The Basics of Public Administration Genome Project - Term Paper Example

Introduction

For the past few years, there have been increased efforts exerted on the long-term endeavors of Public Administration Genome Project (PAGP), with a basic idea that the public administrative behavior shares much resemblance to the genome make-up and functioning of the human body (Sargent, 2011). Public administration structures have always been pictured as comprising of diverse ‘topics’ that are closely linked and functioning in close relationship with each other (Sargent, 1960). The goal of the case scenario presented on the PAGP is to map the various sections /topics together with their clusters, and the relationships that exist between them, for the purposes of strategizing and efficient decision making process. This is geared towards developing a full understanding of the actors within the Public Administration, their actions as well as their impact. The report uses biochemical and genetics analogies to develop a comprehensive, logic-based and a readily accessible channel (the COMPASS) that would clearly elaborate the existing topics and the interrelationships among variables. The main case study that has been the area of focus in this paper is the Child care, support and protection programs. This case study has been presented and comparisons to a number of theories made, with emphasis on developing reliable information that would be presented as the final product of the PAGP.

Public Administration Genome Project (PAGP)

According to Dickey, (2009), public administration has attracted much attention with more and more analogies brought forth by different analysts trying to unpack its composition to bring about a universal understanding of its diverse components, their relationships, interdependence and mutual functioning. In this regard, since the year 2000, there has been a large-sized schema to apply the analogy of the Human Genome Project (HGP) to explain the functionality and the structural composition of the entire public administration units. The proponents of this remarkable analogy notes that further research and development of the PAGP would make it become a transformative and a foundational process, increase educational capacities of its users and developers and the expected sizable scale-up, there will be a need for new and improved types of software and hardware infrastructure.

It is provided that the PAGP will be foundational in the sense that it instills cooperation among the various disciplines in their effort to make contribution and changes on the source case content. The content in this case includes theories and scholarly researches (Dickey, Birdsall, Larkin & Kim, 2015). The transformative aspect of the PAGP is anchored on the fact that it provides clear mechanisms for undertaking a totally new cycle of research work. For example, new set of topics (genes) may be discovered and these may provide more avenues for research endeavors.

Lewis, R. (2009) notes that PAGP is intended to build capacity in training and education. While most students are reported to have little or no information on issues of politics, sociological aspects and economic matters, matters of public participation have not been clearly understood and internalized in diverse ways. This calls for more elaborate awareness creation, development of more precise case scenarios that unpacks the structural operations of the public, the functionality of the inner structures and the inter-relationships that exists between and among the various components.

The human genome analogy is very critical in making an attempt of digitally mapping and employing the set of topics, the existing interrelationships involving all the functional groups (the genes). In this case, it is assumed that the genome presents a classical scenario that can be likened to the structures existing in the PA systems (Sargent, 2011). With several case scenarios (about 82) presenting about 15,000 variables and about 15,500 relationships already presented, there is yet some more cases to be presented within the PA genome that would present more variables and relationships.

Child care, support and protection programs

Children have been given special consideration within the PAGP. As a basic component of the larger PA genome, care and protection including protection of rights and privileges are some of the components of great interest within the public administration structure (Editorial Submission, 2010). The general care provided under the public administration is broken down into diverse components, including support and protection programs. The services and support provided at this level are considered universal with exceptions of various special cases like in the case of children in need of special protection.

Child support

As a component of the public administration, there are channels through which parents can obtain support, including financial support to ensure that their children grow up successfully and accomplish their dreams in life. As a means of encouraging parental responsibility, the paternity of children enrolled under support programs must be established (Gulaid, 2004). Also, establishment of court orders for medical and financial support needs to be very clear at the time of enrollment into the support program. There are systems in place that ensures emotional involvement of both parents throughout the life of the child. In most cases, the parents would e involved through working with the community groups, hospitals and schools.

The child support programs outline the rights and responsibilities of the parents whose children have been enrolled into the children support service provision. The parents have a right to confidentiality of the personal information shared at the point of enrolling their children into the program. Parents are also entitled to professional and timely customer services and proper channels of making inquiry regarding their cases. In terms of their responsibility, parents are required to provide duly filled forms containing all the relevant and detailed personal information (Editorial Submission, 2010). As part of their parental duties, they will be required to be responsible over their own children and provide other support not covered under the public administration child support programs.

