Who’s going where? This is a great opportunity to let us know who is promoting and or joining your organization. These are their new positions.

Would you like to let us know who is moving and where? Send email to Stacy Gray to share in our next issue of OneVoice.

By Adam Perry, Child Support Program Manager, El Dorado County DCSS

I recently had the pleasure of presenting a tool at the CSDA Membership meeting in early July and then again during a webinar hosted by CSDA in late August. The tool was developed during my time as a Program Planner in Sacramento County and a Program Manager in El Dorado County to expand on the concept of PI #6 and provide a valuable tool to caseworkers to target cases that may need intervention.

The Practice Indicators (PI) was created to provide data on Local Child Support Agencies (LCSA) practices that affect the overall service provided to our customers. The Mission Statement for State DCSS is to promote parental responsibility to enhance the well-being of children by providing child support services to establish parentage and collect child support.  The PIs support the mission of State DCSS and let the LCSAs know how they are doing in the support of the mission and the service to the customers. The PIs are intended to support customer service outcomes for California families that require IV-D assistance.

Practice Indicator (PI) #6 – Percent of Current Support Paid by Percentage Band has been identified by many LCSAs as a valuable PI to closely monitor as it correlates directly with Federal Performance Measure (FPM) 3. Because PI #6 applies banding segments to only the year-to-date current support paid versus year-to-date current support owed, I identified an alternative way of applying the same banding segments to the monthly current support paid versus the monthly current support owed as well. This allows a caseworker to see more real-time changes in current support paid throughout the Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) and intervene more timely. This alternative method of gathering data also allows the LCSA to look at payment trends as well as conduct impact analysis.

Below is an example of why it is important to look at data in alternative ways.

Over the past year, the concept of banding was also applied to arrears distribution to help identify and target arrears cases that may need to have the arrears payback amount increased due to the length of time it will take the NCP to pay off the arrears at his current payment rate.

Caseworker Banding Tool – What is it?

The Caseworker Banding Tool is a tool that:

• Expands on the concept of PI #6 to help identify current support cases that may need intervention
• Applies the same framework to help identify arrears cases that may need intervention
• Provides a tool for supervisors to measure impacts
• Provides reports to identify trends in current support payments and arrears distribution
• Provides data that allows LCSAs to be creative and target cases for specialized projects

Can the tool be shared?

Before the tool can be shared there are some things that we need to overcome.

• Data Repository – Access to the data for all LCSAs
• Excel Skills – Complex Template and Formulas
• Large Counties = Large amounts of data!
• Monthly Maintenance

 We are working on it with the help of the CSDA IT Committee and others.

• Frank Shipley (Alameda) – Automation/Different platform?
• Phil Kryder (Santa Barbara) – Making the data available for all LCSAs
• Pedro Marenco (Sacramento) – Query assistance

Things are moving quickly and we are hoping to have the tool available to all LCSAs in November for the FFY 2017/2018.

If you are interested in looking at the webinar CLICK HERE (Members Only link)

By Amy Miragliotta, Deputy Director of Operations, San Diego County DCSS

The County of San Diego DCSS (COSD DCSS) established a College Education Savings Account (CESA) team that has been working over the last twenty months to create a program to aid in the fight to end intergenerational poverty. In San Diego County’s child support program, 10,438 custodial and noncustodial parents were previously dependents on their parents’ cases. This trend of adults in child support cases who were formerly dependents is especially alarming among cases initiated by aided participants. In San Diego County, the percentage of both adults and children living in poverty increased from 9.6% of adults and 15.9% of children in 2005 to 14.2% and 18.9% respectively in 2014. Intergenerational poverty is influenced by a number of factors, with lack of education being chief among them. Educational opportunities for impoverished children is one key in breaking the cycle for low income families. Research shows that children who have $1 to $499 in education savings accounts are three times more likely to attend post–secondary institutions and four times more likely to graduate. Through this program, COSD DCSS believes we can help children within our caseload to be first generation college students.

The first optional plan, named the State Debt Reduction (SDR), has been submitted to State DCSS via “white paper” for review and permission to implement. This program works as a modified COAP offering two-to-one reduction of state owed arrears.  For each dollar that is placed in a 529 college savings account for the minor dependent, two dollars will be reduced from their state owed arrears.  The second proposed plan is to work with brand new case participants and educate at intake and establishment on the benefits of 529 college savings accounts and how a contribution of as little as $25 per a month can make a tremendous impact on their child. For this optional plan, COSD DCSS is working closely with the court commissioners to create and add language to court orders that will help to solidify a monthly payment to the 529 college savings account. This plan also includes match incentives that will help to reward targeted milestones for the CP, NCP, and dependent. COSD DCSS is working to solidify a grant to help financially support the match incentives.

