Honorees Provide Best Moment for Children

The 2009 CSLN Partnership Award presentation becomes emotional as founder is remembered and speakers celebrate the past and present.

July 16, 2009 -

Providence, RI – The Child Support Lien Network and the State of Rhode Island Child Support Services presented the inaugural Partnership Awards at the 5th Annual Rhode Island Child Support conference on May 18th, 2009.

Jack Murphy-CSLN Founder
Director of Rhode Island Child Support Services, Sharon A. Santilli, Esq., remembered CSLN Founder and her predecessor, Jack Murphy, on what would have been his 62nd birthday.

“Although Jack unexpectedly passed away last December,” Sharon said, “today we celebrate the work he did ten years ago to bring together the child support directors and the insurance industry with this Partnership Award. Jack worked with the insurance industry to address their concerns and assure them that the insurance intercept process would not be intrusive to their day to day operations. He kept his promise. Jack also had the ability to outreach successfully to the other state child support directors and encouraged them to join the network of states benefiting from this highly successful enforcement tool. And his obvious love for helping kids led to mutual relationships of trust and respect that formed the cornerstone of CSLN.”

Partnership Award Celebrates Best Moment
The Partnership Award, called Best Moment, is a unique sculpture created by Rhode Island artist Deborah Bussiere. Sharon explained the story behind the sculpture:

“This boy’s mother receives a child support check resulting from an insurance intercept. Mom is able to relax knowing the bills can be paid this month. The boy notices this relief and feels happy. Mom knows the boy loves soccer and wants his own ball. There hasn’t been a lot for extras lately, so she thought she’d surprise him and takes him to the store to purchase his very own soccer ball. He is ecstatic! On the way home, they stop to get an ice cream. The boy is thrilled and arrives home to share both the ice cream and the soccer ball with his best friend - his dog! Because of the check, the boy has a great day. This sculpture represents the child’s Best Moment of a great day!”

Sharon went on and explained the significance of the award:

“First, we wanted the award to be unique and memorable. We realize the success of the CSLN partnership is based on the unique and critical relationship between government and the participating insurance companies. The key ingredient to the success of this program is the public / private partnership that was formed early on, and it continues to be the foundation of the program today. To the insurance industry''s credit, many insurers have voluntarily participated in CSLN and have served as good corporate citizens, providing claim information and collections on past-due child support.

The second thing we wanted the award to signify the benefit we provide for children every day. We, in child support, focus so much on the day to day operations - establishing paternity, establishing orders, modifying support orders, and location activities that we wanted an award that reminds everyone of the enormous benefit for a child when their parent or guardian receives a check as a result of our public/private partnership.“

2009 Partnership Award Recipients
The insurance company award was presented to the Liberty Mutual Group. Dan Donovan, Regional Manager, Special Investigations Unit, accepted the award and thanked the child support workers for their dedication to the difficult task of helping kids in need. He has family members who work in the social services arena so he knows the effort these workers make on a daily basis. Of all the projects he had worked on at Liberty Mutual, this was his most gratifying.

The Insurance Trade association, Property Casualty Insurance Association of America (PCIAA) was also honored. Senior Director-Personal Lines, Robert C. Passmore, accepted the award and was proud that PCI was part of the effort that allowed insurance companies to work with government to help kids.

Marty Roth, Supervisor, Special Collections, accepted a Partnership Award for the Texas Office of Attorney General, Child Support Division. Marty thanked all the insurance companies that have participated in the program because CSLN has meant so much to the children of Texas. He specifically thanked Liberty Mutual and said his very first intercept involved a very friendly and helpful Liberty Mutual employee.

The last award recipient was the insurance trade association, American Insurance Association or AIA. Words were read from President & CEO Leigh Ann Pusey who thanked CSLN and congratulated the other award recipients. “AIA will continue to support CSLN’s efforts in educating and reaching out to insurance companies in order to increase participation in the network and further improve the effectiveness of this invaluable tool.”

Jack F. Murphy Award
The good feelings and kind words intensified as Mary Murphy, the widow of Child Support Lien Network (CSLN) founder Jack Murphy, Ann Bellotti, Jack’s sister and CSLN Director, George French, presented the first Jack F. Murphy award.

George said,

“I consider it very fortunate that Jack saw the original design of this award and liked what we had done. We lost Jack Murphy back in December, but the work he started and his legacy will live on through the CSLN program that has helped thousands of children and families across the country. Today I am very privileged and humbled to award the first annual Jack F. Murphy CSLN Award in honor of my friend and the CSLN founder to Sharon A. Santilli. It is our hope that this award symbolizes everything we all work for everyday and reflects the true champions of children through the work of CSLN.”

Sharon, unaware that she was the recipient of the John F. Murphy CSLN Award, was honored for her dedicated commitment to helping children and families during her career in a way that Jack would have been proud of. She has provided a steady stewardship for Rhode Island Child Support since taking over for Jack in 2004. She took her passion for supporting kids to the national level by being a past President of the National Child Support Enforcement Association (NCEA) where she led chartered change and a successful national conference.

“For CSLN, Sharon has at critical times over the past 5 years, handled very important decisions with the grace, commitment and integrity that only she can command,” George said. During her tenure, CSLN has expanded from 13 to 30 states, and now has over 1,300 insurers participating; having helped states collect an estimated 500+ million dollars.

George closed the awards presentation by saying,

“We started the plans for the CSLN Awards last fall with our 10th year approaching, knowing it was important to give something back to the insurance industry and the stakeholders who make this program work. We just had an opportunity to meet some of the champions of CSLN. I personally thank them for everything they do every day.”