Child Support Officer

Hiring Range:  $26.12 - $29.25 DOQ

THIS POSTING WILL BE USED TO FILL 2 VACANT CHILD SUPPORT OFFICER POSITIONS.

Performs intermediate skilled administrative support work explaining rights and obligations under child support orders; assisting in the location of parent's employer, income, and assets; preparing and filing legal paperwork for default court action; and negotiating settlements.  Work is performed under the limited supervision of the Child Support Supervisor.To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential function satisfactorily.  The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable an individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Manages caseloads to enforce court orders for child support, medical support and child care.

• Initiates interactions with clients with cases that require enforcement activities.

• Keeps clients apprised of progress; responds to client inquiries via telephone, written correspondence and in person to explain program rules and regulations, enforcement procedures, anticipated timeframes and anticipated results, including enforcement outcomes of contempt.

• Negotiates with individuals to obtain payment agreements to avoid suspension of drivers, occupational, and recreational licenses.

• Investigates leads to locate parents, income and assets.

• Enforces medical provisions for health and dental insurance; assesses need to change current order if provisions are not enforceable.

• Calculates child support and other payments; attaches wages by notifying payer of funds to implement income withholding.

• Prepares required paperwork and monitors interstate actions with other jurisdictions to establish cooperation in securing support payments and enforcing orders in their jurisdictions.

• Researches and assembles information needed to initiate legal actions to modify or enforce an order through the legal system and prepares necessary paperwork and legal documentation and assists in legal action to modify or enforce orders.

• Develops and maintains expertise and knowledge of child support program, serves as a resource and provides training.

• Performs other duties and activities as assigned.

Education and Experience

High school diploma or GED, and three years of experience in human services, collections, legal, financial or related field, or equivalent combination of education and experience.  Associates/Technical degree is preferred.

Special Requirements

A valid driver's license or evidence of equivalent mobility is required upon hire.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

Knowledge of the expedited legal process and the judicial process in Family Court; knowledge of statutes pertaining to parentage, establishment of support, modification of support and contempt of court; skill in the use of standard office equipment, including computer and software programs; verbal and written communication skills sufficient to effectively present information and respond to questions from a wide variety of audiences; reading comprehension skills sufficient to read and interpret court orders, legal documents and technical documents; interpersonal skills sufficient to exchange and/or convey information, receive work direction, and maintain effective working relationships; ability to explain complex program rules, court rules, and protocol and provide statutory references; ability to learn and operate computer systems and programs used to administer Human Service programs; ability to learn County government work flows and processes; ability to perform data entry into various databases; ability to calculate child support obligations based on child support guidelines, and prorate support between parents based on statute; ability to facilitate discussions and negotiate with parents on sensitive matters concerning income, custody and parenting time; ability to learn, interpret and apply laws and regulations related to child support programs; ability to create and format legal documents; ability to effectively organize time and anticipate, plan and successfully respond to changing circumstances; work with parents who are in the legal system; ability to perform all job duties in compliance with safety guidelines and with an ongoing awareness of safety practices; ability to communicate courteously and professionally while maintaining positive working relationships with others when carrying out all job functions.This work requires the occasional exertion of up to 25 pounds of force; work regularly requires sitting, speaking or hearing and using hands to finger, handle or feel, frequently requires repetitive motions and occasionally requires standing, walking, reaching with hands and arms and lifting; work has standard vision requirements; vocal communication is required for expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word; hearing is required to perceive information at normal spoken word levels and to receive detailed information through oral communications and/or to make fine distinctions in sound; work requires preparing and analyzing written or computer data, operating machines, operating motor vehicles or equipment and observing general surroundings and activities; work has no exposure to environmental conditions; work is generally in a moderately noisy location (e.g. business office, light traffic).