At the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, the average child support worker is expected to stay on top of 700 cases.

“That’s double what it should be,” said Paul Johnson, an advocate for the state’s poor and low-income families.

To lessen the workload, SRS has proposed – and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius has endorsed – starting a call center to handle questions about court dates, payment schedules and address changes on the state’s computer system.

“We estimate that one-quarter of our workers’ time is spent answering these types of questions,” said SRS Secretary Gary Daniels.

By shifting these inquiries to a call center, he said, workers could spend more time going after delinquent parents.

Because the information is pulled from a single database, the call center could be anywhere. Daniels has proposed putting it in a rural area.

“We think it would be good in an economic development sense,” Daniels said, “and we like the idea of attracting older workers and a lower turnover rate.”

He has not proposed a specific location.

If approved, the call center is expected to employ between 30 and 35 workers.

Sebelius has proposed spending $2 million on the center.