A tad late, but this provides notice of the changes to child support assignment of pre-assistance arrears resulting from the implementation of the Federal Deficit Reduction Act (FDRA) of 2005. The Department of Child Support Services (DCSS) issued policy letter CSS 09-14 on September 23, 2009 regarding the requirement to assign support as a condition of eligibility for CalWORKs cash aid. An aided family is no longer required to assign their pre-assistance child support arrears as a condition of eligibility for public assistance. Effective October 1, 2009, the FDRA limited the assignment to the amount of support that accrued during the period that a family receives aid, not to exceed the cumulative amount of the “unreimbursed assistance pool (UAP).” To address the fact that families may have had their cases handled incorrectly for almost 2 years, the state “strongly encourage CWDs to notify applicants and recipients that they may begin to receive Child Support payments in excess of the child support $50 disregard, and that they need to report this income, if it exceeds the Income Reporting Threshold (IRT). Also includes information on unticking the months on aid. [Download]
Summaries of select CalWORKs, CalFresh, Health and Housing Regulations
child support
ACL 07-51: (CalWORKs) Notifications To The Local Child Support Agency (LCSA) (12/14/07)
This ACL addresses policy related to referrals to the LCSA, applicant/recipient cooperation requirements, good cause notifications to the LCSA and other notifications related to the county’s case actions. Reminders about how to handle the case when an applicant/recipient is being referred for a good cause/deferral of cooperation review, and how the LSCSA and counties are to determine "cooperation."
ACIN I-44-06 – New Processes for the Automated Statewide Allocation of Child Support Payment Disbursements and the Redirection of Payments (September 28, 2006).
Only time will tell if this latest automation step will help or hurt, but read how child support wage assignment payments will now all go to the State Disbursement unit (SDU) instead of to the local child support agency or the custodial parent. This change is intended to correct the problem of the employer sending the payment to the local county, when the non-custodial parent (NCP) actually owed support to more than one household, especially when the children lived in different counties. This may impact the CalWORKs 60 month time limit (for better or worse) as disbursements get distributed to all the NCP’s children subject to a collection order. [Download]
ACIN I-39-06 – Referral of Pregnant Women and Pregnant Minor Cases to Local Child Support Agencies (May 25, 2006)
A reminder to counties, in keeping with spirit but not the wording of Supreme Court decisions, that pregnant women and minor parents are not to be asked to assign support rights for the fetuses. Stating that unborn children are not mandatory members of the Assistance Unit, the County Welfare Department is to make no referral to Child Support Agency until the child is born. [Download]
ACL 05-37 – Changes to Requirements Regarding Child Support Referrals (November 22, 2005)
CDSS issued regulations regarding whether it is in the best interests of a foster child to make a child support (collection) referrals. This All County Letter transmits a newly modified form for the documentation and transmission of a social worker’s determination of best interest to not make the referral. [Download]
CSS Letter 04-30: Set Aside of Paternity Judgment (12/15/04)
The Department of Child Support Services has issued CSS letter 04-30 which implements A.B. 252 regarding paternity disestablishment. The legislation and implementing instructions establish a two year time frame for a father to move for paternity disestablishment after the father knew or should have known of the paternity judgment if a genetic test shows that the person against whom judgment was entered is not the father. The legislation also establishes standards for when a court can order genetic tests to prove paternity in cases involving the Local Child Support Agency. [Download]