Library: Policy
340:25-5-124.3. Assignment and management of deprived cases
Revised 9-15-23
(a) When a case includes a child(ren) in a deprived court action, Oklahoma Human Services Child Support Services (CSS) assigns cases per this Section. • 1
(1) No existing child support order. When there is no existing child support order and an open Family Group Number, the district office serving the deprived action coordinates with the assigned district office to determine which office establishes the paternity and child support order. When there is no deferral, the case is assigned to a district office serving the county in which the district court has jurisdiction over the deprived action. • 2 through 4
(2) Existing district court case. When there is a prior Family and Domestic district court case involving the parent(s) and child(ren), the case is assigned to a district office serving the county of the deprived action. • 5
(3) Split jurisdiction. When the case involves multiple deprived actions in different counties for different children of the same parents, the district offices coordinate paternity and child support order establishment and child support order enforcement procedures with the district courts. • 6
(b) Per Section 1-4-702 of Title 10A of the Oklahoma Statutes, CSS requests the deprived court establish a paternity and child support order or requests the deprived court defer jurisdiction. When jurisdiction is deferred, CSS enforces the existing child support order or establishes a paternity and child support order in district court or Office of Administrative Hearings: Child Support.
INSTRUCTIONS TO STAFF 340:25-5-124.3
Revised 9-15-23
1. Upon receipt of a referral, Case initiation Center (CIC) notifies the district office serving the deprived action when research of the Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) automated system shows there is a Child Welfare case in a county in the service area.
(1) When there is an existing child support order, and Child Support Services (CSS) receives a referral, CIC follows the procedures in (A) through (E) of this paragraph.
(A) When there is an existing child support order in the county of the deprived action CIC builds and assigns to the district office serving the county of the deprived action.
(B) When there is no existing Family Group Number (FGN), CIC builds a new case and assigns to the district office serving the county of the deprived action.
(C) When an FGN exists and is closed, CIC opens the FGN and updates the office code to the deprived office.
(D) When there is an open FGN assigned to a county other than the deprived county, CIC notifies both offices by email of a deprived action in another county that may need to be transferred.
(E) CIC builds and assigns an FGN on the other parent of the deprived action and assigns to the deprived county.
(2) When there is an existing case with an order assigned to a district office not serving the deprived action and the order needs to be modified, that district office requests the office serving the deprived action get a deferral to modify the existing order.
(3) When a child support order is obtained in the deprived action, upon dismissal of the deprived case:
(A) the child support order is docketed in the county of the original underlying child support order; or
(B) when there is no prior order, the case is assigned to the office where the family resides per Oklahoma Administrative Code 340:25-5-124.
2. When there is no existing child support order and an open FGN, the assigned office may request the district office serving the juvenile court request a deferral of jurisdiction to CSS. Then the two offices coordinate to determine which office establishes and enforces the child support order.
3. When a case transfer is required from the assigned district office to the district office serving the county with the deprived action CSS staff follows the procedures in (1) through (3) of this Instruction to Staff.
(1) The assigned district office stops processing the child support case, any previously set genetic testing is still completed, conducted on all participants that were submitted to the lab for analysis and strikes any court hearings set at CSS request due to the court in the new county assuming jurisdiction over all issues.
(2) The district office serving the deprived action: checks on the deprived action’s status including but not limited to:
(A) determining the stage of the deprived action;
(B) determining whether the juvenile court determined any orders were entered regarding paternity or child support;
(C) checking whether the juvenile court determined paternity was determined; and
(D) determining whether parental rights were terminated.
(3) The district office serving deprived action establishes and enforces child support and paternity orders in that juvenile deprived action.
4. When the deprived action is in Tulsa (TUJ) or Oklahoma County (OKJ), contact TUJ or OKJ prior to taking any action.
5. Existing child support order. When there is an existing child support order, CSS staff coordinates between the assigned district office and the district office serving the deprived action .
(1) Prior to transfer, the existing FGN office stops all pending enforcement court actions and leaves in place nonjudicial enforcement remedies.
(2) The office with the current Oklahoma Support Information System (OSIS) office assignment code for the child support case transfers the case to the district office serving the deprived action county. CSS staff follows Legal Authority for Assignment and Management of Deprived Cases Quest article prior to transferring case to the district office serving the deprived action.
(3) When the juvenile court action is dismissed, the district office that serves the deprived action transfers the case back to the existing FGN office when there is an underlying order or the offices have determined where the case will be assigned.
6. Split jurisdiction. When there are multiple deprived cases in split jurisdictions for different children of the same family, the case is assigned to the child support office serving the county of the deprived action with the lowest jurisdiction number. For example, if there are multiple deprived cases in Woodward (JD-22-97) and Tulsa (JD-21-37) the case would be assigned to TUJ because that order has a lower court case number. CIC advises all district offices of the split jurisdiction for the district offices to determine when the cases need to be transferred.