In addition, COSD DCSS partnered with the San Diego Financial Literacy Center (SDFLC) and the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association–College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF). The SDFLC will provide a financial literacy component to our participants that will help them develop a strong foundation of practical money skills. The SDR program aims to empower families to contribute to the future successes of their children by alleviating the stress of paying for college. This optional program creates opportunities to pursue post-secondary education that can help break the poverty cycle for low-income families.

Jeff Symons, MSE, CEAS, CEAC – Rehabilitation Engineer

You would not want to walk around with shoes that do not fit you well or are the wrong size. In that vein, it is important to have proper fitting equipment at work. However, most people have no idea of the proper ergonomic position or even how to adjust their chair. They just sit down and start working. Often times the chair may be adequate for their needs, but they are unaware of how to adjust it properly. Or the desk height is not right, monitor size and distance are improper, or lighting inadequate.
Most people have heard about ergonomics and how following the right principles can avoid injuries and provide a more productive work environment. Although there are a number of studies that support this, many businesses put this low on their priority list and never invest in ergonomic assessments until an individual has an injury. With repetitive motion injuries such as carpal tunnel becoming more and more frequent, now is a time to do some simple things to prevent these injuries.
Answers to ergonomics and injury prevention:

1. Besides assessing an individual employee’s physical needs and specific work environment, an assessor will show the person how to adjust their chair, keyboard, mouse, font size, and foot position. As well, they will explain a good ergonomic position and the importance of taking micro stretch breaks throughout the day.
2. Assessments usually last about 20– 30 minutes/person and cost around $50/person depending on total number in group, travel, and how detailed a report is desired.
3. Most ergonomists who perform ergonomic assessments do not have a vested interest in selling any equipment (they should reveal this ahead of time).
4. Musculoskeletal disorders (such as carpal tunnel) are entirely preventable and quite unnecessary injuries that cost the US economy billions of dollars and inflict misery and suffering on affected workers.

The largest expense is a basic ergonomic chair that fits the staff person well ($300-$400). Additional items such as a foot rest ($40), wrist rest ($20), document holder ($50), and monitor risers ($30) are typical items that might be recommended in an injury prevention assessment. OSHA estimates the average cost of an ergonomic injury is $30,000.00. (http://www.creativesafetypublishing.com/how-much-does-an-ergonomic-injury-cost/)
Here are some documented benefits of an Injury Prevention Program:

• Cost-effective and simple way to reduce workers’ comp injuries and costs
• Prevents multiple potential injuries by training the workforce on best practices
• Increases employee morale and builds teamwork
• Increases worker productivity
• Reduces lost time
• Mitigates the risks associated with an aging workforce

In closing, besides the injury prevention and avoidance of lost staff time, the benefit to employee morale is incredible. Having conducted a number of these injury prevention assessments, I can tell you first-hand how often employees respond very positively that their employer would bring someone to help make their work environment more comfortable. 

As the saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This is never truer than in the injury prevention area of ergonomics.

Jeff Symons, MSE, CEAS, CEAC is a Rehabilitation Engineer, providing a variety of services for ergonomic assessments, recommendations, and rehabilitation consultation. He can be reached at 916.933.2375; jtsymons@sbcglobal.net; www.jeffsymonsconsulting.com

By Ginger Harms Charity Coordinator, El Dorado County

Each year, the Child Support Directors Association (CSDA) raises funds to help support a non-profit charity selected by the incoming CSDA president. Historically, these fundraising activities have raised more than $25,000 annually for the selected charity. Don Semon, Director of El Dorado County Child Support Services, has decided to focus fundraising efforts for 2018 on homeless children.

As is probably the case with most of you, staff in El Dorado County was unaware of the homeless student population in our community. We had never heard of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, part of which is designed to ensure that children identified as homeless receive access to all school programs and services for which they are eligible. These services include academic support, school nutrition, and transportation to the school where they were enrolled when permanently housed. In California, more than 300,000 homeless students are identified each year and these numbers continue to climb. In rural El Dorado County alone, nearly 1,000 enrolled students have been identified by McKinney-Vento as homeless.

On a regular basis, homeless children and youth report that school is a home for them—a place where they see the same faces, sit in the same seat, and can put their hearts and minds into pursuits that help ease their daily troubles. In school, these children gain the skills and support needed to overcome poverty and homelessness as adults.

