Child Support Collection to Shift From County to State Agency

Parents who need help collecting child support should notice little difference when services are moved from the district attorney’s office to a new agency, Ventura County’s top prosecutor said Tuesday.

“This operation has always been stellar, and it will continue to be stellar,” Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury said after a meeting with county leaders to officially begin the transfer of collection efforts.

A 1999 state law mandates that collection services be removed from district attorney supervision and placed in newly created child support offices overseen by the state. The change is intended to increase collections and efficiency, and came after a Times investigation revealed that efforts to track down deadbeat parents were fragmented.

Officials said the record in Ventura County is far better than in neighboring Los Angeles County.

Ventura County annually collects about 45% of the total amount owed, compared with 32% in Los Angeles County and 41% statewide, according to a recent report by the state Department of Child Support Services.

The legislation requires each of the state’s 58 counties to start a new agency that will be responsible for collecting child support payments. The departments, to be run by the counties, will be funded by state and federal money, and will be accountable to a statewide director. Funding will be tied to performance and compliance.

Eleven counties, including Santa Barbara and Riverside, have already made the switch.

Bradbury said Ventura County must shift its services by July 2002, but county leaders are getting an early start to avoid any gaps in service.

“The move will be pretty much a seamless transition for the families that our office serves,” he said.

The transition should be seamless for employees as well, officials said. Nearly all 314 of the present employees will have jobs at the new agency, with the same pay and benefits. The 13 deputy district attorneys will be offered jobs as child support lawyers; the five investigators will stay at the district attorney’s office.

The new director will be appointed by county supervisors and approved by the state.

Stan Trom, who has headed up the county’s Child Support Division for more than 15 years, said he is interested in the position.

In Ventura County, the division serves more than 37,000 families and collects about $46 million in child support each year.

Officials said the division is always trying to find new ways to track down delinquent parents and increase collections, and could benefit from the new state leadership and backing.

Under the new system, the Franchise Tax Board will play a greater role. It will have the authority to negotiate payments directly with parents, and to file bankruptcy and estate liens in civil actions.

Ventura County has already been working with the tax board on collections as part of a statewide pilot project.

A statewide computer system will be created to allow counties to share information. But Trom said the biggest change is that the new Ventura County Department of Child Support Services will no longer be a law enforcement agency.

As a result, it will not be able to directly prosecute parents who fail to pay child support, will not have direct access to criminal records and won’t be able to employ investigators. But the agency will be able to refer cases to the district attorney’s office and contract with the office for investigative services.

“It’s not just a cosmetic change,” Trom said. “It’s more than changing Mike [Bradbury]’s name on the door and the paperwork.”

The county will continue to do outreach at schools and career centers, and use the WeTip Web site and “Most Wanted Parent” posters to track down the delinquent parents who are most difficult to locate.