Different structures would provide different mechanisms under which the child support program is rolled out within any Public Administration structures. For instance, the federal and the state laws provide that the office of the attorney General is charged with the responsibilities of establishing and enforcing child support program. However, this office represents the state as opposed to individual persons who may be making any child support claims.

Services under child support

Establishment of paternity

This involves determining the legal father of the child. In cases where the child’s father is not listed on the birth certification documents, then it follows that a legal paternity need to be established to help in obtaining support order and allows the child to have access to the medical history of the father and help in obtaining either cash medical support or health care coverage. Establishment of paternity would also protect the child’s right to benefit from the father’s assets in case of death of the father.

In cases where the parents of the child are legally married, then paternity would be established automatically. However, in cases where the parents of the child are not married then paternity would be established through court legal process or through submission of paperwork. In cases where there is a mutual agreement between the mother and the father of the child, then paternity would be legally established by the father of the child submitting a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity Form, which is signed by both parents (Editorial Submission, 2010). However in some cases where the mother of the child wants to establish paternity for her child, she would be required to submit an affidavit that supports paternity establishment even without the child’s father making any voluntary acknowledgement. In extreme cases where the father of the child is not sure of paternity, the child support program would help in genetic testing to determine the truth in regard to who the father of the child is.

Locating a parent

There are several tools for locating the child’s parents; where they live or work. These tools are mostly applied in cases where the required basic identity information has not been clearly stated. The parent is required to provide verifiable identity that details the following; full name and other names that would be alternatively used for identification, known address and telephone number, known employer’s name, contacts and job description, the parent’s social security number and date of birth. Additional information is required to know whether the parents have other children by other people and where these children live, whether the parents have membership in any union, sports club or other memberships, whether the parent has ever been arrested and whether the parent has a recreational, occupational or driver’s license.

The tools that can be used to identify the parents of the child include the Federal Parent Locator Service (FPLS), which is a system developed and operated by the office of child support enforcement. This is always used in locating non-custodial parents, custodial parties and putative fathers. The information obtained from these systems helps in establishing paternity, enforce orders of child support, enforce child custody and/or parenting time determinations and also enforces federal and state laws related to unlawful restraining of a child.

Medical support

The child support programs always incorporate provisions for comprehensive medical support. In this category, there are other sub programs; health care coverage and cash medical programs. The Health Care Coverage would be considered in cases where the parents are able to provide medical insurance cover for the children in a private arrangement through the existing public programs or through the employer. In cases where parents do not have any access to proper health care for all their children, cash medical support services would be ordered. The provision of cash medical support is the additional amounts payable by the parents to cover the cost of health care provisions and to cater for the uninsured medical expenses of a given child.

Administrative hearing

In cases where parents submit their request for hearing to express their dissatisfaction with the proposed order on child support, the complaints are always channeled to the administrative hearing process. The case manager would make attempts of reaching the parents to find out whether it would be possible for them to reach a consensus and settle the matter. In cases where such settlements fail, the case manager is always obliged to refer the whole matter to the Administrative Hearing offices (Protection & Act, 2010). Information would then be passed to the parent with details regarding the hearing request together with all the other relevant information. A telephone hearing would then be made and this should be attended by both parents. It is on the basis of this hearing that the administrative law judge would issue a decision or another hearing order. It is important to note that the Administrative Hearing is considered to be a separate state agency. There are also other categories known as the inter-state child support cases that are always witnessed when parents live in different states. In this case, the federal law would demand that the legal systems in the other state help in locating and implementing the legal actions against the parent in their state of residence.

Enforcement

It is provided that children are entitled to receive both emotional and financial support from their parents regardless of whether they live together or not. The program establishes a set of diverse structures aimed at ensuring that the child support systems work as part of the larger Public Administrative organs. To ensure effective implementation and enforcement, the Child Support Program develops tools that that would be applied in ensuring child support. Some of these mechanisms include collection of federal taxes together with other form of payment that would be used to pay all the past-due support. Also, the program adopts mechanisms like placing liens against valuable properties owned by parents. Other mechanisms applied include garnishing all sources of income like insurance settlements, inheritance and winning lottery among other sources, suspension of licenses and placing the parent’s name under contempt of court in cases where the parent fails to pay child support.

Child Support Estimation

One of the topics of interest within the PAGP includes issues of childcare and support that includes universal care and all aspects of child-care provision services. As part of the lager PA genome, this case presents diverse set of variables that make up the larger public administration DNA and would be considered to be among the outstanding areas of concern in the contemporary structures of the public administration process.