In partnership with the El Dorado Community Foundation, El Dorado Child Support Services has created a Homeless Children Matter Fund to support homeless students in our community.

Donations from the fundraising efforts, which conclude at the annual conference in May 2018, will help ensure homeless children in our county receive much-needed academic services and supplies, greater stability in their lives, and the hope for a better tomorrow.  Please help us to make a difference.

For more information or to arrange a donation, please contact Ginger Harms at 530-642-7238 or ginger.harms@edcgov.us

Watch for future articles on the Homeless Children Matter Charity

November 2017—More information/data on McKinney Vento

January 2018—Case studies/complexities of the issue

March 2018—How LCSAs can help

Terri Morelock, Director, Shasta County DCSS

Growing up in a small town with a population of 900 had its advantages and disadvantages. Everyone knew everyone. My father worked at an automotive repair shop in a nearby town, and my mother was a stay-at-home mom raising three children. Dad did not believe in credit, so he built our family home wall by wall as he could afford it. One day, the repair shop owner decided to close the shop, which left my dad unemployed. Money was always tight in those days, and unemployment was not enough to feed the family. Government assistance was not an option. My parents believe in working for what you get and never accepting anything for free. This is where my work ethic began.

My dad worked any jobs he could find. Nothing was beneath him. The first summer my dad was unemployed, we spent all our free time cutting wood and selling it. Dad toyed with the idea of moving the family to Canada to ranch sheep and cows. (My mom was raised by a rancher, and my dad had experience from the odd jobs he had done over the years.) That idea was put to rest when my parents found out the closest school to the ranch was over 100 miles away. Us kids would have had to board during the week and only come home on weekends. Neither mom nor dad would allow for someone else to raise their children, so back to Palo Cedro, California, we went.

My dad had a following of customers who constantly encouraged him to open his own automotive repair shop, so during the following months my folks built and opened their own shop. By then, child number four had arrived, and the business grew day by day and year by year. As children, we all had chores to do—everything from chopping and hauling wood, to cooking meals, to cleaning the house. Each year when deer season opened, we packed up our rifles and canteens for a weekend of hunting. We spent our play time outside riding bikes, swimming, fishing in the creek, riding horses, and staring at the clouds and stars. Supper was always eaten at the kitchen table, never in front of the TV. This was our family time.

I attended a rather small school with grades K-8. I always loved riding the bus to and from school. Early on, I started playing softball and realized I had a love for sports. I played both school and league sports including softball, volleyball, track and field, and basketball. Eventually, I coached girls’ softball for a few years. Still to this day, I have friends with whom I started school and now have regular contact.

By my senior year of high school, I still had no idea what I wanted to do. Earning my own money was my first goal. I worked for YCC one summer, and then landed a retail job with Montgomery Wards. After six years in retail, I knew I needed something else. I attended the local junior college off and on but did not earn enough credits for a degree. In 1984, I was interviewed by the Chief Investigator at the DA Family Support Division of the County of Shasta. Before I made it home, he had called and offered me the job.

Naïve is the only word I can think of to describe my first several months with that office. I had never been exposed to divorce, welfare or government assistance programs, and only a very few people I knew had ever had a child out of wedlock. Two years into this job, I gave birth to my son, Matthew. Anyone who knows me knows he has been my pride and joy for 31 years!

I loved working in the DA FSD program. I applied for every promotion that presented itself, and I worked every different assignment I possibly could. I always volunteered for any new assignments or committee work. I was still taking college courses off and on but not managing to finish my degree. By 2003, I knew I wanted to eventually become the Director of the newly-established Department of Child Support Services. I returned to college full time (nights and weekends) while still working full time and raising both my son and then step-son. There was no such thing as free time. When we had family vacations, I would pack up my backpack full of books and papers so I wouldn’t fall behind in my studies. It was hard, but in the end I achieved my goal: I was appointed by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors as the Director in 2005.

In the fall of 2014, I reconnected with a friend from grammar school (Tim). We often drifted in and out of touch but always remained friends. In October 2014, Tim and I connected through social media and found ourselves in a position where we reluctantly started to date. In just six months, we tied the knot. Both of us had rebounded from unhealthy relationships. We have now built a strong and beautifully-respectful bond. Both of us have deep family roots in Shasta County, and both of us were raised that a paycheck is earned and that it only comes from hard work. Tim opened his own automotive repair shop in 1996. He, like my dad, is extremely successful because of honesty and hard work. Both eventually gave way to their sons who are now successfully carrying on the business legacies.

