Description

Under supervision, establishes, monitors for compliance, and initiates enforcement actions of child support orders in compliance with statutory requirements for court processing and locates custodial and non-custodial parties.

Typical Tasks

• Conducts interviews by phone or in person with custodial and non custodial parties, relatives, attorneys, and other interested individuals to gather necessary information, verify facts, establish the case, explain procedures for processing, and keep accurate information;
• Establishes parentage and/or enforceable support obligations consistent with California Child Support Guidelines;
• Initiates support enforcement action which includes: wage assignments, medical support notices, garnishments, tax intercepts, license revocation, and referral for criminal investigation;
• Creates and maintains child support cases according to State and Federal regulations and established procedures;
• Prepares petitions, complaints, stipulations, judgments, orders to show cause, motions, and other case-related documents, prepares statistical and other reports as required, and composes correspondence;
• Locates custodial and non-custodial parties by contacting other agencies and businesses to obtain information and performs other enforcement activities to assure compliance with court orders;
• Reviews documents for compliance with statutes, court decisions and other legal authorities, recommends and initiates appropriate actions, and prepares related correspondence;
• Initiates and responds to interstate action with other jurisdictions for the establishment and enforcement of actions;
• Evaluates the custodial and non-custodial party's financial and personal data to determine support responsibility within established procedures and negotiates child support payments consistent with financial evaluation;
• Reviews documents for compliance and recommends initiation of appropriate legal action, gathers all information required, and makes decisions on whether to open and/or close cases;
• Within established guidelines, negotiates with private attorneys and non-custodial parties to establish amount of support and to reach settlement on arrearages;
• Assists attorneys by preparing cases; appearing at hearings or in court as a witness; and/or initiating fraud referrals;
• Negotiates payment plans, including wage assignments on support payments in arrears;
• Responds to inquiries from custodial and non-custodial parties, private attorneys, and others regarding office policies and procedures and case status;
• In accordance with guidelines and child support legislation, performs calculations; researches, gathers and compiles pay records using all necessary data sources; and issues instructions for processing;
• Explains calculations of child support payments and discusses child support cases with Child Support Attorneys and custodial and non-custodial parties, and assembles required information for cases for which legal action is indicated;
• In accordance with Department guidelines and child support legislation, analyzes and evaluates child support cases and determines enforcement actions;
• Explains refund procedures, and case document processing to custodial and non-custodial parties, clerical support staff and others;
• May perform quality control reviews;
• May serve on committees and review policies and procedures;
• May be assigned as a Disaster Service Worker as required;
• Performs other related work as required.
  
  

Employment Standards

Sufficient education, training and work experience to perform the typical tasks listed above and demonstrate the possession of the required knowledge and abilities listed below.

Experience Note: Completion of one (1) year of training equivalent to a Child Support Officer I in the Santa Clara County Department of Child Support Services.

Knowledge Of

• Office practices and procedures, including filing systems, financial record keeping, reference sources and preparation of correspondence and reports;
• English vocabulary, grammar, spelling, punctuation and style/format;
• Interviewing techniques to obtain factual, personal and sensitive information;
• Customer services principles, including the handling of irate, hostile and distressed people;
• Computer applications, such as word processing, spreadsheet and/or database;
• Business mathematics including percentages and decimals.
• The laws, regulations, policies, procedures and processes related to the establishment and enforcement of child support orders;
• Typical sources of information used in tracing missing persons;
• Sources of social, financial, medical, employment and other personal information;
• Electronic data systems including information and retrieval.
  
  

Ability to:

• Conduct effective interviews to obtain personal and factual information and make arithmetical computations;
• Assess family relationships and situations;
• Communicate effectively both orally and in writing;
• Effectively organize work, establish priorities, and maintain productivity and accuracy;
• Establish cooperative working relationships with those contacted in the course of work and deal tactfully with those who become hostile or emotionally upset;
• Read, interpret, and properly apply rules, regulations, laws, policies, and keep accurate records;
• Extract pertinent information from court records and other sources.
• Apply guidelines in setting relative importance of cases and in initiating enforcement actions;
• Work independently, reason logically, adapt to varying circumstances, and use sound judgment in the performance of duties;
• Reconcile accounts and correct errors or imbalances.