Child Support Services pivots in approach
Pilot program emphasizes family-centered enforcement
Eastern Sierra Child Support Services Regional Director Amy Weurdig gave an update to Inyo County supervisors Tuesday on some of the changes going on within the department.
Supervisors passed a proclamation declaring the month of August Child Support Awareness Month.
Weurdig, who was appointed earlier this year to head up the regional agency that covers Inyo and Mono counties, said the proclamation, in part, recognizes the effort child support workers make to support the financial needs of the children of single parents in the community.
Weurdig said the theme for the month is going to be “Get the facts.”
“We’re working with the state of California to reach out to families to help educate them on what child support can do to support them so that no single parent is alone,” she said.
Research conducted statewide reveals that many California parents are unaware of the programs available for their benefit through Child Support Services. The child support program exists to assist both parents as well as legal guardians in the active provision of a stable and supportive environment for California’s children. Many misconceptions remain, and parents are encouraged to get the facts as services offered are more flexible and responsive to the needs of modern families than ever before.
As California continues to respond to statewide impacts of COVID19, local child support offices are available virtually and in person to assist single parents and their families with improved services that expand eligibility and access for those in need.
According to the Inyo County proclamation, in the past year the Eastern Sierra Child Support Agency provided assistance to more than 896 children and 1,046 families in Inyo and Mono counties.
According to Weurdig, more than $2.7 million
was collected in Fiscal Year 2019-20 to assist local children and families.
“Eastern Sierra Department of Child Support … actively seeks to provide family-centered services through partnerships with other county and state agencies, to establish and collect consistent child support payments to families,” the proclamation states.
Weurdig said her department staff is part of a pilot program with the state to simplify the application process to reduce the time and effort that single parents currently have to go through. The simplified application process is set to run from Aug. 1 through Oct. 31.
She said when the state of Virginia adopted this program, Virginia saw a 34% increase in child support cases “and a high customer service rating.”
“We are going to be piloting that to outreach to our families in our community for the next three months,” Weurdig said.
She said her department also is working with the state to deliver “menu-driven child support enforcement activities.”
This means a parent can approach her staff for help with a transition of financial needs within certain parameters of enforcement to avoid penalizing the other parent, Weurdig said.
“We’re starting to develop some new methodologies and some new enforcement tactics that are more family friendly, to be less anti-poverty driven” she said. “And we have some pretty lofty goals at our little agency to do some of these things.”
She said because she has a small office her staff is “very agile.”
“I feel that my team is really on board,” Weurdig said, adding that her staff wants to help leverage and implement the new approaches.
Weurdig said the pivot includes retraining staff to think differently on how they manage their customer service moving forward. It also includes expanding the reach into Hispanic communities with additional bilingual staff, resources and social media.
“I’m just so happy and excited with where we’re going and how we’re changing the face of child support for our county,” Weurdig said. “We are different now, we’re going to be family centric. We’re going to really try to make sure that the child has the financial well being that they need without penalizing the other parent to the point of poverty. We really are feeling strongly that we’re here to help the families.”
Eastern Sierra Child Support Services can be reached at (866) 9013212.
For more information about California Child Support Services, and the programs available, visit childsupport.ca.gov.