(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 $6,000,559, down 1.35% from last year’s amount of $6,081,569 in child support payments.
• 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.
• On July 1, 2021, DCSS successfully relocated its office to 1131 San Felipe Road. This move continues the County’s lease of this commercial property, operated by Community Services Development Corporation, changing tenants from the prior occupant, who was the County Behavioral Health Department. Beginning FY 21-22, DCSS now occupies a section of the building while tenant improvements of the physical facilities progress on the premises. DCSS currently shares the building’s lease with the County and is apportioned a share of 41.69% of the rent, with the County paying the remaining 58.32% to the property owner, based on square footage occupied by DCSS. Upcoming in FY 22-23, major work continues for completing tenant improvements before the final move-in operation is complete for DCSS. The FY 22-23 Budget allows an amount up to $131,989 for tenant improvement costs. If expenditures exceed this projected amount, then potential added funding might become available through salary savings that could possibly occur through delays of filling funded vacant positions. The FY 22-23 lease cost for DCSS is estimated as a 6% increase over the current FY 21-22 cost, equivalent to a FY 22-23 annual amount of $89,637. Rent in both FY 21-22 and FY 22-23 are a reduction from the previous location’s cost in FY 20-21 of $96,000 annually.

• Funding.
• Staffing Levels.
• Increased Costs.

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