May/June 2023

Customer Service

Case Manager Charles “Will” Hanchett is handling prison outreach in the Eastern Region. He has coordinated with Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility to start doing prison visits the 4^th Friday of the month starting in May 2023. Will also scrubbed a case sort given to him by the MA2 to identify the top 15-20 prisoners at MPCF who would benefit from a modification request and signing paperwork such as declarations. Will has also fielded countless calls from Terry at MPCF with offenders in his office needing assistance on their cases or general questions they have. This summer, Will plans to establish a similar practice at Anamosa State Prison.

During Will’s first visit at Mount Pleasant, he met with 22 individuals. This resulted in 12 requests to modify, 4 requests for hardship, 2 requests for genetic testing, and 4 signed stipulations to establish paternity for 6 kids! We learned the recidivism rate in Iowa, which is the tendency of a convicted criminal to reoffend, is currently around 40%. Some of the possible causes of recidivism are being overwhelmed by society and poverty. Prison staff expressed the thing offenders have most in common is fatherless homes or abusive situations when they were children. Child Support can aid in reducing this trend through our guidance with offenders and helping build positive family relationships. Our goal with prison outreach is to build positive connections with inmates and provide them an opportunity to lighten their financial burden upon release. This may also reduce their risk of reoffending in the future. Will has a true passion for adding an offender in rehabilitation through positive interactions with Child Support.

New Hires

Brett Shepherd, Creston
Sara Gonnerman, Spencer
Rejann Kern, Ottumwa
Stephanie Fulford, Spencer
Alecia Bacon, Cedar Rapids
Heather McCleary, Mason City
April Barrett, Ottumwa
Alex Drilling, Cedar Rapids
Michelle Finger, EPICS

ISU Insights: Sharing our work across the country!

In May, ISU staff represented the ISU-Iowa Child Support contract at two conferences. Presenting at child support conferences is an important way to share the valuable partnership between state government and higher education and provides an opportunity to highlight some of the beneficial services Iowa Child Support is offering youth, families, and community organizations.

Jo Ann Lee and Rhonda Evans facilitated two presentations for the California Child Support Directors Association annual training conference in Anaheim, CA. Their first presentation was about ADMYRE, PIAL's teen dating violence awareness program and the second presentation was about PIAL's expansion into serving emerging adults through the College Sim and curriculum. Both presentations were well received. Follow-up correspondence has already occurred with participants wanting to learn more about these programs.

Amy Peters and Alison White facilitated a presentation at the Eastern Regional Interstate Child Support Association (ERICSA) annual training conference in Savannah, GA. Their presentation was on Voluntary Paternity Affidavit (VPA) outreach efforts in Iowa. Their presentation was also well received. Several participants requested access to the Paternity Prep Packets (PPP) to potentially implement something similar in their states. Many mentioned only focusing on the hospital setting and were interested in Iowa's efforts to expand points of contacts to directly serve unmarried parents, prenatal providers, and community organizations.

More ISU-Iowa Child Support News

Training

Online learning presentation: Affirming Interaction with LGBTQ+ Parents

The following is republished from January 2022.

In November, 2021, the Child Support Training Partnership (CSTP) hosted an online learning presentation with Atticus Ranck and Robert Curry from the New York. The presentation, titled Everyone has the Right to Have a Family: Affirming Interaction with LGBTQ+ Parents, focused on providing culturally sensitive assistance to parents and potential parents who are members of the LGBTQ+ communities.

Watch Presentation

Staff Highlight: Melissa Fry

Melissa Fry joined CWRTP in August 2021 as a Clerk Specialist in the Davenport Child Support Office. In December 2022, she started a new role as an AA2 for the Eastern Region. She said, “I have been given the opportunity to advance in my career within the State of Iowa in Child Support Services. I learn something new every day and look forward to continuing to learn, grow, and contribute as much as I can throughout my career.”

The opportunity to work with amazing people and help the families of Iowa keeps Melissa excited about her work with Child Support Services. She said, “I support the HHS mission and vision, and I am excited and honored to be a part of it.”

Thank you for all you do, Melissa!

Staff Anniversaries

5 Years:

Glenda Holthhaus, Cedar Rapids

15 Years:

Kelly Anderson, Sioux City
Amy Wolfe, Burlington
Molly Curry, Burlington
Michele Henderson, Burlington
Kara Lumsden, Burlington
Jennifer Schroeder, Burlington
Kelli Smith, Davenport

20 Years:

Marie Mitchell, Sioux City

25 Years:

Gwen Tunning, Carrol

Policy Corner:

Change is coming!

Senate file 514 was signed into law 6/1/2023. It reorganizes state government effective 7/1/2023. Included in the bill is a name change for CSRU! In order to better encompass all that we do for all case parties, the Child Support Recovery Unit (CSRU) is becoming Child Support Services (CSS). The HHS senior leadership team is still in the process of determining all of the HHS classifications and will determine if we will continue to be a bureau or become a division or some other section designation.

Steps are being taken to identify all of the places where updates to our name are needed. Some of these changes will be quick and simple changes, while others are large projects and will take some time to complete. Offices and regions may be contacted within the next few months to assist in making name change updates. While we think we have identified the vast majority of name change updates needed, please feel free to contact your SRS or regional AA2 to determine if your item is already identified, or if it needs to be added to the list.

Central office has started taking inventory of all forms that require not only our name change from CSRU to CSS, but also from DHS to HHS. While we do not have a designated implementation date for the CSRU to CSS name change, all public facing items must be updated to HHS by 12/31/23. There are hundreds of forms and statuses that will require updates to one or both name changes. Forms that require a change from DHS to HHS will likely be prioritized first for updates. You may start to see some forms updated to include Child Support Services and HHS. However, this project will likely take many months to complete. You do not need to report any forms that continue to include CSRU or DHS during this interim change over period.

At the federal level, effective 6/5/2023, the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) changed their name to the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS). They are implementing their name change in phases to change all OCSE references to OCSS.

Outreach:

Did you know the VPA Program has a Spanish version of the voluntary paternity affidavit informational video available? This could be a useful resource for any Spanish-speaking customers who might benefit from an understanding of the voluntary paternity affidavit. Save it and share it!

Watch the Video

Submit comments or questions

CSRU | https://dhs.iowa.gov/child-support