East County Gets New Child Support Office : Simi Valley: Beginning today, courthouse will also offer aid to battered family members. Proposition 172 funds will finance services.

In a move to make the East County Courthouse more complete, the district attorney today will open a new office to help mothers collect child support payments and to protect family members who have been battered at home.

Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury and Supervisor Vicky Howard announced the new services Wednesday at the 4-year-old courthouse near Simi Valley City Hall.

“I’m so happy and proud that we are now able to offer these services to the people of this community,” Howard said. “The east end of the county has never really had the services that I felt we paid for and deserved because of a tough budget.”

During a press conference at the courthouse, Bradbury credited Howard with laying the groundwork for the new office, which he said would be funded in part by sales tax dollars generated by Proposition 172.

Money from the voter-approved measure has been used to fill vacant staff positions and enabled the district attorney to transfer three employees from Ventura to Simi Valley. Between $5,000 and $6,000 also was spent to furnish the new office.

Bradbury said the county will provide even more service at the courthouse soon. Although it has six courtrooms, the courthouse now uses only two--and those are staffed by court commissioners who hear mostly traffic cases.

“I anticipate that in the not to distant future, we’ll see criminal trials out here as well,” Bradbury said. “I think we’ll see a Superior Court judge out here in the next six to 12 months.”

Also, Bradbury said he hopes to assign a deputy district attorney to the courthouse within the next year to work with local police agencies to determine if charges should be filed in criminal cases.

“Right now, police have to drive to Ventura to have their cases reviewed for filing decisions,” Bradbury said. “This means officers have to spend a lot of time on the road. This will allow them to get back to their investigations quicker.”

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Stanley Trom, director of the district attorney’s Child Support Division, said his office handles about 42,000 child support cases, and about 25% to 30% of those cases are from the east county.

“I assume things will be very busy here,” Trom said. “I think there will soon be a need to expand.”

Trom said his office collected $27.5 million in child support payments last year, making Ventura County the first in the state for collections. He said, however, that more than $100 million is owed in back child support in the county.

Starting today, Ana Longo, a family support officer, and Teri Morgan, an office assistant, will report to the east county office on the second floor of the courthouse at 3855-F Alamo St.

The office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and will provide services to locate absent parents and enforce child support orders.

Barbara O’Neil, a victims’ advocate, is also assigned to the office to counsel crime victims. O’Neil will help victims of domestic violence obtain restraining orders quickly.

The new prosecutor’s office is the latest addition to a growing number of county services at the courthouse. Departments represented include building and safety, children’s services, public social services and the public defender. Supervisor Howard also has an office in the courthouse.

Howard, who retires in January, said adding the child support office is a wonderful way to “close out my time of service.”

“To me, this is one of the most important services we could provide,” she said.