention work and early checks avoided nearly $4,000,000 in potential improper payments in 2025, a figure the state applies by multiplying prevented monthly payments by three to estimate short‑term avoidance.

Sandy said the fraud team referred 11 criminal cases in 2025 with overpayments totaling almost $74,000; criminal case timelines averaged many months, but the department began using administrative disqualification hearings (ADH) in 2024, and to date 25 cases have gone through ADH with an average turnaround of about 2.5 months.

On collections, Sandy said the county collected more than $1.5 million in 2025 and returned about $460,000 to the county after state and federal shares. Child‑support services distributed about $7.7 million; the office manages over 2,300 cases on average and reported strengths in paternity and order establishment while noting interstate arrears remain a challenge.

Susan from social‑services accounting described the fiscal operations that support programs, saying the division administers about $766,000 annually for childcare assistance and processes roughly 781 invoices per month; social‑services expenditures total about $16.4M.

The board discussed system modernization needs, statutory changes affecting medical repayments (effective 07/01/2025), and the staffing gains that prompted an increase in state grant funding for fraud work.