February-March 2021
Customer Service
This success story comes from the Ankeny office. Deb Bussan, Case Manager has been with CSRU for some time. She was a part of the REACH grant and understands the importance of connecting to payors to help them understand child support and overcome barriers.

While working Px4C2, I was able to contact several clients that had not responded before or made contact for quite some time. Two of the cases were similar with current child support billing. Prior payments had been made, but they stopped. 
New Hires
  • Crystal Ely, Mason City (1/14)
  • Katie Madson, Des Moines (1/15)
  • Thomas Collins, Des Moines (2/5)
  • Honor Schuld, South Des Moines (3/8)
Staff Anniversaries

5 Years:
  • Lynnsie Hickey, Waterloo
10 Years:
  • Victoria Stephenson, Carroll
15 Years:
  • Jodi Nore, Central Office
  • Laura Sapp, Waterloo
  • Tangela Sailor, EPICS
  • Nicole Jensen, Waterloo
  • Cheri Damante Cummings, Cedar Rapids
20 Years:
  • Janelle Rueber, Central Office
  • Cynthia Rigdon, EPICS
  • Tammy Starkey, Mason City 
  • Amy Wedemeier, Waterloo (22 years total – 2 years with a contractor)
  • Maria Schnoebelen, Waterloo
  • Chad Willets, Central Office
25 Years:
  • Jennifer Schroeder, Burlington 
30 Years:
  • Larry Ritze, Cedar Rapids 
ISU Insights: We want to hear from you!
It's been one year since we launched the CSRU In the Know newsletter! Let us know what you think of it and what we can do to make it better. Thank you!
Staff Highlight: Norma Virden
Norma Virden came on board in January 2001 as a County Clerk. Later that year, she was promoted to a Support Recovery Officer. Norma is greatly appreciated by her coworkers!
Policy Corner

This legislative session has been fast and furious. Numerous bills were proposed that would impact the work CSRU does. Several of those did not pass the first funnel, but there are still a few that are alive. CSRU continues to monitor the progress of these bills as they move through the legislative process. If passed, the bills that would have the greatest impact include:
 
  • SF 389 Public Assistance Oversight: This bill requires the establishment of an automated system to verify the identity of applicants and obtain income and asset verification for applicants and recipients in attempt to deter fraud and ensure that only eligible individuals are receiving public assistance. The bill also includes a requirement for SNAP applicants who are custodial parents for the children for whom they are requesting SNAP to cooperate with CSRU in order to receive SNAP benefits.
 
  • HF 416 Child Support Relative to the Child’s Completion of High School Graduation: Under the bill, the definition of “support” would change for a child who is over the age of 18 but engaged full-time in completing high school graduation or equivalency requirements. It would require full-time engagement to be continuous and clarifies that the support will end when the child completes high school graduation or equivalency requirements or turns 19, whichever occurs first.
 
  • SF 313 Replacement of the Term Visitation with the Term Parenting Time: This bill would amend references to the terminology of “visitation” in Iowa Code to “parenting time." This aligns with movement at the federal level to move to this verbiage because a noncustodial parent is not “visiting” a child during scheduled times. The noncustodial parent is “parenting” the child during those times. 
Training
Learner Retention
by Shawn Peterson
Have you or one of your employees ever returned from training and wondered, “Did I (they) learn anything in class?” Have you attended a class or taken an online learning course and two weeks later can’t remember the training content? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you or your employees are experiencing the “forgetting brain."
Outreach
DM Region Parenting Classes
The Des Moines Region encourages parents to attend parenting classes and has recently partnered with a provider in Indianola for parenting classes.