According to Hearn, (2014), the Child Support Estimator provides estimates of monthly child support with the amounts allocated based on the gross income, expenses and taxes of the custodial and non-custodial parents. The estimates basically determine how much one need to pay or receive. Also the domestic relations sections would always establish the true monthly support as stipulated in the public administration guidelines. The estimator has been designed to give first hand information on the monthly estimates of the child support obligations. It is important to note that the child support estimator only gives the expected estimates towards the child support. The final amount varies greatly based on a number of factors that includes the cost of healthcare, the day care expenses, the costs of education and spousal maintenance costs. Other variables determining the exact amounts include the number of children in a given homestead, the various support obligations of the child, and deviations made from the schedule of child support that would be determined by the courts. Due to these and several other factors, there has never been any guarantee as to the specific amount allowable towards child support. The calculation of child support payments requires basic information about the parents or the guardian in charge of the child, and it follows that lack or incorrect information of the parents would automatically generate incorrect information.

Inquiries would be made on diverse areas within a given household to ascertain the true situation that a given child is raised. In this regard, the parents or the guardian would be required to give finer details on matters that touch on the life of the child (Spratt, 2013). The child support program considers some other children that the parent is taking care of but for whom care support is not sought, as part of the parents’ relevant dependent. The relevant dependent child in this case is defined as that other child under the care of a given family (parents or guardian), who is living with the family for at least 128 nights and above in a given calendar year. With this consideration, there is certain amount that is deducted from the adjusted taxable income as recognition of the amount of care provided by the parent to the child. The system has been developed such that parents have the chance of running an automatic estimation of their child’s support. This process involves making entries of the parent’s details plus other relevant information as required, so as to determine the amount deductable and support allowable for the specified child.

Generally, the estimator helps to come to an agreement regarding the extent of support or amount allowable as this process is initiated by the parent of the vulnerable child. The estimator also gives an idea of the amount to be worked out by the government on behalf of the parent. While the exact figures in regard to the amount allowable for any child’s maintenance service would be different, the calculators used in this process would always give estimates to be used as the basis of the child’s support.

Access of the Child Support Estimator

Anybody who would prefer to make estimates of their potential monthly support for their children would resort to use the child support estimator. However, the use of estimator does not give estimates for alimony and spousal support. The legal issues surrounding the outworking of the child support estimator would be rolled out in accordance to the existing legislation within any given region (Protection & Act, 2010). For instance, the Family Law Judge in California has the final authority with regard to determining the amount of child support (Hearn, 2014). Different legal regulations may exist depending o the guiding principles on public administration processes within a given region.

Child support programs rolled out as a component of public administration processes is comprised of several other aspects (topics) that have been integrated into one umbrella. All the components of child support would be incorporated within this context to form one unit. Specific issues like child health care provision, nutrition, education and social well being among other specific issues would be addressed under the whole umbrella of Child support (Protection & Act, 2010). The Child Support Estimator would give the most considerable estimates of amounts allocated towards the various sub categories of child support and care.

According to Hearn, (2014), it is theoretically presented that the most important information required to complete the estimates is the number of children that Child support is sought for, the gross income for the custodial and non-custodial parents and the tax rates both locally and at the national level. In a bid to increase the accuracy of the results generated from the estimator, it would be required that information regarding the monthly amounts payable for the child care. Also, theoretical information regarding amount of spousal or alimony support received, the amount of any given health insurance premiums for every child as well as all the monthly amounts payable by the custodial and non-cordial parents to the non-voluntary retirement schemes would be needed for more accurate estimation (Hearn, 2014). Generally, it is clear that all the financial details of the parents would be needed so as to guarantee increased level of accuracy. Child care support becomes more and more relevant as most parents find it quite easy to avail the various necessary supports to their children.

Conclusion

Public administration structures have always been pictured as comprising of diverse ‘topics’ that are closely linked and functioning in close relationship with each other. Public administration has attracted much attention with more and more analogies brought forth by different analysts trying to give a description of its composition to bring about a universal understanding of its diverse components, their relationships, interdependence and mutual functioning. This paper focused on the case of Child care, support and protection programs, rolled out as a component of the Public administration programs. This can be considered to be part of the entire structure of Public Administration Genome Project (PAGP). The case presented gives clear breakdown of several variables and topics that are integrated within the bigger genome project. It adds on to the other research cases that had been done on other topics within this context.