The Federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) requires each state to have a single location to receive and disburse child support payments. The purpose of this law is to streamline and reduce the costs of the child support collection and disbursement process, to allocate money received across all local child support agency cases (IV-D) according to law and to simplify the administration of wage assignments for employers.

To this end the California Department of Child Support Services is developing a new statewide computer system, the California Child Support Automation System (CCSAS). CCSAS is made up of two components, the State Distribution Unit (SDU) and the Child Support Enforcement System (CSE).

The SDU will process the collections and disbursements for all cases being enforced by the local child support agencies (IV-D Cases) and private child support cases (Non IV-D Cases) when they are being paid by direct wage withholding. Implementation of the SDU is scheduled in Orange County for November, 2005 and will become fully operational statewide by the spring of 2006.

The second component of CCSAS is the Child Support Enforcement System (CSE). CSE will be implemented in phases. Version 1, phase I of the system is scheduled to go on line in the fall of 2005, and will provide a central data base for child support cases and the associated functionality to support enforcement activities in all local child support agencies. Version 1, phase 2, is scheduled to go on line in the spring of 2006, and will provide allocation of current support and arrears across all IV-D cases statewide. The final version of the Child Support Enforcement System will be fully operational statewide by the fall of 2008.

1. Receive and process payments in a centralized location and through one system. It provides a single place for employers, obligor parents and other states to send support payments.
2. Disburse and distribute support payments from a centralized location and through one system. It provides a single entity to send payments to custodial parents and other states.
3. Staff an Electronic Help Desk to provide support for employers, obligor parents and other states in sending; and custodial parents and other states in receiving payments, using electronic processes such as wire transfer, credit card, direct deposit etc.
4. Staff a Non IV-D Customer Service Center to provide non IV-D participants limited information about their child support, such as payment histories or replacement payments.

A. In IV-D cases when a payment is received by the SDU the following process will take place:

1. The SDU staff identifies the obligor parent making the payment and sends the payment information to the CSE*.
2. The CSE allocates the payment across all the obligor parent’s cases within the state.
3. The CSE sends disbursement instructions according to the allocation to the SDU.
4. The SDU disburses according to the CSE’s instructions.
5. The SDU sends disbursement status information to the CSE.

(*Before the CSE is operational, the SDU will receive the payment allocation instructions from the local child support agencies. During the transition period, local child support agencies receiving payments will forward the payment to the SDU for processing. Once CSE is operational, the local child support agencies will be responsible for updating the information in CSE for the cases they administer.)

B. In private non IV-D cases enforced by wage withholding: the following process will occur when a payment is received:

1. The SDU staff identifies the obligor parent and sends the payment information to the CSE.
2. The CSE determines the payment is associated with a non-IV-D case and applies the funds to that case.**
3. CSE sends disbursement instructions to the SDU.
4. The SDU disburses according to the CSE instructions.
5. The SDU sends disbursement status information to the CSE.

(**The CSE will be building its non-IV-D data base from information it receives from the employers who honor the wage assignments and from the Child Support Registry Forms that are required to be filed in the family law courts when child support orders are entered. It will be critical that the custodial parents keep the CSE and SDU informed of their current addresses and banking information so that the child support payments can be processed accurately.)

In IV-D Cases:

1. Once the SDU is implemented in the county that is enforcing the child support order, the IV-D Obligor will be notified to send all California child support payments directly to the SDU.
2. The obligor will have the ability to electronically submit re-occurring and one time payments via the SDU website or by phone, as well as through other payment methods, such as credit card and Western Union.
3. If support payments are withheld by the employer, they will continue to be withheld and will be forwarded to the SDU instead of the local child support agency.
4. Obligor’s may contact the SDU Electronic Help Desk for answers to their questions about electronic payment processing.

In Non IV-D Cases:

1. Obligors who are paying by wage assignment may contact the Non IV-D Customer Services Center for answers to their questions about the SDU as well as request payment history records.
2. Upon transition to the SDU, notices will be sent to the Non-IV-D obligors that will include their new case number, contact information for the Non IV-D Customer Service Center and information on how to claim family violence to prevent disclosure of their information.
3. If support payments are withheld by the employer, they will continue to be withheld and will be forwarded to the SDU instead of the local child support agency.

In IV-D Cases:

1. The custodial parents will begin receiving checks issued by the SDU. They will look different than the checks issued by the counties.
2. If the custodial parent has been receiving direct deposit from the county, the SDU will issue the payment via direct deposit according to the instructions received from the local child support agency.
3. Once the SDU is fully operational the custodial parents will have the option to receive child support payments electronically by direct deposit, electronic pay cards (EPC) that function like a Visa or debit card, or by paper check.
4. Custodial Parents may contact the SDU Electronic Help Desk for answers to their questions about electronic disbursements.

In Non IV-D Cases:

1. If the child support obligor is paying by wage assignment, the custodial parent will begin receiving checks from the SDU instead of the employer.
2. Upon transition to the SDU, notices will be sent to the Non-IV-D custodial parent that will include their new case number, contact information for the Non IV-D Customer Service Center and information on how to claim family violence to prevent disclosure of their information.
3. Once the SDU is fully operational the custodial parents will have the option to receive child support payments electronically by direct deposit, electronic pay cards (EPC) that function like a Visa or debit card, or by paper check.
4. Custodial Parents may contact the SDU Electronic Help Desk for answers to their questions about electronic disbursements.
5. Custodial parents may contact the Non IV-D Customer Services Center for answers to their questions about the SDU as well as request payment history records.

The SDU will have no impact on cases where the obligor parent is paying the custodial parent directly and a local child support agency is not involved in enforcement. The only non IV-D cases that are impacted are those that are being paid by wage withholding.