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<br />N. D. Association of County Social Service Directors <br /> <br />May 16,2006-. <br /> <br />-:;":, <br /> <br />Ms. Carol Olson, Executive Director <br />N.D. Depl:lrtment of Human Services <br />600 E. Boulevard Avenue <br />Bismarck, North Dakota 58505-0250 <br /> <br />RE: Child Support <br />Centralized Projects <br /> <br />Dear Carol: <br /> <br />At the County Directors Meeting on May 10th and May 11th we spent considerable <br />amount of time discussing child support issues, including incentive distribution, <br />maintenance of efforts, supplanting of incentive dollars, and the centralizea <br />projects. <br /> <br />First, attached please find a copy of the "agreement" which was sent out to the two <br />selected projected areas - Grand Forks Region and Dickinson Region - for review <br />and consideration. We have reviewed these two agreements with all of the County <br />Directors at our meeting and as a result of that review, several changes are being <br />suggested to the agreements. There was significant discussion about how this <br />agreement differs from the current standard DHS contract. We were unclear why <br />the template coritract wasn't used. Becausethisagreemenfdciesn't use the basic <br />template, some counties have requested a review of the document by their state's <br />attorney. The County Directors changes have been indicated on the attachment. <br />If you have. any questions about the suggested changes or are in need of <br />additional information or rationale for the changes, please do not hesitate to <br />contact me. <br /> <br />As you know, Senate Bill 2301 states "The state agency shall identify any activity <br />of the child support enforcement program the state agency believes may be <br />administered more effectively, efficiently, or consistently through an agreement <br />between two or more child support agencies or through an agreement for <br />centralized administration under section 50-09-33 and shall direct a child support <br />agency to enter an agreement to perfonm that activity on terms prescribed by the <br />state agency." The County Directors Association is in support of the concept of <br />investigating and pursuing the possibility of specialized projects in the Child <br />Support Program to improve effectiveness, consistency, and cost efficiencies. . We <br />believe that the efforts made by the Regional Child Support Administrators to <br />identify 11 areas. for consideration, to focus on 2 areas for more detailed <br />exploration and development, and then to have several proposals provided for the <br />