My years working in this program has opened my heart and soul to many diversities I may not have had a chance to experience. I was hooked, and this program became a part of me from day one. I have been lucky enough to have served on many different committees and workgroups, the CSDA Board, as well as serving as the President in 2007/2008.  I was honored with the Manager of the Year at NCSEA in 2003, the Truly B. Knox award in 2015, and am currently serving as the one and only Child Support representative on a Child Abduction Response Team (CART). I have made lifetime friends who have mentored me along the way, and I believe I have made a small positive difference by the work I have done.

My work and life motto is, “Life should not be a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, margarita in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming: Woo Hoo what a ride!”

Eventually, I will hand the torch to someone else, but for now, I love what I do, the team I have the privilege to work with every day, and the families we serve. Life is just too short to stay at a job that you truly don’t love!

Marcus Mitchell, Director, Kern County DCSS

I was born in Los Angeles and raised in the small suburban community of Valinda, California. I had a great childhood playing in a safe neighborhood with a multitude of friends on my street.  We played baseball in the street and the hoop was at my house where we played basketball as well.  While I wasn’t the best athlete, we were a great group of friends.  I attended William Workman High School and graduated in 1980.  I was also a member of my school band and eventually ended up marching in the Sacramento Freelancers Drum and Bugle Corp for three summers.  I was fortunate to travel summers competing all over the country and Canada.  I got to perform in the Olympic Stadium in Montreal Canada and in the Orange Bowl in Miami, FL.

At the end of my time in drum corps, to my mom’s surprise, I decided it was time to move out and live on my own. So, in my infinite wisdom I decided it would be great to live in Santa Barbara, CA.  I packed up my belongings and moved to Santa Barbara.  A friend of mine put in a good word for me and I got a job in the Math Department at UCSB.  I loved living near the beach but we all know that it ain’t cheap to live in Santa Barbara!  I made it about eleven months and packed up and moved to Sacramento where it was much cheaper to live.

After working for a couple of employers, I took the account clerk test for Sacramento County. I passed the test and made the list. Almost a year went by and I forgot all about the list. To my surprise, I got a message from the receptionist where I was employed to call the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office. I totally freaked out! I thought, what do they think I’ve done?  The rest is history.  I began my career in the child support program at the D.A. Bureau of Family Support in accounting.  I was bitten by the child support bug and realized I was cut out for this line of work.  You see, my parents divorced when I was 14 years old and my father was ordered to pay child support.  My dad paid his support every month on time and never ever missed a payment.  Not only did he pay his support, he stayed completely connected to me and my life.  He, along with my mother, raised me to have a strong work ethic, respect for my fellow man, an attitude of service, and healthy relationship with God. Through life experiences, I realized the power of child support.

After promoting to a Child Support Officer and a Supervising Child Support Officer, I worked on our county’s conversion to the CASES System. I was offered a position with Informatix as a Conversion Manager and with fear and trepidation I left the government for private industry.  I had a great mentor (Frank Shipley) and I worked in several counties doing all the activities related to conversion.  This position allowed me the opportunity to see how the program was administered in different counties and work with and learn from many talented child support professionals.  While I grew so much in a short time, I really missed the program, and the travel was grueling. My wife and I were also trying to start a family and it is really difficult when you aren’t in the same place! I eventually made my way to the CADCSS and worked on the pilot conversions to CSE and became a Regional Administrator for Southern Region. 

Although working at the CADCSS was rewarding, I still missed working at the local level. In 2009, I was hired as the Assistant Director of the Kern County Department of Child Support Services (KCDCSS).  Boy, I thought Sacramento was hot…Bakersfield is way hotter! I had the privilege of working alongside Phyllis Nance, and when she retired from Kern on her road to Alameda I was appointed the Director of KCDCSS, where I proudly serve our community with a dedicated team of child support professionals creating a better life for children.  Along the way I managed to graduate with a Bachelor of Science in Management & Ethics from William Jessup University and Associate Degrees in both Criminal Justice and Christian Studies.

But most important in my life is my family. I married my best friend Sara, and we have three beautiful girls—Victoria 12, Ava 8, and the baby Sarina 6.  Being a husband and father is the most rewarding facet of my life.  We love doing things as a family.  We camp in our RV (the Mitchell Memory Mobile), make as many trips to Hawaii as possible, and my girls and I dance Hula worship together. I live a charmed life.  I have a career that I am passionate about, I get to work with many dedicated professionals serving families, and I get to go home at night to a wonderful wife and three beautiful daughters who love me no matter what.  I am truly thankful for all the blessings that have been bestowed on me in this life.