Procedural Justice Grant Starts Rolling in San Bernardino and Riverside

Dana Simas, CA DCSS

On Tuesday, July 11th representatives from Veterans’ Affairs and county child support, mental health, employment, legal, and housing services assembled at the San Bernardino County Department of Child Support (San Bernadino County DCSS) office to kick off the Procedural Justice for Alternatives to Contempt (PJAC) project.

PJAC is a federal grant from the Office of Child Support Enforcement for a project that targets parents who owe child support, are not paying, and where contempt of court is soon to be filed. The overarching goal is to reduce or eliminate the routine use of contempt of court charges for parents who do not pay their child support.

San Bernadino County DCSS and Riverside County DCSS were chosen as the pilot locations for the five-year project. Both will submit their findings of whether engaging parents early and providing wrap-around services ultimately leads to an increase in those making their child support payments.

Many parents often find child support agencies and processes difficult to navigate, which can have a negative impact on parents’ willingness and ability to pay court-ordered child support. Failure to pay can lead to contempt of court proceedings, making it even more difficult for parents to comply. Many of these parents have a history of low to no wage earnings, are homeless or have other long-standing disabilities.

“(Child Support) needs to give (parents) a chance to understand their rights and responsibilities,” California Department of Child Support Services Director Alisha Griffin said. “We need to be sure that orders are set right and fairly and that parents understand the consequences of not paying before we judge them.”

A great majority of past due child support is owed by those who earn less than $10,000 a year, which becomes an issue of the parent’s ability to pay rather than their willingness to pay. “To work to avoid contempt charges, we need to bring people into the process early to ensure they understand the process and work with them from the beginning,” said George Chance, CA DCSS Regional Administrator. “We need to build a system that is neutral, trustworthy and fair.”

Partners in the PJAC project include Department of Social Services which provides families with food subsidies, Department of Veterans’ Affairs to help address the unique needs of veterans, emergency shelters and the San Bernardino County Housing Authority to partner in finding housing for parents, and employment partners such as the Goodwill Career Center.

One major component of the PJAC project is the use of a trauma-informed approach to child support services. This approach will focus on properly screening participants who may be victims or perpetrators of domestic violence, as well as training child support staff in identifiers and emergency service referrals in such cases.

The PJAC project is another step in child support’s move away from a punitive process to one that takes into account real-world circumstances many parents face. The goal is to create a fair Child Support process that works with parents to help them support their children.