13.2 FC Intake

State Authority:

Wyoming Statute

Wyo. Stat. § 20-6-104 - Child support enforcement generally

Wyo. Stat. § 20-6-105 - Eligibility for services; fees for services

Wyoming Child Support Enforcement Rules

Chapter 3 - Eligibility and Application for Services

Chapter 4 - General Services

DFS Family Services Manual

6.2 - Child Support for Child in Out-of-Home Care

Overview

When a child is placed in state care, the Department of Family Services (DFS) may refer the case to the Wyoming Child Support Program (CSP) to defray the costs of foster care placement.  In general, the DFS case worker will refer all cases to the Wyoming CSP unless the case meets specific good cause exceptions as listed below and found in the DFS Protective and Juvenile Services Manual 6.2 Child Support for Child in Out-of-Home Care1:

• Possible physical/emotional harm resulting to the child/youth or custodial parent;

• The child was conceived as a result of incest or forcible rape;

• Legal action for adoption is pending in court; 

• Parent is receiving counseling to help decide whether to keep or relinquish child for adoption; 

• A court determination that parents would be unable to comply with an established reunification plan due to the financial hardship caused by paying child support;

• Termination of parental rights (TPR) is imminent and is part of the permanency plan or TPR has been completed;

• The non-custodial parent is a potential placement resource;

• Death of the parent(s) (death certificate, social security letter or obituary); or

• Children/youth are expected to be in foster care for only a short time (60 days or less).

Policy

The District CSP Office receives foster care referrals from the DFS case worker via a completed DFS Form 543 - Child Support Application (See Appendix 6.C for an example).  

The case worker will follow the intake policy provided in Chapter 6 Intake along with the following sections:

• 6.2 - Applications

• 6.3 - POSSE Case

• 6.4 - Data Reliability

• 6.5 - Case Assessment

The exceptions to the information found in Chapter 6 Intake for foster care are as follows:

Applications

The DFS case worker will complete the DFS Form 543 – Child Support Application for each parent.

POSSE Case

When the case worker receives a child support application from the DFS, the case worker will check POSSE for existing foster care cases for this child as described in 6.3 Intake – POSSE Case.  If none exist, the case worker will create separate foster care cases on POSSE for each parent and each child – (1) Foster Care vs. Mother and (2) Foster Care vs. Father.  Unless the local DFS office suggests otherwise, the case worker will open each foster care case with a case class of “Foster Care Basic” and ensure the correct EPICS client number is entered for the child.

While EPICS does not interface with POSSE to create a foster care case on POSSE, it does interface with POSSE once a child support case is created on POSSE and the EPICS client number for the child is added to the case.  Based upon certain federal and state requirements, EPICS may change the case class on POSSE.  If a case worker checks EPICS and believes the POSSE case class should change based upon the foster care coding in EPICS (See Table 1 – Foster Care Codes – EPICS & POSSE), the case worker will contact the appropriate state staff as identified in Appendix 2.A – State CSP Office Organizational Chart to change the case class on POSSE.

Table 1: Foster Care Codes – EPICS & POSSE

If the family is intact (e.g. the parents are married and reside together), the case worker will still create two POSSE cases – one for the mother and one for the father; however, once a child support order with a parental obligation is established, the District CSP Office may close one foster care case as Opened In Error (See 12.2 Closure – Special Circumstances for more details) and add that parent to the remaining foster care case as a co-defendant.  For example, if the Foster Care vs. Mother child support case is closed, the Mother will be added to the Foster Care vs. Father as a co-defendant.  See the District CSP Office Manager for specific procedures for the judicial district.

Cross Reference

DFS 543 j- Child Support Application

DFS Protective and Juvenile Services Manual

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1 For the Current version version of the DFS Child Protective Services Manual, please see DFS – About Us – Policy – Protective and Juvenile Services,  http://dfsweb.state.wy.us/about-us/dfspolicyPSD.html