State of Maryland

A Child Support Specialist II is the full performance level of child support work.  Employees in this classification investigate and analyze child support cases and initiate appropriate actions to establish, maintain or enforce support payments for dependent children in accordance with applicable federal and State laws, rules and regulations.  Employees in this classification perform duties related to establishing paternity and child support orders, negotiating agreements for child support payments and health insurance coverage and maintaining and enforcing the collection of current and past due amounts.  Employees in this classification do not supervise other positions.

Employees in this classification receive general supervision from a Child Support Specialist Supervisor or other designated administrator.

Positions in this classification are evaluated by using the classification job evaluation methodology.  The use of this method involves comparing the assigned duties and responsibilities of a position to the job criteria found in the Nature of Work and Examples of Work sections of the class specification.

The Child Support Specialist Trainee, Child Support Specialist I and Child Support Specialist II are differentiated on the basis of the degree of supervisory control exercised by the supervisor over these employees.  The Child Support Specialist Trainee learns to perform duties under close supervision.  The Child Support Specialist I performs duties under close supervision at times and under general supervision at other times depending on the complexity of the specific duty being performed.  The Child Support Specialist II performs the full range of duties and responsibilities under general supervision.  The Child Support Specialist II is differentiated from the Child Support Specialist, Lead in that the Child Support Specialist, Lead assigns, reviews and approves the work and trains lower-level Child Support Specialists.

Obtains, verifies and analyzes information from custodial and non-custodial parents, employers, financial institutions, private and governmental resources, health insurance carriers and others and uses that information to locate non-custodial parents, establish paternity, verify income and assets and determine the ability of non-custodial parents to pay child support and provide health insurance;

Negotiates voluntary agreements for payment of child support and liquidation of arrears with custodial and non-custodial parents in accordance with State regulations and guidelines;

Initiates and prepares a variety of documents for administrative or court hearings, such as support payment modifications, wage withholdings, earnings assignments, interstate transmittals, subpoenas, bench warrants and show cause orders in order to collect current or past due child support payments;

Identifies circumstances that contribute to a problem in collecting child support or providing health insurance coverage, determines which private and governmental services and programs, such as mediation services, employment and job counseling services, visitation access program or young fathers’ program address the problem and refers parents to those services and programs;

Monitors the receipt of child support payments and reviews case records and payment activities to determine the need for and type of enforcement activities warranted;

Investigates and resolves disputes resulting from license suspensions, tax intercepts and other remedies used to enforce and collect child support;

Initiates and negotiates establishment and enforcement of new or existing child support orders in out-of-state cases;

Prepares and presents testimony for judicial and administrative hearings related to child support enforcement and collection;

Prepares and reviews case records to ensure the validity of information to be presented in court by the legal services attorney;

Maintains and updates case records by using automated systems and case folder documents;

Responds to inquiries from custodial and non-custodial parents, employers, courts, public officials, attorneys, other State agencies and out-of-state agencies in order to resolve issues related to child support cases;

Coordinates genetic testing arrangements with certified medical facilities;

Serves as liaison between Child Support Enforcement Administration and other State agencies, local agencies, the State’s Attorney’s Office and the courts;

Places appropriate markers on case records in cases in which family violence or abuse has occurred, monitors the case to ensure that custodial and non-custodial parents, other caretakers and children are protected and refers abused caretakers and dependent children to family shelters or other protective services;

May assist at orientation sessions for new applicants or for non-custodial parents by presenting information about child support program services and related services that may be helpful;

May represent the State as complainant in order to obtain or enforce court orders for support;

Performs other related duties.

Knowledge of federal and State laws, regulations, and policies pertaining to establishing, maintaining and enforcing child support payments;

Knowledge of the procedures used to identify and locate non-custodial parents, both instate and out-of-state, and to establish their responsibility for child support payments;

Knowledge of State and local agencies and community organizations and facilities that provide services to custodial parents or other caretakers, non-custodial parents and dependent children;

Knowledge of basic mathematics sufficient to calculate child support payments and assess payment records;

Skill in investigating, verifying and analyzing financial information of custodial and non-custodial parents;

Skill in calculating child support payments using State guidelines;

Skill in comparing payment history to initial and subsequent support orders;

Ability to analyze regulatory, programmatic and fiscal information and apply it to specific child support cases;

Ability to identify barriers to the collection of child support payments and to initiate appropriate administrative or legal remedies;

Ability to elicit information from individuals who may be hostile, uncooperative or confused;

Ability to recognize situations, such as the presence of family violence, in which alternative collection procedures should be used;

Ability to use good judgment and resourcefulness in recognizing problematic situations and negotiating solutions;

Ability to maintain confidentiality of child support case material and related information;

Ability to testify in court concerning child support cases;

Ability to prepare administrative and court enforcement documents;

Ability to use computer systems to maintain case records and access informational resources;

Ability to communicate effectively in child support matters with custodial and non-custodial parents, family members, judges, attorneys, court personnel, employers, financial institutions, health insurance carriers and any other parties who have an interest in child support matters.

Education:   Graduation from an accredited high school or possession of a high school equivalency certificate.

Experience: Two years of experience performing functions to establish, maintain or enforce support payments for dependent children in accordance with federal and State laws, rules and regulations.

Notes:

1. Candidates may substitute the possession of an Associate of Arts degree from an accredited college or university for one year of the required experience.

2. Candidates may substitute experience determining eligibility for government assistance programs for one year of the required experience.

Class specifications are broad descriptions covering groups of positions used by various State departments and agencies.  Position descriptions maintained by the using department or agency specifically address the essential job functions of each position.

This is a Skilled Service classification in the State Personnel Management System.  All positions in this classification are Skilled Service positions.  Some positions in Skilled Service classifications may be designated Special Appointment in accordance with the State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 6-405, Annotated Code of Maryland.

This classification is assigned to Bargaining Unit F, Social and Human Service Professionals classes.  As provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 3-102, special appointment, temporary, contractual, supervisory, managerial and confidential employees are excluded from collective bargaining.  Additionally, certain executive branch agencies are exempt from collective bargaining and all positions in those agencies are excluded from collective bargaining.

Employees in this classification are eligible to receive overtime compensation.  An employee who works more than the normal workweek is entitled to be compensated for that overtime as provided by State Personnel and Pensions Article, Section 8-305.

This classification is one level in a Non-Competitive Promotion (NCP) series.  NCP promotions are promotions by which employees may advance in grade and class level from trainee to full performance levels in a classification series.  In order to be non-competitively promoted to the next level in a NCP series an employee must: 1) perform the main purpose of the class as defined in the Nature of Work section of the class specification; 2) receive the type of supervision defined in the class specification, and 3) meet the minimum qualifications of the classification.