The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued instructions regarding the interaction between child support recoupment and CalWORKs overpayments. Any month in which the full amount of CalWORKs paid is reimbursed by collected child support is not counted as a month of receipt of aid for the 48 month time on aid limit. This not counting of months where the full amount of CalWORKs paid is reimbursed by collected child support occurs whether the child support is collected in that month or is retroactively applied to that month.
Child support recoupment cannot be used to reimburse a CalWORKs overpayment because it is used to adjust time-on-aid.
When a month is a partial overpayment and the client is eligible for a portion of the CalWORKs paid for that month, child support recoupment can only repay the portion of the grant that the client is entitled to. Time-on-aid for that month cannot be unticked until the county is fully reimbursed for CalWORKs paid for that month.
If the county determines there is an overpayment for a month that was previously reimbursed by child support collection, the county must change the child support collection to apply it to the next month that has not been unticked. (ACL 18-123, October 8, 2018.)