Since the deprived action cases are those on which Child Support Services (CSS) receives referrals, CSS is responsible for performance of these cases. They are included in Performance Measures on the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) ‐157 Report measuring CSS performance.
Link between CSS and Child Welfare Performance
The amount of funding Oklahoma receives is impacted in two ways. First, if CSS does not perform at certain levels on the performance measures of Paternity Establishment, Order Establishment, and Current Support Collections, a sanction is placed upon the Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) funding block grant. Second, if CSS does not perform well on all the performance measures, less incentive money is received from the Administration of Children and Families (ACF), OCSE.
When CSS receives less funding, Oklahoma must fund a portion of the IV‐D program with state funds, impacting the entire state. The IV‐D program has the ability to be a revenue‐enhancing program when CSS performs well. Information from the deprived action cases should be updated promptly to record any actions taken on Paternity Establishment, Order Establishment, and Current Support Collections.
Link between Child Welfare and CSS Performance
One of Child Welfare’s performance measures is a child’s length of stay in foster care. The lower the average length of stay, the better Child Welfare (CW) is performing. CSS can impact the performance by providing information, obtaining paternity establishments, obtaining child support orders, and enforcing those orders.
Information from CSS can identify other placement possibilities for the child such as a father for whom CSS had previously established paternity. If the previous Custodial Person (CP) has not disclosed identity of the father or provided information about location, information from CSS can help CW find placement options more beneficial to the child than foster care. By providing information about a previously existing paternity establishment or an exclusion of paternity, CSS can prevent CW from duplicating efforts on paternity establishment. The payment or non‐payment of child support is an objective measurement the deprived court can review for compliance to the parents’ treatment plan. This reduces the amount of time needed to determine whether the parent(s) can be reunified with the child or whether parental rights need to be terminated.