Over the last 19 months North Coast Regional Department of Child Support Services (North Coast DCSS) has collected more than $1 million in child support for California families through its newly-developed worker’s compensation team.
Last fiscal year, North Coast DCSS—a partnership between Humboldt and Trinity Counties—collected more than $660,000 for California families in 17 counties. In the seven months of this fiscal year they have already collected more than half of a million dollars that go primarily to children living in poverty.
“We’re focused on getting money to families with children so that they get the financial support they need,” said Lisa Dugan, Director of North Coast DCSS. “A little can go a long way for a family living below the poverty line.”
The ”Worker’s Comp Center of Excellence” group within North Coast DCSS developed expertise and working relationships with employers, insurance companies, the Department of Industrial Relations, the Workers Compensation Appeals Board and attorneys representing parents who owe court-ordered child support and are receiving workers compensation payments or lump-sums. The team has become the go-to resource for child support collection of workers compensation payments, handling these types of cases for 18 other counties through memorandums of understanding.
Nationwide, the Child Support Program collects money for nearly 16 million families with children—including one in five California children. Child support represented, on average, 41 percent of the income for parents receiving child support payments in 2013, up from 29 percent in 1997. The reliance on child support payments is even more dire for those living below 50 percent of the federal poverty line. For those families, child support payments represented 65 percent of the family’s income, up from 38 percent in 1997.
Find out more about the services offered by North Coast DCSS in this overview video or visit their website.