ASSISTANT DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, BOROUGH OFFICES & COURT SERVI

Job Description

APPLICANTS MUST BE PERMANENT IN THE ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES CIVIL SERVICE TITLE, OR PERMANENT IN A COMPARABLE TITLE ELIGIBLE FOR 6.1.9, OR IMMEDIATELY REACHABLE ON EXAM # 1121

The Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) primary goal is to ensure that children are financially supported by both parents. OCSS accomplishes this by locating non-custodial parent (NCP), establishing paternity and child support orders, and collecting and disbursing child support funds to those children. OCSS also services NCPs who are unable to provide financial support due to unemployment and/or being underemployed, by partnering with community-based organizations which offer educational, training, and job placement services for eligible parents. Enforcing and establishing child support orders, combined with employment and other support, assists impoverished families gain financial independence and become self-sufficient.

The OCSS Borough Offices are the point of entry into the child support system for custodial parents who are cash assistance applicants and recipients. Custodial parents are automatically referred for child support services as a requirement for full benefits for their household. When the non-custodial parent whereabouts are or become known, cases are referred to the family court to initiate the legal child support proceedings, for pursuing orders of support and/or the establishment of paternity. Custodial parents and their families rely on the agency to provide guidance in collecting monies due to them and to use all means at the disposal of the agency to collect such monies.
DSS Court Services (DSS CS) is responsible for the filing and scheduling of hearings for petitions commenced by the Commissioner of the NYC Department of Social Services (DSS) in establishment of parentage and support cases where an assignment of support rights is made to DSS by recipients of public assistance. DSS CS processes approximately 800 referrals per month from the four borough offices on behalf of families in receipt of cash assistance. DSS CS initiates and manages all child support associated court processes in conjunction with the New York City Family Courts such as scheduling of court hearings, processing adjourned cases, processing Office of Court Administration's (OCA) requests for New Summons Personal Service (NSPS), processing Office of Legal Affair's (OLA) subpoena requests, and preparing the case files for OLA to represent DSS in court.
Family Court Support Services is responsible for providing support services to non-cash assistance clients in the five boroughs who voluntarily want child support services. These services include screening custodial parents for domestic violence, locating the absent parent, establishing legal fatherhood for the child, preparing and filing the court papers necessary to establish child support and medical support orders, and serving summonses. On average, approximately 27,000 custodial parents visit Family Court Support Services offices each year. Almost all these clients seeking to establish an order are referred to court. And the Family Court offices serve noncustodial parents by helping with select customer service issues and accepting credit card payments.

Under administrative direction of the OCSS Deputy Commissioner, with very wide latitude for independent judgment, action and decision making, the Assistant Deputy Commissioner is responsible for the overall administration and management of the intake and court services functions of the Borough Offices & Court Services Division. This key Division is the entry point to the Child Support program responsible for providing child support services for approximately 250,000 cash assistance and non-cash assistance families. The functions of this Division are statutorily mandated under federal Social Security Act Title IV-D, NYS law and the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance child support state plan. Annually, the Borough Offices & Court Services operation meets with more than 67,000 clients to provide intake- services, primarily the opening of a child support case, the location of absent parents and the establishment of parentage and court ordered cash and medical support obligations. The Division also requests the modification of an order when a new child is born. This Division consists of ten field offices citywide (four Borough Offices, five Family Court Support Services offices and one DSS Court Services office) with a staff of nearly 200, including caseworkers, clerical support, supervisors, site coordinators and site directors

The Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) is recruiting one (1) ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES M IV to function as the ASSISTANT DEPUTY COMMISSIONER, BOROUGH OFFICES & COURT SERVICES, who will:


- Develop and implement new policies and programs to improve the intake process, Co