May/June 2024

Customer Service

Central Region case managers are going the extra mile to assist customers in resolving case issues resulting in some nice collections and satisfactions. 



  • A payor who neglected the child support obligation for many years wanted to sell property. Through the case manager’s work with the case parties, the payee satisfied $24,000 and the payor paid off the state balance of over $8,000.
  • A payee reported to the case manager that the payor was moving out of the area and was trying to sell his home. The case manager’s work with the payee and attorney resulted in the lien being transferred to the county of the court order causing the payor to address the child support balance with the sale of the property. This case is now current and actually paid ahead slightly!
  • A case manager spent considerable time talking with parties, attorneys, and realtors on a messy property transfer having problems related to title opinions. This hard work resulted in a payment of over $18,000 to the family.
  • CSS was unable to complete a suspension for a child that went to live with the payor because the payee failed to return paperwork and was unresponsive to outreach attempts. The case continued to bill and accumulated a balance of over $22,000, all owed to the payee. Out of frustration, the payor stopped making payments. When the case was reassigned to a new case manager, she began making contacts with both the payor and payee to try and settle the matter before the child turned 18. After months of communication with the parties, the suspension was completed, and the payee satisfied over $18,000 of the balance. The payor started making payments towards the arrears balance and was able to obtain a driver’s license again. The payor continues to make payments on the remaining balance and this case should be completely paid off by the end of 2024!

Staff Anniversaries:

10 Years:

  • Amy Klocke, Sioux City
  • Travis Israels, Spencer

20 Years:

  • Rhonda Morris, Clinton
  • Shelley Brewer, Burlington

25 Years:

  • Kara Clark, Council Bluffs

New Hires:

  • Emily Uhlman, Indianola
  • Andrea Mather, Cedar Rapids
  • Jeffrey Hayzlett, CSC
  • Keneka, Stewart, CSC
  • Ellie Fry, Creston
  • Vanessa Crawford, Sioux City
  • Amanda Held, Des Moines
  • Andrew Frassetti, Des Moines
  • Madison Bradshaw, Ottumwa
  • Karla Nielsen, EPICS from IMW
  • Jennifer Howard, Davenport
  • Angel Spence, Clinton
  • Jacob Ryan, CSC

ISU Insights: Instructional Design Webpage

In order to shine a light on the amazing work our instructional design team does, we've created a webpage to spotlight their expertise. We hope this page will also serve as a recruiting tool for more great talent. Click the link below to check out the page and learn more about the work our instructional designers put in to your trainings!

Open Webpage
More ISU-CSS Contract News

Training:

The Life of a Training Project

by Ginger Monroe, ISU Instructional Designer

During my tenure as an instructional designer, I've been asked to assist with creating multiple HHS trainings. Throughout those years, many aspects of the online training world have changed: In-person vs online trainings, the addition of video and audio-based trainings, and the introduction of microlearning (dividing a large training into smaller chunks). Surprisingly, one element that has changed very little is the actual process of creating a training. Why? The present process is simple and effective!

Full Article (PDF)

CWRTP wants to know how our trainings have helped you succeed. Consider submitting a success story with the button below! Please keep customer information anonymous for confidentiality. Thank you!

Submit Stories

Staff Highlight: MAPPS Team

The MAPPS Team started working the Deceased Payee Cases in February 2024. At that time, we had over 3700 cases to review. The team works closely with assigned attorneys from each region and meets weekly with Policy as well to provide updates and review progress. 

Read article (PDF)

Policy Corner:


States have a federal requirement to review their child support guidelines every four years. The purpose of the quadrennial review is to:

  • Analyze information regarding the use of deviations, low-income adjustments and imputed income.
  • Study current data concerning child-raising costs and other economic measures.
  • Compare Iowa’s guidelines with child-rearing measures and guidelines of other states.
  • Review and consider public comments on Iowa child support guidelines.
  • Consider other information deemed necessary or useful for thorough review of the current Iowa child support guidelines.


The Iowa guidelines committee will begin the process of our next review this month, June 2024. The committee is comprised of mostly Iowa judges and private attorneys. Two CSS attorneys are also part of the committee. The work of the committee will continue throughout 2024 and into 2025. 


The committee is responsible for reporting their findings to the Supreme Court and making recommendations for possible changes. The court shares the committee’s recommendations and allows a period for public comment. Once the designated time frames have passed the Supreme Court will issue an order adopting the proposed changes and the effective date of the changes. Based on prior guideline reviews, we anticipate the effective date will be around January 1, 2026.    

Outreach: VPA DART Public Service Ads

The VPA program wants to increase the scope of outreach by making information about the VPA more accessible to parents who may not have access to digital resources. Because nearly a quarter of all single-parent births in Iowa take place in the Des Moines metro area, we proposed purchasing public service advertisements on buses and bus shelters with Des Moines Area Regional Transit (DART). The ads include information about legal paternity, a BHS phone number for questions, and a link to the VPA website for resources. The ads will appear in buses and bus shelters across the metro area from August through November this year. DART bus advertising was funded through the community awareness contract between the Iowa Attorney General's office and Child Support Services. 

Is someone you work with not receiving In the Know? Send them this email or the link below so they can add their HHS email address to our list!

Email Sign-Up Form
Submit comments or questions

https://hhs.iowa.gov/child-support