(229) Child Support Fund

Child Support Services provides services mandated by Title IV-D of the Social Security Act. The department is operated by the County, administered by the State Department of Child Support Services, and provides services to all families regardless of their economic situation. The program works with parents and guardians to ensure children and families receive court-ordered financial and medical support. Services include locating a parent; establishing paternity; establishing, modifying and enforcing a court order for child support; and establishing, modifying and enforcing an order for health coverage. The department helps recoup partial welfare costs for the County and State through this collection activity. Since 2002, the counties of Santa Cruz and San Benito have operated a regional department of Child Support Services, with Santa Cruz acting as the lead agency.

To accomplish these tasks, the Department includes administrative divisions of: Payroll; and Purchasing; and includes the programmatic divisions of: Case Intake/Establishment; Case Processing; Case Enforcement; Legal Counsel; and Caseload Financial Accounting.

• Collected and distributed $6,081,569 in child support payments, up from last year's amount of $5,592,017.
• Improved performance in the areas of Paternity Establishment, Cases with Orders Established, and Cases with Collections on Arrears.
• Continued to strengthen our partnership with the courts, Family Law Facilitator and our new Family Law Commissioner.
• Staff adapted to remote work due to COVID-19 and continued to provide customer service by appointment, telephone, and online methods.
• We installed a TouchPay Payment Kiosk in our lobby for customer ease and convenience.

• Funding.
• Staffing levels.
• Increased costs.

• Increase collections.
• Improve Federal Performance Measures, including cost effectiveness.
• Improve customer experience and increase collaborative partnerships.