By Danielle Wermund, Communications Specialist, CSDA We all have been concerned with the number of disasters from hurricanes in the southeastern United States and nearby islands, as well as other tragic events in the news worldwide. We started hearing about the sudden outbreak of wildfires overnight on October 9 in Northern California, and our hearts went out to everyone impacted. We recognize the fires may have affected you personally, someone you love, or others with whom you are acquainted. Several of the fires are still in the process of being contained, and a little over 15,000 are still evacuated as of October 20. We want to recognize the challenges that…

By Tara Turrentine, Homeless Youth Coordinator El Dorado County Office of Education El Dorado County Child Support Services has selected Homeless Children Matter as the beneficiary of fundraising efforts for the next annual CSDA training conference in May 2018. You were briefly introduced to the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act in the September One Voice Newsletter. Celebrating its 30th anniversary, the McKinney-Vento Act’s Education for Homeless Children and Youth program provides children experiencing homelessness with protections and services to ensure they can enroll in and attend school, complete their high school education, and continue on to higher education—their best hope of avoiding poverty and homelessness as adults. The “Every Student Succeeds…

Reporter COLIN ANDERSON, Lead Attorney, Yolo County DCSS Something to think about: SHOULD OUR COURTS BE SANCTUARIES FOR LITIGANTS? The CSDA Legal Practices Committee (LPC) meeting was held telephonically on September 15, 2015. A “walk-on” topic that engendered a lot of discussion was the issue of the special challenges for undocumented individuals in appearing in California courtrooms.             The question posed was whether our courtrooms are sanctuaries for undocumented individuals—where they can/should be free from arrest? The backdrop of this discussion is the increase of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents making arrests of illegal aliens either in the courtroom or just outside it.  NOTE: I have purposely interchanged illegal…

Steven J. Golightly, Ph.D., Director, Los Angeles County CSSD Family History On May 9, 1952, I was born in Jersey City, NJ, to Joe and Delores Golightly. Two years before that, my mother and father were on a vacation in NC (where my dad was from) and my mom went into labor early with my sister. The hospital was not very advanced and my sister Patricia Ann died 24 hours after birth. Every April 3, my mother would remind us about Patricia Ann’s death and how the nurse simply told her, “Your baby expired a few hours ago.” I was born two years after that, four years later Judi came…

Kelley Cote, Director, Lassen County Department of Child Support Services Growing Up I am the firstborn of 5 (yes 5 girls). They are Stacy, Jennifer, Dena and Kristin. I was born in Chester, CA, where my dad was a Deputy Sheriff and my mom stayed home. When I was 5 we moved to Susanville because my dad could make more money working at California Correction Center (CCC). It’s funny when I think back about my childhood—my sisters and I had a great childhood. My dad was an amazing dad. My sisters and I wouldn’t be the strong-willed, successful women that we are today without him. He taught us that all…

By Ross Hutchings, Executive Director , CSDA  This past couple of months have been marked with many tragic events. First were the devastating hurricanes and the destruction they brought. Then I attended a Celebration of Life for one of my dear friends who died from Alzheimer’s after a diagnosis at the age of only 58. Also, I attended the memorial service for a co-worker who became my boss early in my career—again, way too young. Finally, my heart has been broken like many of yours at the death, destruction, and damage from the recent wildfires. When incidents like this occur, it tends to make one think about their life—what is most…

By Natalie Dillon, Director, Yolo County DCSS I had the privilege of attending the 2017 WICSEC (Western Interstate Child Support Enforcement Council) conference in September in Anchorage, Alaska. It was a particular privilege as California’s own Tamara Thomas, Director of Human Resources, Stanislaus County was the presiding President. As an Honorary Lifetime WICSEC Board Member, I am a member of the conference planning committee. I coordinated, moderated, participated and spoke during various sessions throughout the conference. One of the big highlights of the conference was seeing two of our own receive recognition from WICSEC. Specifically, San Bernardino DCSS won the Program Awareness Award and Stanislaus County DCSS won the Outstanding…

By Maureen Leif, J.D., President and Founder of Grays Peak Strategies The idea of agile strategic planning came from the most unexpected place, as most great ideas do, in a conference session with child support directors from all across the nation talking about strategic planning. One of the participants, who was being brave and honest, said, “Why do we even do a strategic plan?” Suddenly there was a chorus of voices saying, “yes…why do we?” The general consensus was that these traditional plans, while well intentioned, tend to be built at the executive level and rolled down to the front-line workers to implement. Almost as soon as the plan is…